Re: Tech docs in a recent movie

Subject: Re: Tech docs in a recent movie
From: "Dave C" <davec2468 -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: "Tech Writing" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Sun, 08 Jan 2017 19:34:20 -0800

Reminds me of the title of an article in PC World(?) decades ago:

âPlug-and-Play: How To Make It Workâ.

Dave

-=-=-=-

Your comment about intuitive software not requiring documentation reminds
me of a recent event where I work. After a year of touting "our new
software is so intuitive it doesn't need documentation" and everyone saying
*I* was going to be obsolete, a furtive phone call was made at the
beginning of December asking how soon the online help could be ready. They
were launching in two weeks, and apparently our clients wanted to see the
documentation.

Maybe I can lump this in with other "predictions" such as paperless
offices, and shorter workweeks?

Suzette Leeming

On Fri, Jan 6, 2017 at 2:31 PM, Keith Hood <bus -dot- write -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:

According to what I've been told by software designers, pretty soon now
they'll be deploying software that's so intuitive there won't be any need
for any kind of user-facing documentation.

They've been saying they're going to have that any day now for at least 25
years. I call it the Duke Nukem upgrade.

On Thu, Jan 5, 2017 at 3:34 PM, Mark Giffin <mgiffin -at- earthlink -dot- net> wrote:

I recently saw the movie Passengers, which is about space travel in the
future. I enjoyed the movie but it was also remarkable because technical
documentation figured heavily in the plot. Many scenes involved someone
grabbing the user manuals for one piece of equipment or another, and then
following the docs to accomplish something (or not!). Several other
scenes
involved machines talking to the person (with a talking 3D face
sometimes),
telling the person what was happening, how to use the space suit, or
whatever it was.

So hopefully we'll have work even far into the future! Unless it was all
automated.

Mark Giffin
Mark Giffin Consulting, Inc.
http://markgiffin.com/
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy
and
content development | http://techwhirl.com

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as bus -dot- write -at- gmail -dot- com -dot-
To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com


Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and
info.

Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our
online
magazine at http://techwhirl.com

Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public
email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and
content development | http://techwhirl.com

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as suzette -dot- leeming -at- gmail -dot- com -dot-
To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com


Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and
info.

Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online
magazine at http://techwhirl.com

Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public
email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and content development | http://techwhirl.com

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as davec2468 -at- gmail -dot- com -dot-
To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com


Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and info.

Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com

Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and content development | http://techwhirl.com

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com


Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and info.

Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com

Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives

References:
Tech docs in a recent movie: From: Mark Giffin
Re: Tech docs in a recent movie: From: Keith Hood
Re: Tech docs in a recent movie: From: Suzette Leeming

Previous by Author: Re: Learning styles for technology audiences
Next by Author: Re: Photo-Paint 8 question
Previous by Thread: Re: Tech docs in a recent movie
Next by Thread: javadoc or doxygen command to generate HTML output for a single Java class?


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads