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Subject:Re: giving a toss about documentation From:eric -dot- dunn -at- ca -dot- transport -dot- bombardier -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Fri, 1 Apr 2005 13:35:39 -0400
bounce-techwr-l-106467 -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com wrote on 04/01/2005 12:27:34 PM:
> Right. Another bad analogy would be buying a car, microwave,
> refrigerator, toaster...
Why?
The goal of good enduser oriented commodities and products (software or
hardware) should be ease of use and the elimination of documentation.
That being the case, is it not better that a business avoid investing in
documentation when they could invest the same money in development to
eliminate the need for the documentation by producing a more user-friendly
product?
I was to buy software, use it, and find the help or documents lacking, I
would much rather be served well by customer service and then see the
product changed. Not the problem glossed over in documentation.
Unless my way of seeing the world is vastly different from the norm, I
view any need to go to documentation for how to execute familiar or
standard tasks as an ultimate critique of the product design. Fix the
product not the documents. If the product is fixed no-one will call for
support, even those that don't read documentation. Fix the documentation
and you'll still get calls, customers will still be frustrated with your
product, and you won't have changed too many people's opinion about the
quality of the product design.
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