RE: Rhetoric And Technical Writing?

["Dubin, David" <David -dot- Dubin -at- sage -dot- com>]

There was a study done about four or five years ago among software users.
The study asked software users to delineate the process flow they use in
order to resolve a problem using the software. (As opposed to a software
problem.)

The first response among the majority of users was ask the person next to
you or in the next office.

The second response was to call their in-house tech support, then the
software's tech support.
Fourth was to read Help, and fifth was. . . . you guessed it, RTFM!

David B. Dubin, PHR 
Senior Curriculum Developer 
Sage Software 
727-579-1111 x 3356
david -dot- dubin -at- sage -dot- com
Your business in mind.

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+david -dot- dubin=sage -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+david -dot- dubin=sage -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf
Of Cindy -dot- Crittenden -at- cox -dot- com
Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2006 1:52 PM
To: stevenabrown -at- yahoo -dot- com; daveloveless -at- gmail -dot- com; bgranat -at- granatedit -dot- com
Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: RE: Rhetoric And Technical Writing?

I am primarily a user interface designer with a background in technical
writing.  This one issue pretty much drives my entire professional
career.

Poor design drives the need for great documentation, both online and
printed.  Users will admit to rarely reading the manual, but just wait
until they're really stuck and forced to turn to it.  It could be the
greatest documentation ever written, but if it doesn't answer their
question, it's very unlikely they will ever refer to it again.

Now, of course poor design is more often the rule rather than the
exception.  How many times have we all heard "oh, that's a training
issue", or "we'll just cover that in the documentation" coming from
TPTB?

I'll admit, sheepishly, that I myself am not a manual "reader".  I fall
squarely in the category of those that refer to the manual only as a
last resort - so I'm just perpetuating the problem.  :)




-----Original Message----
From: techwr-l-bounces+cindy -dot- crittenden=cox -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+cindy -dot- crittenden=cox -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Steven Brown
Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2006 12:22 PM
To: David Loveless; Bonnie Granat
Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: Rhetoric And Technical Writing?

Dave, you said something very interesting:

"I RARELY go to the manual for answers because
experience has shown that I end up wasting time trying
to find something that is not there or that is
hidden."

I've often heard this from friends and business
associates. Heck, I've even watched technical writers
not use online help when they should have! 

So the Big Question to all technical writers is, why
don't people read what we write? Are we at all
responsible?

Steven Brown



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