RE: These users have us stumped!

Subject: RE: These users have us stumped!
From: Jim Shaeffer <jims -at- spsi -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 23 Oct 2002 14:39:31 -0400


> -----Original Message-<brutally snipped>----
> The Apps Support/Training folks include basic Windows skills
> in the on-site training we provide to the customers and they
> do all they can to bring the users up to speed on your basic
> point, click, and fill in the blanks.

So, during the training, where were the users who later picked
up the mouse to touch the screen?

> The users still complain that they can't understand the
> on-line help. Perhaps we need to make it a searchable
> infinite list of FAQs and NSFAQs (Not So Frequently Asked Questions).

Assuming zero knowledge leads to an assumed need for infinite hand-
holding. No company can afford that. Some users will _always_ fall
below our minimum baselines. The decision is a business decision.
(And while making the customer happy is a good business guideline,
it is not absolute. You can't let customers drive you below
profitability and most customers will, reluctantly, accept the
logic of that fact.)

>From a documentation perspective, we rarely have the resources to
dumb down the Help while, at the same time, creating Help for all
the nifty new features the customers are demanding.

My bottom line? - Cost/Benefit analysis answers most technical
writing questions.

Jim Shaeffer (jims -at- spsi -dot- com)

P.S. I am not rejecting the other suggestions we've seen (such as
embedded help and interface re-design). I'll just point out that
these things also come with real costs.


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