Re: Dead-end Online Help Path?

[Chuck Martin <cwmartin -at- US -dot- ORACLE -dot- COM>]

Roy,
I'm trying to figure out just exacly how to begin a response; you raise
so man interesting issues.

First and foremost, from what you describe, I'd say you're far from an
"old dinosaur." In fact, This industry needs many more people who are
enamored less with whiz-bang technology and mor with what will best
benefit the end user. It sounds like, over and over, that the users have
been your primary focus.

Please don't let the rantings of one ignorant fop hiring manager
discourage you. That this person cared less about quality results than
the technology should be a tipoff that it's not a company you'd want to
work for; you'd have too many fights on your hands trying to represent
the interests of the end users.

And yes, there is a market for all types of online documents, not just
those attached to specific applications.

Also, please don't let your age be an excuse for no longer learning. I
believe that you can always learn new things (although, to be fair, my
past attempts at learning foreign languages was not successful). So it
takes a few weeksd, months, or years to acquire new skills. We all do
it. And when you've spent some time picking up some new tachnology,
you'll still be the same age as if you hadn't spent the time
learning--only you'll have expanded your horizons and will be able to
meet more challenges.

Plus, there's no reason why you can't more into developing-web-based
material. All the concepts for presenting the material are essentially
the same. The only disfference is in the delivery technology, and that's
a snap to pick up the basics.

Heck, if I were the hiring manager type, and I had a candidate who
talked about making information accessible and useful to users, I'd be
chomping at the bit to get the hiring papers through the bureaucracy.
Technologies can be learned. A user-oriented attitude is still too rare,
and snyone who doesn't snap that up  when the opportunity arises just
plain isn't going to be successful in the long run.

Good luck.

Roy Anderson wrote:
>
> Most of you will find my situation and musings odd. I seem to have reached a
> dead-end insofar as online help development is concerned. While I enjoyed
> acclaim for developing tight, no-nonsense, user-friendly online help systems,
> my "old dinosaur" skills set don't sell well in today's market.
>
> I'm at a career crossroads. Continue to waste time seeking contracts in online
> development, or move to Y2K programming? Since I help cause Y2K problems by
> programming COBOL legacy systems decades ago, the latter is a natural. I,
> however, much prefer developing online help systems. It's rewarding to hear
> grateful users express how my online help files helped them understand
> and overcome problems.
>
> It seems that most of you develop online help for specific applications
> and are intensely involved in said applications. My programming background is
> isolated to large-scale mainframes. I have no experience with Windows, Mac,
> and Unix internals. Nor am I an engineer.
>
> In 1994, I was asked to do something to reduce the hundreds of calls to our
> corporate help desks. I chose to use WinHELP to distribute FAQs in online
> help files over our LANS--we had no intranet in those days--and this became
> wildly popular. We expanded the daily help file until it included 600 Word
> files embracing FAQs, contacts, news, and so forth. This online help file
> reduced calls to the Help desk by seventy percent, and later became the
> nucleus for the corporate intranet.
>
> I've written over 350 RoboHELP projects during the past four years--including
> two custom replacements for SAP enterprise software help--a process whereby
> we unlinked SAP online help from F1 keys and substituted online help tailored
> to the client's business processes and transaction screens. In this process,
> Worked closely with business process SMEs but not software SMEs. In this
> effort,  Software engineers linked our custom online help files to the SAP
> help system. Online help developers were not allowed to discuss software
> links with SAP engineers. Go figure.
>
> None of our SAP help files (RoboHELP 4 and 5) used "What's this?" or secondary
> screens. When users are confused about something, they simply press F1. SAP
> esponds by displaying the online help (with screen captures) appropriate to
> that process or transaction screen. Our rather boring online help systems
> are vital to users but are not very impressive to today's hiring managers.
>
> A hiring manager recently laughed at my example file. "You call that an online
> help file? You don't use secondary screens. You don't use 'What's this?' This
> is s---!"
>
> I had to agree the example was dull. All it does is communicate what the user
> needs to see to resolve questions and issues. We wrote online help for users--
> not to impress anyone. The users adored my efforts but...
>
> At my age (55), it's unlikely I'll acquire the skills to develop online help
> for modern software applications--to intelligently discuss GUIs with Dilbert
> and Wally types.
>
> Is there a market for stand-alone (not a component of a software application),
> online help projects these days? It seems that every example I can think of
> for creating non-software related topics can now be handled by webs and PDFs.
>
> My online help development days seem rather bleak. Any advice?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Roy
>


--
"Online help should ignore first-time users and concentrate
on those people who are already successful using the
product, but who want to expand their horizons."
        - Alan Cooper
        "About Face: The Essentials of User Interface Design"

Chuck Martin
Principal Technical Writer, Oracle Developer
Tools Division, Oracle Corporation

cwmartin"at"us.oracle.com


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