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My Marketing and Product Management groups here are having a bit of a
discussion about component checklists in our documentation packages and
I'm wondering how you folks handle these.
Basically, Marketing thinks we should include a component checklist, but
Product Management thinks it's not needed since each product package
will have only 4-5 different components. There is also some feeling that
including such a checklist implies that items are occasionally
inadvertently left out of the packages (quality control issue).
Most of our product packages will include only an installation card and
warranty card (no manual), and Product Management is concerned about the
cost of adding another piece of documentation to the package. The
installation cards are already designed as 2-face with only installation
information and there is no room left on them to add a component
checklist, so including the checklist will require either another piece
of documentation, or a complete redesign of the installation cards
(forcing them to either a larger size, or 4-face).
What do you folks think? Are component checklists always required, or
are there times when they are not necessary? And does including such a
checklist really suggest a quality control problem during the packaging
phase?
Thanks!
Chris Welch-Hutchings
Senior Technical Writer
Home Wireless Networks, Inc. mailto:cwhutchings -at- homewireless -dot- com
