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Re: Transitioning User Expectations from Feature to Task-Based Information

Subject: Re: Transitioning User Expectations from Feature to Task-Based Information
From: Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2005 10:57:25 -0800


technical -at- theverbalist -dot- com wrote:

So here’s an interesting problem I’ve run into—I’ve been revising our
product docs to be task-based rather than feature-based, but there are
several users, mostly internal (and management), who think about the
product in terms of its features and who are apparently having a hard time
finding information in the new task-based structure. For example, one used
emailed my manger to say that he was looking in the ToC for information on
the Transaction framework, but couldn’t find it. The information was in
the document, but under “Creating Composite Transactions” which, in the
first sentence explained that you use the Transaction framework to create
composite transactions. Using Search in the PDF returned “transaction
framework”, but the user was only looking in the ToC.

So, how do you teach old doc users new doc tricks? Given that the
information schema in their head that they are using to look for
information in the doc is about the feature and not about the task, how
can I help them find the information they need in a task-based document.
Can anyone suggest resources—books, web sites, war stories—for
transitioning users to being task-based?
Mandy

I don't think that it's a case of helping users make the transition so much as accomodating them - especially since one is your manager.

Why not provide a feature-based Toc along with the regular one? That shouldn't take up too much time, and, that way, you can accomodate everyone.

--
Bruce Byfield
http://members.axion.net/~bbyfield

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