TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:User Documentation in Agile Development Teams From:Sue McKinney <smckinn2001 -at- gmail -dot- com> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Fri, 24 Mar 2017 10:40:04 -0400
Hello!
I am a long-time tech writer very familiar with Waterfall development and
am now getting familiar with Agile. I understand the idea behind lean
documentation for what I call "back-end" documentation (e.g., requirements,
user stories, design) but am trying to learn more about getting end user
documentation into the development cycle. It's tough, given the frequent
releases, and I now am faced with push-back from managers and developers
claiming that documentation is way less important in Agile. In fact, it's
just as important! Even though the software is supposed to "intuitive,"
we're finding out that users want assistance; we're in the middle of
creating online help for a second release of something that was deemed
intuitive enough to not require online help for the first release. And
then, of course, users complained about not know how to get their work
done. I'm looking for ways to identify best practices for user
documentation (online help, user guides) to present to management so that
the new writer alone on a project has more credibility when he or she
argues in favor of, say, online help.
Any thoughts?
Thanks!
Sue McKinney
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and content development | http://techwhirl.com
