Re: Task Oriented Documentation For Non-Task-Oriented Software

Subject: Re: Task Oriented Documentation For Non-Task-Oriented Software
From: LDurway -at- PAV -dot- COM
Date: Sat, 28 Aug 1999 20:02:13 -0500

Sounds like task-oriented documentation is exactly what your product needs
to help the user make sense of it. It's not really your documentation that
will expose the bad design of the software: the bad design is already
evident, and any user who learns how to use the product will notice the bad
design whether they read your docs or not. A task-oriented manual simply
shortens the learning process for them. A good task-oriented doc could
serve as a valuable resource to your development group for the very reason
you name: it will expose the errors in their design & emphasize the need to
improve the interface in future. Sometimes the writer is the closest thing
a group has to a human factors expert. 1/2 :-) I argue that your first
responsibility is to the paying customer, not the development group.

Lindsey

> -----Original Message-----
> Question to all listserv members:
>
> In creating end user documentation for an existing (complex) software
> package, if the software was NOT designed task oriented, can the end user
> manual be written in such a fashion?
>
> Typically, to accomplish a given end user task with our software, you have
> to travers up-and-down through several (seemingly totally unrelated)
> menus.
>
> Problem: When you write task oriented documentation for this sofware
> (i.e.
> bring all required menu selections together under the specific task), the
> lack of task oriented design becomes glaringly evident. The documentation
> acutally prompts the end user to ask the question "Why do I have to do so
> much jumping around between menus to accomplish a given task?" This does
> not make us look good.
>

From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=


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