RE: "INSTRUCTIONS NOT INCLUDED"

["Rick Quatro" <rick -at- rickquatro -dot- com>]

I agree that companies should provide detailed documentation. However, it
probably has more to do with what the market requires. How many people use
the quality of documentation when deciding what phone to buy? Or appliance,
etc.?

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+rick=rickquatro -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+rick=rickquatro -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf
Of Mike Starr
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2015 2:00 PM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: "INSTRUCTIONS NOT INCLUDED"

I'm not going to single out the iPhone or Apple... I don't own any Apple
products. However, many companies are skimping on the official documentation
and relying on outsiders to do their job for them and I feel they're doing
their customers a disservice. IMHO, the cost of quality documentation should
be borne by the manufacturer. If you look at the retail price of certain
products, there's no doubt that the profit margin is substantial enough that
the manufacture could have provided top-quality documentation and still made
a great profit. It's the cost accountants who are telling them to cut down
the cost of documentation in order to maximize profit.

When we're documenting products that have, let's say, 150 tasks that can be
done with the product and we only provide documentation for the 15 most
common tasks, we're telling the customers that we don't care how they learn
to do those other 135 things or even if they learn how to do them.

Best Regards,

Mike
--
Mike Starr, Writer
Technical Writer   -    Online Help Developer   -   WordPress Websites
Graphic Designer - Desktop Publisher - Custom Microsoft Word templates
(262) 694-1028   -  mike -at- writestarr -dot- com   -  http://www.writestarr.com
President - Working Writers of Wisconsin http://www.workingwriters.org/

On 1/13/2015 11:34 AM, Rick Quatro wrote:
> The iPhone may come with brief instructions, but there are a bunch of 
> iPhone "manuals" (third-party books) on Amazon.com. Plus, as you 
> mentioned, there are tons of videos on YouTube. Whatever your learning 
> style, there are plenty of resources available, even if they are no 
> longer provided by the manufacturer.
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