Re: Consequences of inadequate docs/training

["Damien Braniff" <DBraniff -at- amphion -dot- com>]

Sometimes it's a question of the 'customer is always right'. Some time
ago now I worked on a sonar product where the User manual we produced
was simply a reference manual (how we're told not to write a user manual
- this screen does, this button does ....) because we were told that we
couldn't tell them HOW to use it, only what it could do. 

Another communication problem arose on the same project when we had a
call  that there was a problem with the system. When asked by the senior
engineer what they were doing when it happened he was told "we can't
tell you". Several weeks later he called them and said "you were doing
xys, weren't you?"  It went quiet before he was asked "How do you know
that" to which he replied that it was the only @* -at- *ing thing they could
have been doing for the problem to occur and if they'd told him it would
have been fixed a lot quicker. Fortunately they were paying for support!

Damien Braniff
Technical Writer
Amphion Semiconductor Ltd.
50/51 Malone Road
BT9 5BS  Belfast, Antrim
Northern Ireland

Tel:	028 9050 4000
Fax:	028 9050 4001
E-mail:	dbraniff -at- amphion -dot- com
Web:	www.amphion.com




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