Re: technical communication differences between software industry and manufacturing industry

[Kathleen MacDowell <kathleen -dot- eamd -at- gmail -dot- com>]

I've worked in scientific equipment manufacturing, lighting-control
manufacturing, and health-care software in the USA.

Margaret's comments about packaging and documentation fit my experience in
lighting-control. I also found that both manufacturing sectors were very
good about keeping their documentation current with the product. They were
exceptional by comparison with the software company. However, the software
company sold their tech support, so it's possible they didn't see the
documentation as critical. At the other two companies, not only did their
reputation rest on providing users the correct information, but also their
users' safety. Government regulations added another layer of importance to
documentation in the manufacturing sector.

Kathleen


On Wed, Jul 10, 2013 at 9:27 PM, Simon <wingman1985 -at- yahoo -dot- com -dot- cn> wrote:

> What do you see as the major differences between software industry and
> manufacturing industry? Here is my observation(I am working in a  JV
> located in mainland China in a manufacturing setting but I am reading a lot
> about software industry):
>
> 1. Software businesses tend to pay more attention to their docs while in
> the manufacturing sector, docs are systematically ignored(as far as I am
> concerned).
>
> What is your observation?
>
>
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-- 
Kathleen MacDowell
kathleen -dot- eamd -at- gmail -dot- com


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Learn more: http://bit.ly/ZeOZeQ

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