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Subject:Re: "How to Write a User Manual" From:David Renn <daverenn08 -at- gmail -dot- com> To:"Wright, Lynne" <Lynne -dot- Wright -at- kronos -dot- com> Date:Tue, 08 May 2018 18:39:14 +0000
The opening line:
"In this blog post, you will find a quick step-by-step introduction into
creating user manuals."
While reading this blog post, I did not see a single step. I did see a few
long-winded high-level overview sections though.
On Tue, May 8, 2018, 2:33 PM Wright, Lynne <Lynne -dot- Wright -at- kronos -dot- com> wrote:
> Its a basic overview, for people totally unfamiliar to tech writing, and
> is fine for what it is...
>
> Except this concept of a documentation plan is odd to me. When I started
> my first job as a tech writer, I was told to start with a documentation
> plan; but after a bit of head-scratching I abandoned it, because it was a
> chicken-an-egg situation: there was no way I could plan out an entire
> document up front, without knowing anything about the app I was going to
> write about.
>
> So in effect, my doc plan would have included the target audience, a scope
> of "describe every feature in the product", and a timeline of "have it done
> in time for the release of the software, which at this point, is only
> vaguely projected to be 'sometime in December/maybe january'". So... not
> useful in any way.
>
> The structure of the information was built/evolved as I worked through
> researching and documenting each feature. Developing a detailed "plan" to
> do that would have been a waste of time.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+lynne -dot- wright=kronos -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> <techwr-l-bounces+lynne -dot- wright=kronos -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> On Behalf
> Of Cardimon, Craig
> Sent: Tuesday, May 8, 2018 9:17 AM
> To: 'TechWhirl (techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com)' <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> >
> Subject: "How to Write a User Manual"
>
> Greetings,
>
> What are your thoughts on this article:
>
>
>https://clickhelp.co/clickhelp-technical-writing-blog/how-to-write-a-user-manual/
>
> Cordially,
> Craig Cardimon | Senior Technical Writer
>
>
>
>
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