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In my experience, P&P manuals sometimes take *longer* than straight
software doc, and are typically more troublesome. With a software app,
particularly those for end users, as long as we can get access to a
copy, we can write away on essentially a schedule of our own making,
within the overall timeline of the development project, of course.
With P&P, we typically have to schedule a lot of observation and
interview time with the people that perform the procedure to be
documented. This frequently results in traveling to other offices,
numerous canceled or rescheduled appointments, wading through and
gathering exhibit materials like forms, etc. We've had our share of
P&P projects never get finished because the requesting department got
"too busy," or had their priorities shifted once again, relegating doc
low on the list.
Most of my writers would prefer to document a software app over P&P
any day.
Brett Peruzzi
Documentation Manager
First Data Investor Services Group
Boston, MA
Brett -dot- Peruzzi -at- fdc-invest -dot- com
***Speaking for myself, not First Data***
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