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Subject:Invisible Computer From:"Walker, Arlen P" <Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 13 Aug 1998 08:01:01 -0500
Just thought you'd like the following excerpt from Donald Norman's "The
Invisible Computer" (he's discussing the essential disciplines of User
Experience):
"Technical writers: People whose goal should be to show the technologists
how to build things that do not require manuals.
"Technical writers traditionally have the cleanup job. When all is
finished, they are called upon to make it look like the entire design was
carefully orchestrated as a systematic whole. They are the cleanup artists,
and often they get the least respect of all.
"Technical writing is a difficult skill. It requires understanding the
audience, understanding what activities the user wants to accomplish, and
translating the often idiosyncratic and unplanned design into something
that appears to make sense.
"To a user-experience architect, the technical writers should be the key to
the entire operation. Have them write the simplest, most elegant manual
imaginable. Reward them for brevity. (Would you believe that some technical
writers are rewarded for the length of the manual, as if a long manual is
somehow more valuable than a short one? That is certainly perverse.) Test
the manual to make sure people can follow it. Then build the device to fit
the manual. The technical writer should be a crucial part of the
development team. Indeed, if the technical writer is completely successful,
the device will be constructed so well, with such a clear conceptual model,
that no instruction manual will be required."
Have fun,
Arlen
Chief Managing Director In Charge, Department of Redundancy Department
DNRC 224
Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- Com
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In God we trust; all others must provide data.
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Opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.
If JCI had an opinion on this, they'd hire someone else to deliver it.
