Successful Documentation Projects – Part 1 of 3 – ‘Understanding’

Written by Glenn Murray


Continued from page 1

Although, by this stage, you don’t really know enough aboutrepparttar product or your audience requirements to know how longrepparttar 107160 documentation will take to complete, management will nonetheless like a rough estimate. This is OK, as long as everyone is aware that it is a VERY rough estimate, and subject to change pending further knowledge and research.

This initial estimate must incorporate all ofrepparttar 107161 time you’ll spend onrepparttar 107162 stages that occur before and afterrepparttar 107163 writing stage. Remember, these stages are important, and should not be short-changed. (TIP: In a well managed project, planning should take approx 30% of your time, writing 50%, production 19%, and evaluation 1%.)

Estimating pre-writing stages

Allowing forrepparttar 107164 pre-writing stages is trickier than allowing for writing. If you’re having trouble, estimaterepparttar 107165 writing stage, then base all other estimates on that, usingrepparttar 107166 above figures as a guide.

Estimating writing and post-writing stages

Because you probably still don’t know a great deal aboutrepparttar 107167 product orrepparttar 107168 users, your estimate here will be based primarily on a combination of past records, experience, intuition (gut feel), and industry standards in combination withrepparttar 107169 goals and tasks you’ve already specified. Start withrepparttar 107170 following steps.

1.Estimaterepparttar 107171 quantity of work required to documentrepparttar 107172 tasksrepparttar 107173 user will need to perform to achieve their goals. 2.Track down any previous doco records. See if you can cross referencerepparttar 107174 time taken to produce similar doco inrepparttar 107175 past withrepparttar 107176 current quantity estimate. Derive a figure based on this method. 3.See how this compares withrepparttar 107177 estimate derived from industry standard figures (e.g., I thinkrepparttar 107178 current industry standard is to allow 1 day per page of documentation – this covers all drafts and reviews). 4.Comparerepparttar 107179 two figures and determine a good compromise based on your experience and intuition. 5.Figure out how long you actually have to do it, then how many writers you’ll need to get it done during this time. 6.Draw up a project schedule using something like Microsoft Project. Don’t forget to allow time for recruiting, training, and writing work practices.

TIP: At this stage, you should writerepparttar 107180 first draft ofrepparttar 107181 Documentation Project Plan. It should include or refer to all ofrepparttar 107182 steps outlined in this document. Basically, it should reflectrepparttar 107183 process advocated here, but be specific torepparttar 107184 project you’re working on. It should also include a timeline.

Research Audience Requirements

Research onrepparttar 107185 users ofrepparttar 107186 product andrepparttar 107187 audience ofrepparttar 107188 documentation is one ofrepparttar 107189 most important parts of any successful product. Unfortunately, it is also one ofrepparttar 107190 most often overlooked aspects of any project. This generally occurs because decision makers feel they already know pretty much everything there is to know aboutrepparttar 107191 users and audience.

When managing a documentation project, you should investigaterepparttar 107192 chance of conducting research. If you’re employed late inrepparttar 107193 product life cycle, you should ask if user research has already been conducted forrepparttar 107194 product itself. If it hasn’t, there’s a good chance you won’t get support for audience research. Audience research should seek to identify:

•user goals (whatrepparttar 107195 user hopes to achieve withrepparttar 107196 product) •user expectations ofrepparttar 107197 doco (Manuals? Online help? Tutorials?, usability requirements, localisation requirements, etc.) •user mental models (how they already see online help, what impressions they have of it, etc.) •user tasks (howrepparttar 107198 user usesrepparttar 107199 product to achieve their goals) •which users perform what tasks (user/task matrix) •how long have users been doing these tasks? •which tasks are one-off and which are repeated? •did they ever do them differently? •do they do a variety of tasks, or just a few? •do they hate doing it? (is it tedious, repetitive?) •do they find it difficult? •which tasks are considered essential? •are they normally under pressure when they dorepparttar 107200 task? •are there other distractions (environmental, social, etc.)?

Some research methods to consider are:

•Observation of users doing their work in their work environment •Focus groups and interviews with users •Questionnaires

TIP: For further details on these methods, take a look at Managing Your Documentation Projects by Hackos (1994), User and Task Analysis for Interface Design by Hackos & Redish (1998), Social Marketing: New Imperative for Public Health by Manoff (1985), Designing Qualitative Research 2nd Edition by Marshall & Rossman (1995), and “Conducting Focus Groups – A Guide for First-Time Users”, in Marketing Intelligence and Planning by Tynan & Drayton (1988).

To be continued… See part 2 of this article - http://www.divinewrite.com/docoprocess2.htm - for information on preparing your specifications.

* Glenn Murray is an advertising copywriter and heads copywriting studio Divine Write. He can be contacted on Sydney +612 4334 6222 or at glenn@divinewrite.com. Visit http://www.divinewrite.com for further details or more FREE articles.




Local Company gains Four Nominations in Computer Trade ‘Oscars’

Written by Cindy Hallatt


Continued from page 1

Optronix is a Mitek group company with its head office in Newcastle-under-Lyme. Mitek’s computer component distribution arm itself has set local records, reachingrepparttar Fasttrack 100 for 3 years running.

“When we establishedrepparttar 107159 Optronix brand of products 3 years ago”, observed Managing Director Malcolm Roach, “Our objective was to provide a UK based manufacturing company offering quality computer products. We believedrepparttar 107160 key was to base ourselves inrepparttar 107161 UK, where we were easily contactable and could provide a UK based customer support service to trade customers and members ofrepparttar 107162 public alike. Too often people get fobbed off with overseas support centres and communication difficulties. To find Optronix nominated in no less than 4 categories of product after so short a period inrepparttar 107163 marketplace is an amazing achievement, and we shall continue to work hard to ensure that our customers getrepparttar 107164 very best from all our products and support service”

Optronix Limited Marketing and Sales Office Unit C, Greenfield Farm Trading Estate, Congleton, Cheshire, CW12 4TR Tel: 01260 – 281144. Fax: 01260 – 281260.


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