Re: How do I document vaporware?

[Stuart Burnfield <slb -at- westnet -dot- com -dot- au>]

Geoff Hart said: 
> Skywriting? <g> 

Geoff, you're an evil, evil man ;^) 


Sarah Stegall wondered: 
> Having spent half a week taking all references to a certain 
> feature OUT of our software documentation, I am now informed 
> that these references are "placeholders" for future development. 
> This means that when our users (other software developers) 
> browse through the command line interface or the help menu, 
> they are going to find undocumented commands (that don't 
> currently do anything anyway). 

Wow, what a bad idea. But you already know that. 

Geoff Hart said: 
> Then add a clear note at the start of each feature description: 

Yes, put an unmissable note at the start of every topic that 
discusses one of these future features. But be really careful 
with the wording. 

> "This feature is not yet implemented. When it is implemented, 
> it will perform the following functions 
> [description]. 

This sounds like a commitment that it _will_ be implemented, 
and a commitment that the syntax and behaviour will be as 
you have documented. 

What if a customer starts designing or coding based on the 
documented interface? 

Does your company have a legal department? Can you ask 
them to come up with a wording that protects the company 
if a customer sues them over 'promised' features that aren't 
delivered or that work differently than advertised? 

Stuart 

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