The increasing military assistance by US for Pakistan is raising concerns for India and other South Asian countries. Pakistan joint ally of US in “war against terror” is reaping benefits in form of military assistance.

It may seem comical, but it's a surprisingly common situation. I've encountered many companies that don't provide any user manuals with their products. If they do, their manuals are often horribly incoherent, or else years out of date. It shouldn't happen, but it happens all time.

Now, this problem is less common when buying off-the-shelf software or consumer electronics. That's because these products typically come from large corporations that pay attention to such details. Among smaller engineering firms though, this is a frequent occurrence. In fact, I'd estimate that about half of small engineering companies that I've encountered are guilty of this offense.

I remember how one engineer told me why his company didn't provide any user manuals with their products. In hushed tones, he said, "It's because we don't make any money by writing manuals. It's not a money-making venture, so our management doesn't want to waste time on this." An annoyed expression crept into his face, then he leaned closer and said, "We have lost so many customers because we don't have decent documentation. Talk about being penny-wise, pound-foolish!"

It's not just customers who suffer when manuals are inadequate or non-existent. What about employees themselves? What happens when a new engineer comes on board, and has to learn quickly? Or what happens when existing engineers need to familiarize themselves more with unfamiliar aspects of their product lines? The user documentation, if properly written, can provide a gentle and efficient way of bringing up to speed. Without it, they will be forced to rely more heavily on other engineers to educate them, thus wasting time of everyone concerned. Weeks, if not months, of valuable manpower can be squandered in this fashion.