Re: Agile software development and effect on techwriting

[Solveig Haugland <solveig -at- techwriterstuff -dot- com>]

Oh, I love quickstart guides. I worked at one company where there was ever so much
doc, online, but there was no Please Start Here indicator. Or actual Please Start
Here manual as a I remember.

>>Would seem to me that such an environment would mean the techwriter should be
more closely tied to UI design and concentrate on context sensitive on-line
help.

I guess it depends on the programming team/company culture then how much the TWs
get in at the beginning.

I've posted a question about this to Scott Ambler on the forum, too (javaranch.com
in the Processes forum for anyone who grooves on Agile stuff) and am looking over
the Ambler authored doc John sent me. Scott does seem to be "on our side." From
http://www.agilemodeling.com/essays/agileDocumentation.htm    " Like it or not few
technical people have good writing skills, if only for the simple reason that they
haven?t taken the time to gain them. ... A third approach, the best one in my
opinion, is to have the technical writer and developer work together to write the
documentation, learning from each other as they do so. " (maybe quoting Scott
Ambler to your programming manager is the best way to get time scheduled with the
developers.)

Hmm, I like that third-party doc thing. Was it on this site that someone mentioned
the idea of "open source" product documentation?  People will post information in
an open source environment when they definitely won't do doc reviews or surveys. I
wonder if a Paradigm Shift might be coming sometime. ;> (A friend in college used
to say he could feel a paradigm shift coming by the ache in his right knee.)

Thanks,
Solveig
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
solveig -at- techwriterstuff -dot- com
"Tell Me About the Typos When the Software Works."

http://www.techwriterstuff.com
Products expressing the agony and ecstacy of being a techwriter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

eric -dot- dunn -at- ca -dot- transport -dot- bombardier -dot- com wrote:

> Would seem to me that such an environment would mean the techwriter should be
> more closely tied to UI design and concentrate on context sensitive on-line
> help.