RE: Checking assumptions at the door (but NOT he vs she!)

Subject: RE: Checking assumptions at the door (but NOT he vs she!)
From: "Christensen, Kent" <lkchris -at- sandia -dot- gov>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 09:02:58 -0600

re: A former co-worker once decided she couldn't assume her readers knew X,
then decided they also needed remediation on pre-X just in case, and finally
decided she couldn't assume they even knew how to read. ... IMHO,
assumptions are not necessarily Bad Things.

Why, of course, but let's discuss the notion of *prerequisites* rather than
assumptions. Like when you get into umpty-ump 102 only when you've had 101.
There's an assumption in there, for sure, but ... . Seems to me that if
your software requires Windows 98, or something, then ability to run Windows
98 is a prerequisite and not to worry. Either the user read up on how to
use Windows 98 or someone helped him or her and it can be assumed these same
resources--ability to read or a helper--are available for understanding your
product's instructions.

Life itself has lots of prerequisites, yes? ... and in my (not-so) humble
opinion prerequisites are more than "not necessarily bad things," they're
required. Now, what is it we call sentences like "prerequisites are
required?" And, what about the assumption the user won't read the manual
anyway? Comedian Bob Newhart playing the psychologist once revisited his
mentor who by then had concluded psychology was a crock and the only thing
that mattered was golf ... something like that might apply when obsessing
about assumptions. Or maybe not ... I'm not obsesssing about it.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

*** Deva(tm) Tools for Dreamweaver and Deva(tm) Search ***
Build Contents, Indexes, and Search for Web Sites and Help Systems
Available now at http://www.devahelp.com or info -at- devahelp -dot- com

Sponsored by Cub Lea, specialist in low-cost outsourced development
and documentation. Overload and time-sensitive jobs at exceptional
rates. Unique free gifts for all visitors to http://www.cublea.com

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.


Follow-Ups:

Previous by Author: re: Guidelines for effective PowerPoint presentations
Next by Author: RE: creating funny TLAs - rant warning
Previous by Thread: RE: Checking assumptions at the door (but NOT he vs she!)
Next by Thread: Writing On-line Help


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads