Re: Opinions, please: Document by the Component or by the Tab?

["Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>]

I wouldn't discount the possibility that task-based
documents might not be desired by a product's
users.  But I would still maintain that everyone
working on the development should still be able
to tell you what the most common tasks are
without having to go away and perform some
kind of "analysis."  How do you develop and test
a product, much less document it, if you don't
know what it's supposed to do?

Gene Kim-Eng


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <jlshaeffer -at- aol -dot- com>


>I have observed a tendency to abandon task-based documentation at the 
>System Administrator level. The tasks are seen as so ad hoc, fluid and 
>unpredictable that creating reference manuals for the tools available 
>is all we can do. Developers also believe that reference works are all 
>that system administrators would really want. (I'm not arguing in favor 
>of this approach, just observing that it seems fairly common.)

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