Re: Empiric studies on the impact of documentation

[Tony Chung <tonyc -at- tonychung -dot- ca>]

On Sat, Mar 30, 2019 at 09:59 Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com> wrote:

> ...Part of that is understanding the role documentation plays in the
> development and support of product, what it can and cannot be
> expected to "fix" if the other parts of the process are neglected, and
> realizing that sometimes the "fix" to a potential "documentation
> problem" is going to be supporting someone else whose part of the
> process is being given short shrift. For example, a failure analysis,
> safety or test engineer.
>


It just astounds me that this documentation/product disconnect could happen
in aviation, such a highly regulated industry. I can see it happening a lot
in software design where the developerâs response when I commented that the
software didnât work was often, âThe question is not âdoes it work?ââThe
question should be, âIs it useful?ââ

I lost my last job because I told the boss I was unable to document an
end-to-end use case that the customers needed because at the time the
product didnât support one. Had I been told I was supposed to write science
fiction before people were actually expected to use the product in their
working environments, I would have done so, and might still have a job.

One discussion with our lead editor began with her exasperated sigh: âDonât
even get me started about the expectation for documentation to solve
problems in the product.â

-Tony
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