Re: Important Stuff They Don't Teach In Tech Writing School

["Bonnie Granat" <bgranat -at- granatedit -dot- com>]

Gene Kim-Eng wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Bonnie Granat" <bgranat -at- granatedit -dot- com>
>
>> The original poster did not say it was about "activism for users," so
>> you did not miss anything.
>
> Rule #10 does, I went back and reread it.

Here's the rule:

<quote>
You are the advocate for the end user. Everything you do is ultimately
for the end user. Sometimes your client needs a gentle reminder -- 
"That's an interesting suggestion, but how does it help the end user?"
<endquote>

I read the second sentence as saying that if the end user can't
effectively use the product, you're not doing your job. When I see "end
user," I see "person using product" -- so I see the product as
implicitly involved in the concept of end user.

I suppose the last sentence was sufficiently vague for me to have
ignored it -- I still do not know what it means!  Perhaps that is what
you disagree with.

I am currently documenting a quality control application for
pharmaceutical testing laboratories. At the client's request, I have
been making recommendations on tasks, the GUI, and anything else that
needs commenting on. Ninety percent of the time, any remark I make, any
question I ask, any recommendation I offer will prominently feature the
word "user."

Will users know X? What does a user need to know before doing X? I think
users are not going to understand Y. Users will find it easier to get to
X via Z than via Y.

In all these cases, one could argue that I am advocating for the user.
Is there something wrong with that? It seems to me that making a usable
product -- that users can use -- makes a good product. And that's what
I'm doing for my client -- helping him produce a better product. What
I've described is over and above the documentation of the software, but
is a part of my job under the terms of our contract. The second draft of
the manual of administration side of things is done, and the client is
very happy.



>
>> It seems to me that the above is what people
>> mean by being a "user advocate."
>> At least that's how I have always understood
>> the term. I think it's a useful
>> concept -- far from "idiotic" -- as long as
>> it's not seen as the primary role.
>> It certainly plays a part in good writing.
>
> Over the years I have encountered writers who saw
> it as their job to document every last little thing about a
> product, "just in case it might help the user," and continued
> to vehemently argue that the user was being "shortchanged,"
> even after a company's marketing planners specifically
> decided that certain aspects of a product should not be
> supported for business reasons.  As I said, keeping the
> user's needs in mind can be a good thing, but the writer
> needs to remember who's signing the paycheck and what
> the real targets are.
>

Do you mean to say some aspects of the product were not documented, and
that the user was left to figure things out on his or her own without
any help?


Bonnie Granat
www.GranatEdit.com
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Mobile: 617-319-7461
Office: 617-354-7084



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