RE: Why not do it ourselves? (Was: using 3rd-party books)

["Carey Jennifer (Cry)" <jennifer -dot- carey -at- cdi -dot- cerberus -dot- ch>]

	<<That is, it's one thing to write about how a product works, but
it's quite another to write about how people actually use it. These two
information sets can differ significantly, and I think the 3rd-party books
often cover the second scenario.>>

That's exactly it!! The thing is, as we move more and more into the
direction of "usability" and "information design" and delivery, it seems
that we are learning that maybe we should be writing to "how people actually
use it" rather than "how the product works".  I guess my main concern would
be that certain important information not get excluded in the process of
what could potentially turn into the dumbing down of our manuals, which was
why I was thinking that the beginner's version would include more of the
simple stuff while the advanced one would have all the other stuff that more
sophisticated users would want with little-to-no overlap between the two. 

<<The third party books are written because someone believes that the
manuals don't fill all needs. Usually, they are right.>> 

<<In order to be truly objective, the bugs, (er, features,) would have to be
documented together with workarounds. Marketing gets upset when this
happens. >>

Of course, major changes in procedure/approach do require buy-in/approval
from relevant management, but is this the only thing stopping us?  Do we
think that the other more "objective" manual is the way it "should" be?

Other thoughts?
Jennifer

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