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Many years ago I was part of a contracted documentation team tasked with
writing user manuals and support documentation for just-in-time
manufacturing software. The company was foreign owned and operated, and the
person we reported to was the only liaison between the company, engineers
and the documentation team.
The liaison gave us specs to work from. "These are the specs, and this is
the way the system will work. Write the documentation." When the doc team
asked to interview the engineers, see the software, or talk to the anyone
with direct hands-on experience with the software, we were consistently
told, "You have the specs, write from them." So we wrote, edited, revised,
and presented the "final" product for testing which we wanted to do
ourselves.
Our request to test our documentation was turned down flat. The doc was
given to several company employees who tried to use the software as we
documented it. Surprise! It didn't work! Needless to say, our agency was
held to the coals, we were given a quick escort to the door, and we never
heard from that company again.
During the project we produced weekly status reports which went to our
agency and the liaison. Each report stated that we were not able to work
with the engineers or other knowledgeable personnel. Every doc team member
was highly aware that the project was headed for failure. Without any way to
research, explore, interview SMEs or validate our work, we knew that failure
was the only possible result.
The lesson: Specs are just fine, but they are usually the first thing
written, if at all, and in the majority of cases are never revised. If the
job requires that you work from specs alone, run, do not walk away. In this
case the end result does not justify the means.
Popping up from lurking,
Karen L. Zorn
Zorn Technologies, Inc.
Mesa, AZ
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