"Choose your own" install guide

[Wroblewski, Victoria]

-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin McGowan
Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2007 2:27 PM
To: techwr-l at lists.techwr-l.com
Subject: "Choose your own" install guide

>As I'm learning more and more complications about our product install 
>process from the professional services people, I am now pondering
rewriting 
>my install guide modelled on the old "choose your own adventure" books
from 
>my childhood.

<snip>

>Is this madness? Will a reader be annoyed reading a 100-page document
set >up like this?

As I've seen it in practice (most recently, trying to tackle a horribly
unstructured and not very helpful troubleshooting procedure) it does
work best when you first approach it as a flow diagram, just to make
sure that is planned out and the structure it clear before you even try
to tackle the words that go along with it.

As long as the "jumps" to sections are clear, it's usually not that
difficult to use a guide like that.

Also, it's one of those things that when more information needs to be
added or there are new options in the process, you have to take the time
to map it all out again to make sure it is still workable (and it
doesn't become something like a horribly unstructured and not very
helpful troubleshooting procedure) and that everything is still in the
right place.  Doing that with each addition keeps you from a massive
re-work when you finally step back from it, read it, and go "Huh?"

- Victoria


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