FW: Convincing a Client He Needs a User Manual

Subject: FW: Convincing a Client He Needs a User Manual
From: Gina Hertel <Ghertel -at- ALPHA88 -dot- COM>
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1998 09:08:12 -0400

Alison Huml said that, at the STC awards banquet for Northern California
last year, the keynote speech addressed the value of technical writing and
gave concrete figures (esp. related to savings in support calls). I tried a
Web search, but couldn't find it. Anybody have a footnote?

Gina Hertel
Manager, Technical Communications
Alpha Technologies, Inc.
(732) 980-1288 ext. 749
ghertel -at- alpha88 -dot- com


-----Original Message-----
From: Alison Huml [SMTP:alison -at- hobnob -dot- com]
<mailto:[SMTP:alison -at- hobnob -dot- com]>
Sent: Monday, June 15, 1998 1:23 PM
To: Gina Hertel
Subject: Re: Convincing a Client He Needs a User Manual

Hi Gina,

You can argue that good documentation reduces support costs. If you ship the
product without documentation, expect to get an increase in support calls
and frustrated users.
At the STC awards banquet for Northern California last year, the keynote
speech addressed the value of technical writing and gave concrete figures
(esp. related to savings in support calls). I'd try a Web search to find
it...
Good luck-Alison

Gina Hertel wrote:
> Hi all. I need to *convince* a client that he needs a User Manual
to go
> with an application that my company developed for him.
>
> My whole argument, basically, is that if people don't know how to
*use* what
> you've developed, it's worthless. Does anyone have any canned
language to
> this effect? Does anyone have any stats on the topic? Any help
would be
> much appreciated. I'd be happy to post results if you're
interested.
>
> Thanks,
> Gina Hertel
> Manager, Technical Communications
> Alpha Technologies, Inc.
> (732) 980-1288 ext. 749
> ghertel -at- alpha88 -dot- com <mailto:ghertel -at- alpha88 -dot- com>
>
>
<mailto:techwr-l -at- listserv -dot- okstate -dot- edu>
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<http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/archives.htm>
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http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/topics.htm
<http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/topics.htm>
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