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Subject:Re: Too much structure From:"Peter Lucas" <peterlucas -at- mediaone -dot- net> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 14 Jun 2000 10:25:14 -0700
Top 5 Productivity Killers for Tech Writers
1) Surfing the Web
2) Writing e-mail for e-mail lists
3) Meetings
4) Playing "cube-to-cube" Frisbee
5) Trying to understand/apply JoAnn T. Hacko's tome, Managing Your
Documentation Projects
(Tongue firmly planted in cheek. Sort of...)
Peter Lucas
<Signature Intentionally Left Blank>
> JoAnn Hackos, at the recent STC conference, appied Moore's book _Crossing
> the Chasm_, to software documentation. One idea was that the budget for
> documentation and help projects should start out small (when the product
is
> new) and increase as the product matures, reaching its maximum about the
> time the product is stable enough and complete enough to appeal to a mass
> market that needs lots of security, guidance and hand-holding.
> The early adopters aren't going to use the Help file that much, anyway.
They
> like to play and discover how things work. (Also, the early adopters can
put
> up with a lot of doubt and uncertainty because they see themselves getting
> lots of bang for the buck.) The users who really need the complete
> documnentation set with lots guidance are the Late Majority, who value
> stability and ease of use.
> The slides from her presentation are on the Web at
> www.infomanagementcenter.com, but this idea is not illustrated on the
> slides.
>
> Jim Shaeffer
> jims -at- spsi -dot- com
