RE: Business issues, documentation and editors

[Jim Shaeffer <jims -at- spsi -dot- com>]

I had been thinking about similar points raised in other 
posts. 
I used to tell some of my computer classes that I was just 
doing toolbox training. I had time to train them on the tools 
found in the word processor or spreadsheet but not to address 
how to structure a complex document. 
If I document how to use each of the tools in a carpenter's 
toolbox, I have _not_ documented how to build a house. But, in 
the case of a generalized tool (like a word processor), I cannot 
predict whether the user is building a house, a cabinet or a 
pedestal for a statue. 
In the case of the users of the software I document, many business 
processes that would provide context are considered proprietary 
information. Such business process differences are used by our 
customers to differentiate themselves (our customers compete with 
one another). (Sometimes makes for interesting User Conferences.)
I struggle to work around the apparent dilemmas. 
Also, thanks to Steven Brown for asking some good questions. 
His post arrived as I was finishing this one. 

Jim Shaeffer (jims -at- spsi -dot- com)

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jean Weber [mailto:jean -at- wrevenge -dot- com -dot- au]
> One of my biggest complaints about a lot of software 
> documentation is that it tells me *how* to do something  
> but doesn't give me a clue *why* I might want to, or what 
> it's for. The assumption seems to be that the reader wants 
> to do X but doesn't know how. I think that's often an 
> incorrect assumption; sometimes it never occurs to me that 
> X was a possibility -- I didn't know enough to even ask the 
> question.
> 

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