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Subject:Re: Eliminating Need for Technical Support From:Stuart Burnfield <slb -at- FS -dot- COM -dot- AU> Date:Thu, 26 Jun 1997 22:41:01 +0800
Matthew J Long <mjl100z -at- MAIL -dot- ODU -dot- EDU> said:
> Do you think that it is possible that the need for technical support for
> software be eliminated or at least reduced if the documentation were
> written well enough?
Reduced yes, eliminated no.
Good software design reduces the need for documentation. Good document-
ation reduces the need for technical support, by answering most end users'
questions without the need for them to pick up the phone.
Why not, then, answer all possible questions? Because it can't be done,
and if it could be done, it wouldn't be worth doing.
It can't be done because there are too many variables: your end users'
knowledge and experience; their hardware, software and network environ-
ment; their business and regulatory environment. You can't know all
these factors. Not ever, and especially not before the product is
released. A hallmark of the best software is that it is used in ways
that the designers never expected. You can't document that until you
get the questions and the feedback through customer support.
But what if you could anticipate every conceivable question? Should you
put it all in the documentation? The answer is still no. If you can
answer 80% of questions in 100 pages, you might need 200 pages to cover
90%, 500 pages to cover 95%, 1000 pages to cover 98%, and so on. The
first version is probably the best, because at least people are likely
to find their answer.
Researching, writing, editing, testing and producing those extra 900
pages will cost a fortune -- more than enough to pay for extra support
staff. And tech support people can be your single best resource for
making the next round of documentation accurate, inexpensive, well
aimed, and well used.
Regards
---
Stuart Burnfield (dire, straight)
Functional Software Pty Ltd mailto:slb -at- fs -dot- com -dot- au
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