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I've run into similar situations. What I've found helpful is to
think up a scenario that creates the situation and walk through
the consequences. The act of working through the consequences
helps us both see what needs to be done to make the situation
play out the way we need it to.
The key to getting the message across has been to be *very*
concrete, to the point of building a small story that they have
to fill in. For example, if the problem is that noone will be
able to correct problems when Joe is gone for a long time, I'll
set up a story, preferably one that starts with something he
likes. Say he's on a cruise and gets stranded for three months
on a beautiful tropical island that has been hit by a hurricane,
so there is no communication with the outside world. (Whatever.
This works better than "Say you drop dead from a heart attack.")
Then ask how people would correct problems. Walk through the
situation, with *him* addressing the question. This forces him
to think the problem through in a very concrete way. Usually,
the results are surprising to both of us. Sometimes I end up
finding out that a good solution is already in place, but the
person I was talking to didn't express it clearly (or at all).
HTH
-- Meg
--- SIANNON -at- VISUS -dot- JNJ -dot- com wrote:
[snip]
> Have any of you found, in your experience, whether overt
> clarification of
> the audience with your SMEs helps them provide you with more
> thorough
> information?
[snip]
> I've had a difference of opinion with a developer (or two)
> that I believe
> affects the quality of one of my docs. I think it might be
> resolved if the
> developer was to see himself as a user of the product he is
> creating...or
> maybe see someone *besides* him as the user, actually. I'm
> having
> difficulty getting the idea across to the developer in
> question, so I'm
> thinking there must be a better way to convey the point than
> how I've
> approached it so far.
[snip]
> In my opinion, if the
> developers all got hit by a bus on the way to lunch, whoever
> replaces them
> is going to want to know how to use that GUI, so I want it
> documented as
> thoroughly as possible.
>
> Have any of you encountered something like this, and have you
> found a way
> to get this point across without being unnecessarily
> confrontational?
>
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