Re: Opinions, please: Document by the Component or by the Tab?

Subject: Re: Opinions, please: Document by the Component or by the Tab?
From: Peter Neilson <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:42:51 -0400

When the system is a privately developed (or--worse--an ad-hoc)
application, with gaping holes into which it can fall and crash, then
any documentation at all is welcomed by the sys admins. It's useless for
a tech writer to guess which crash is going to occur, but it's very
helpful for the sys admin to see a diagram of the purported
relationships between the various data sets, or to have a list of the
purported fix-it tools. If these can be organized into a set of tabs on
help documentation (please, not residing on the same system that's busy
crashing!) so much the better.

The audience includes the newly hired sys admin, who might be pleased to
see a list of key tools and concepts in a book or help page that
implores, "Know these!" Sometimes the "new hire" doing sys-admin work is
the manager who was the only one available at 02:00 on Sunday, and he's
reaching back ten years trying to figure out what to do. Asking that
manager to review the docs as if he had suddenly been pressed into
service to fix a crash might be quite helpful.
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References:
Re: Opinions, please: Document by the Component or by the Tab?: From: Gene Kim-Eng
Re: Opinions, please: Document by the Component or by the Tab?: From: jlshaeffer
Re: Opinions, please: Document by the Component or by the Tab?: From: Gene Kim-Eng

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