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Re: Doc Design and Convention - to address Gene's take on this
Subject:Re: Doc Design and Convention - to address Gene's take on this From:Janice Gelb <Janice -dot- Gelb -at- Sun -dot- COM> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:09:24 +1100
Robert Lauriston wrote:
> Yeah, same here.
>
> There are iterative loops within this process, but overall, first I
> ask questions about the product, the answers tell me who the presumed
> users are and what they need to know, and only then am I in a position
> to outline the topics and outline the deliverables.
The answers to how the product works tell you
who the presumed users are? I think that only
works if the people who have designed the product
have done so with presumed users in mind, answering
the same sorts of questions about user needs that
some of us have been advocating here.
The features that the product provides are not always
the features that need to be emphasized in the documentation
for the presumed user. For example, I've seen features
included in software products because the designers
thought they were cool or were jazzed because they had
figured out a way to implement them, but they weren't
necessarily features that actual purchasers of the product
either wanted or really needed.
-- Janice
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Janice Gelb | The only connection Sun has with
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