Re: Sales/Marketing Driving Documentation Approach

Subject: Re: Sales/Marketing Driving Documentation Approach
From: Michael Oboryshko <obie1121 -at- yahoo -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 3 May 2002 08:04:51 -0700 (PDT)


Karen wrote:
> A printed manual will look pretty, and will probably
> make for a nice door stop for a team leader on the floor.
> But I can't see that it would be of much practical use
> except perhaps in training situations.

Well, isn't your company going to make money from training? Do
you want the the trainers to develop their own printed
documentation without benefit of your skills?

Suggestion: The sales and marketing folks are probably just
desparate to have some high-quality printed material to hand
over to prospects. Don't debate the nonexistent documents with
them. Hold them off as long as possible, while you write a
helpful and attractive user guide according to your standards.
Give it to them as soon as you have a reasonable draft. A nice
user guide will also serve as sales material and as a training
resource.

Don't try to display help on a small screen. Instead, your
contribution should be to help design a usable product that
doesn't need online help (good luck with getting buy-in on
that!!)

The laminated reference cards are a good idea. But they will get
lost almost immediately, so make sure the source files are on
the installation disks or downloadable from your web site (the
user manual too).

Mike O.

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Health - your guide to health and wellness
http://health.yahoo.com

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Free copy of ARTS PDF Tools when you register for the PDF
Conference by April 30. Leading-Edge Practices for Enterprise
& Government, June 3-5, Bethesda,MD. www.PDFConference.com

Are you using Doc-to-Help or ForeHelp? Switch to RoboHelp for Word for $249
or to RoboHelp Office for only $499. Get the PC Magazine five-star rated
Help authoring tool for less! Go to http://www.ehelp.com/techwr

---
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.



Previous by Author: Re: Contracting question
Next by Author: How to fend off a tech writer
Previous by Thread: re: Sales/Marketing Driving Documentation Approach
Next by Thread: Re:Sales/Marketing Driving Documentation Approach


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


Sponsored Ads