The Sacred Cow Blocking the Road
http://www.uxmatters.com/MT/archives/000242.php

Hughes, Michael A.
UXmatters
2007

Abstract:

When product teams ask technical writers to document software products, writers usually start their projects by analyzing the tasks users will perform when working with them. A task analysis generates a list of procedures—plus the supporting information users need to follow them—and eventually results in a document in which sequentially numbered instructions are the dominant type of information—neatly organized under user-centered task headings and preceded by enabling knowledge. It sounds ideal, classical even. The problem? Users don’t read procedures.