Undocumented Features (was Interoffice Relations/Work Productivity Dilemma)

Subject: Undocumented Features (was Interoffice Relations/Work Productivity Dilemma)
From: "CB Casper" <knowone -at- surfy -dot- net>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2004 04:25:20 -0800


Bruce the curious one mentioned:
>> One thing that I've learned from my years in the
business is that a small but very troublesome
percentage of users will always explore the software
(I should know, because I belong to it). Some members
of this group will always find these undocumented
features, so not mentioning them is a very poor
strategy. Since the capacity is there, I doubt
that arguing that they aren't using the software
as intended would hold up legally. It seems just
as likely that the company would be found negligent
for not documenting the features.

It seems safer all around to either not include the
features in the first place, or to document them.
If they aren't complete, then a warning can be
included. <<

Some features are left undocumented in our user docs,
but are included in internal documentation for our
products. Service reps and internal support groups
then have diagnostic tools available for troubleshooting
customer problems. And no, providing these features
to customers is out of the question, as they can
reveal more than what we desire to be seen.

It is very common for us to discuss commands, options,
and such, but conclude that some should not be included
in the customer facing docs. And yes, it has always
been this way.

We leave it as an exercise to the reader (Bruce, are
your ears burning?!) to find them.

CB - not documenting those things that should not be
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