Re: Marketing/propaganda in documentation

[Jim Grey <jwg -at- ACD4 -dot- ACD -dot- COM>]

Patrick O'Connell frets:
>The latest version of an operator's guide I'm working on with 3 other people
>contains a chapter, close to the beginning, whose title is the company slogan
>and is written as though the customer still had to be convinced to purchase
>the product. It contains useful information, but the info:hype ratio is
>distressingly low.

>I have a BIG problem with this. I can see where this kind of tool is useful;
>it's not that I object to its creation. I simply feel it has no place in user
>documentation -- it should be in a marketing pamphlet or something. If the
>customer has already purchased product X, I'm afraid s/he will react
>negatively to finding anOTHER sales job awaiting him/her when they crack the
>book.

Our manuals used to begin with a measure of marketing froth as well.
Similarly, this sales instrument told useful product information, but
fell well short of a solid product overview, which it has now become.
We made this change quietly over the course of a few releases (at the time,
new manuals came out more than quarterly).  We feared our Marketing
department's wrath were we to do it suddenly.


jim grey         |beebeebumbleandthestingersmottthehooplerachelsingerslonnie
jwg -at- acd4 -dot- acd -dot- com |mackandtwangandeddiehere'smyringwe'regoingsteadytakeiteasy
Terre Haute, Indiana -- The Silicon Cornfield