The Sacred Cow Blocking the Road

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.

Hughes, Michael A. UXmatters (2007). Articles>User Experience>Documentation>Technical Writing

Does Your Documentation Suck?

I’ve been browsing a lot of online documentation lately and in a past life I spent an enormous amount of time worrying about how my users were interacting with documentation. It never ceases to amaze me how bad most product documentation is, especially when the documentation is published in a half-measured attempt on the web. Do companies not realize the negative effect poor documentation, both content and presentation, have on their users?

LugIron Software Blog (2009). Articles>Documentation>Technical Writing>User Experience