RE: A sobering encounter

[Mike West <Mike -dot- West -at- oz -dot- quest -dot- com>]

> When I've encountered this, one of the big factors was that the doc 
> being produced by the "pros" was mediocre and pedestrian. The entire 
> documentation suite consisted of lists of menu commands, descriptions 
> of dialog boxes, and endless numbered steps for what few procedures 
> there were. In this case, I think  tech writers who produced it were 
> largely to blame for their own demise. There was little value-add; 
> other than correct spelling and proper grammar.> 


That sounds worse than "mediocre." I'd say 
the real problem was in recruitment and QA.

But I don't know why they should assume
that because their incompetent managers 
hired and then sacked incompetent tech 
writers, that somehow their incompetent 
engineers will be better able to assess user 
information needs, and satisfy them, 
than their incompetent tech writers were. 

Now about that phrase "endless numbered steps"...
Hmmm. Where have I heard that before?

I know! It was right here:

"Most tech docs are endless streams of pointless 
and worthless instructions"  [A. Plato]

Yes, I hate endless streams too. They're so ... um, long.

--
Mike W
Melbourne, Australia




^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Check out SnagIt - The Screen Capture Standard!
Download a free 30-day trial from http://www.techsmith.com/rdr/txt/twr
Find out what all the other tech writers, including Dan, already know!

Order RoboHelp X3 in November and receive $100 mail in rebate, FREE WebHelp
Merge Module and the new RoboPDF - add powerful PDF output functionality
to RoboHelp X3. Order online today at http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.