Re: Techwriter Aptitude Test (A Daydream)

[Tim Altom <taltom -at- IQUEST -dot- NET>]

At 07:35 AM 11/7/97 -0600, you wrote:
>M. Dannenberg wrote:
>>
>> One guy first takes out the instruction leaflet and reads it. After a
>> while he's able to set the time correctly, adjust for time zones, set
>> the alarm and switch between 12 and 24 hour display. Congratulations.
>> You've found your technical writer.
>
>Consider me unemployed, then. Despite my constant suggestions that no
>support call should be answered until the user has RTFMed, I only read
>documentation when I can't figure it out for myself then when I can't
>find someone who knows and ask them. I guess that makes me something of
>a hypocrite when it comes to being a technical writer.
>
I think we're all like that. We all plunge in first. (I say "we all"; I mean
"most of us". Sorry. Not precise enough.)

I read an article that I clipped, filed and promptly lost track of that
showed statistically what actions stymied users took. RTFM'ing was way down
the list, out of the top ten, preceded by even "Asking the company mascot
for help". I use this in sales pitches, BTW, pointing out that by the time
the user has actually broken out the FM, he's usually stressed, behind
schedule, and generally PO'd. It had therefore better be well-organized,
readable, and usable, because the user hasn't got much patience left in the
tank by then.

Tim Altom
Vice President, Simply Written, Inc.
317.899.5882 (voice) 317.899.5987 (fax)
FrameMaker support  ForeHelp support
FrameMaker Conversions
PDF Consulting and Production


Posts: mailto:techwr-l -at- listserv -dot- okstate -dot- edu
Commands: mailto:listserv -at- listserv -dot- okstate -dot- edu (e.g. SIGNOFF TECHWR-L)
Archives: http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html,
	http://www.documentation.com/, or http://www.dejanews.com/
Subjects: JOB:, QUESTION:, SUMMARY:, ANNOUNCE:, or none of these.