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First, you have to speak to the Sales manager to clarify who the audience is, and what the purpose/scope of the task is.
If you are basically talking about product summaries that people at all levels within your company can refer to as an introduction to your product suite, it may be enough to just list the main features of each product all in one doc or intranet page.
However, since the request is coming from Sales, maybe what's required are docs that introduce features to potential customers. In which case, you would create product overview docs that introduce each feature and that include a few screen shots of the main modules.
Even better if you could create little product demo videos instead of, or to complement, the print docs.
-----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 Joe Weinmunson
Sent: Thursday, May 23, 2019 1:11 PM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Dealing with a vague document request
Hi all,
Our company is growing and we have a few people doing documentation now.
However, all of us are some combination of 1) young, 2) self-taught, and/or
3) not experienced in a big corporate environment. That's causing some delay right now because we are not sure how to interpret the Sales Manager's request.
"the knowledge lies with you [tech support, training, and documentation].
Our issue is that only a couple of people here at the company actually know what these products do. Mae laid out some groundwork, but pulled much of the info from the existing website. What we need is a basic list of what these products do. What they can do. I understand this is a big task. this will end up being a living document as the program changes. Certainly changes have been made since the site was built and will continue to be made. So what we need is a list of what each product does."
I am trying to figure out whether to format this as some sort of internal white paper, as fact sheets for each module of the software, or as something else. I know we'll get there eventually, but I'd appreciate any advice folks have in dealing with the request.
--
Joe Weinmunson
âWhat you read when you donât have to determines what you will be when you canât help it.â
--Oscar Wilde
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