5 Users in a Room?

[Geoff Hart]

Marie Palmieri wondered: <<If you were at a meeting with five of your  
users, and you were given an opportunity to ask one question to  
solicit feedback from them about product documentation, what one open- 
ended question would you ask?>>

Actually, I'd ask them a closed-end question first: "Would you ask 5  
of your friends to each ask 5 of their friends to each ask 5 of their  
friends to write a letter to my company complaining about how user- 
hostile the software is?" <g> I'd even provide the template: "Why  
can't you make the software as easy to use as the documentation?  
Maybe you should get your technical writers involved in the product  
design, or at least listen to them when they raise issues."

Okay, so that's just a tad transparent. <g> But I can dream, can't I?  
My other preferred question would be: "Would you be willing to  
discuss the docs with me by e-mail over the next month or two, and if  
so, please give me your e-mail address." Then I can ask as many  
questions as I want, at our mutual convenience.

If I only had the chance to ask for one answer--the possible literal  
meaning of your question--it would be the following: "What one thing  
could I do to make the documentation more useful to you?" (Since I  
always try to stretch the rules a bit, I'd interpret the "one" a bit  
more liberally: "What are the top three/five/ten things...?" But you  
said one, so I started out literally...)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --

Geoff Hart   ghart at videotron.ca

(try geoffhart at mac.com if you don't get a reply)

www.geoff-hart.com

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -