RE: This too is technical communication

["Pinkham, Jim" <Jim -dot- Pinkham -at- voith -dot- com>]

Chris and PT are right. Bad documentation, from a consumer point of
view, tends to reflect poorly on the brand of the manufacturer and,
rationally or not, even on the vendor that sells it. Customers come into
Best Buy (to revisit that example) more often than you might suspect to
complain about indecipherable or internally inconsistent instructions.
Sometimes, of course, that's more money for the Geek Squad to go
untangle things. Often as not, though, it's just more work and annoyance
for all concerned -- including customer dissatisfaction and returned
product. Savvy manufacturers recognize this and the best work hard to
intentionally make their documentation as clear, uncomplicated, and
user-friendly as possible. With all due deference to those who believe
otherwise, I don't think the fact that it's not the sole or chief
determinant of an initial choice to buy a product is really the point.

***************************

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+jim -dot- pinkham=voith -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+jim -dot- pinkham=voith -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Chris Borokowski
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2007 10:51 AM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: This too is technical communication

Documentation is never a selling point.

It is however a primary point of user satisfaction, which is how brand
value is built over time.

For the MBA looking to pump up a stock and ditch it, technical writing
is completely irrelevant.

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