Re: Has anyone ever written the user guide before the product was developed (coded)?

["Katherine Noftz Nagel (Kat)" <lists -at- masterworkconsulting -dot- com>]

On 2010-11-11 3:51 PM, Vanessa ScottSabic wrote:
> We had an interesting conversation with our manager today and since we are
> about to begin work on a new product the idea was proposed that we try to
> write the user guide before the product is coded so that the developers
> design what we have documented instead of us documenting what they have
> designed. Of course, this does not mean that we dictate the design and
> functionality of the product but the idea is that we could be proactive
> rather than reactive and also help the developers.

I've been asked to do that a few times for different clients.  It is a 
TERRIFIC way to control scope creep on a software project. Nothing goes 
in the application unless it is essential to the functions described in 
the docs.

There are three lessons I learned from those experiences.

1. The bean counters will love you because there will be far fewer 
development cost overruns.

2. The project managers will love you because there will be far fewer 
schedule slips. Schedule slops cost money, and that pleases the bean 
counters. That is, the PMs will love you until the developers start 
bitching.

3. The developers will hate you. They will have an infinite number of 
reasons why Extra Feature X and Extra Button Y are essential for the 
user experience, even though they aren't. The developers will complain 
bitterly about restrictions on their creativity. They will make life 
miserable for you and the project manager and everyone else within 
earshot. They will use up all team meeting time discussing these issues. 
They will refuse to answer your questions about how the program works. 
"You should know. YOU WROTE THE F-ç&ING MANUAL."

My ability to do my job well depends first on the information I can 
winkle out of the developers, second on the healthy functioning of the 
whole project team. The next time some manager tells me to 'write the 
docs first,' I'm going to offer to write real functional specs instead. 
I can do a spiffy set of user-task-oriented functional specs that the 
developers will love, and that will accomplish almost the same thing as 
'writing the docs first,' with a lot less Sturm und Drang.

-- 
K@
Kat Nagel, Owner, MasterWork Consulting
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