Re: Prod reviews--why not include doc???

["Townsend, Emru" <etownsend -at- POSITRON -dot- QC -dot- CA>]

I do most of my product reviews for the Canada Computer Paper, and generally
comment on documentation as well as the product itself.  I occasionally get
comments from people, saying it's an unusual (but helpful) practice.

I believe it's in the Paper's writers' guidelines, but I'm not sure.

Emru Townsend
Technical Communications Wiseguy - Product Integration
Positron Public Safety Systems Inc.
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
e-mail: etownsend -at- positron -dot- qc -dot- ca
My words are my own. Confuse them with my employer's at your own risk.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Colleen Adams [SMTP:colleen_adams -at- MEDISPAN -dot- COM]
> Sent: Thursday, March 04, 1999 10:03 AM
> To:   TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> Subject:      Prod reviews--why not include doc???
>
> I'm perusing my weekly edition of InfoWorld mag, reading an article on
> why software companies' customer support is so poor in comparison to
> hardware companies' CS.  It mentions a company (Prognostics) that
> conducts surveys for the IT marketplace, asking them about not just
> product support, but about other factors like product quality, deliver,
> training, and YES, documentation!
>
> (I have a point, and I'm getting to it...)  Which brings me to a question:
> why is it, that when I read Product Reviews in various
> technical/computing publications, I can almost *never* find 1 comment on
> the quality of the doc, hard copy or online!  The only focus is on the
> product itself!
>
> As a doc manager, I would like to know how a product reviewer rates
> the documentation that comes with the product.  It can give my team some
> insight to user's frustrations and delights.  And, if it's a viable
> product or
> maybe even a really crappy one, we may purchase it to grow our
> collection of doc samples.
>
> I sent email to InfoWorld asking that they begin to include this info in
> their
> reviews but got no response...maybe I'm not looking in the right pubs...
>
> Comments, recommendations, thoughts???
> ___________________
> Colleen Adams
> External Documentation Manager
> First DataBank, Inc.
> Indianapolis, IN
> colleen_adams -at- firstdatabank -dot- com
>
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>

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