Usability Testing, Technical Writing, and Blurred Lines

[Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- AXIONET -dot- COM>]

Carol Gasser <carol_gasser_at_usinin31 -at- BMC -dot- BOEHRINGER-MANNHEIM -dot- COM>
wrote:


  >The recent discussion about proving to managers/programmers that
better
  >documentation is necessary has included several suggestions that
  >technical writers perform usability tests, which makes me more than a
  >little nervous.
>
 > First, I don't think I'm qualified.

I don't think that many of us are really qualified for what we are
suspected
to do. Many of us aren't typographers or graphic artists, but we often
have to function as ones, at least at a low level. Many companies just
won't pay for a real expert.

Having the writer involved in usability testing makes sense, however,
for at
least two reasons:

- writers are probably flexible enough to pick up a smattering of
information
to be borderline functional.

- usability testing has a large effect on documentation, as well as
other areas
which often involve writers, such as interface design.

- usability testing is a good excuse to get the writer involved in a
project
early, instead of coming in at the last moment.

>It really seems like a leap out of the tech writer job description.

True enough. But the challenge makes the job more interesting.


--
Bruce Byfield, Outlaw Communications
Co-ordinator ,Vancouver Technical Communicators' Co-op List
Vancouver, BC, Canada
(604) 421-7189 or 687-2133
bbyfield -at- axionet,com or bruce -at- dataphile-ca -dot- com
www.outlawcommunications.com

"Raise your flask, aim your rifles high,
I've had a dream, we three need have no fear at all,
You'll die in Kenora, Billy, you Jim in Winnipeg,
And I shall end my days in Montreal."
- Tanglefoot