After conducting 21 hours of interviews with Documentation Managers and writing a 7,000 word report on the findings, two factors stand out: 1. The importance of usability testing documents.2. The importance of measurement. As the saying goes, you can’t manage what you can’t measure. UPDATE: The report is now available for purchase via the Cherryleaf… Read more »
Category: Technical Author
Should technical authors embrace user generated content?
It may seem counter-intuitive, but we believe technical authors shouldn’t fear the trend towards user generated content. Let me explain why: 1. It could get you the attention of your CEO. October’s Harvard Business Review highlights an article called “The Contribution Revolution: Letting Volunteers Build Your Business” by Intuit CEO Scott Cook. User contribution is… Read more »
Technical Documentation: How it really gets written
This reputedly originates from Damien Katz of The CouchDB Project: “Welcome to the world of technical documentation! The situation you are in is no different from any other technical author. The technical writing process: 1. Ask engineer how the damn thing works. 2. Deafing silence. 3. Crickets. 4. Tumbleweed. 5. Just start writing something. Anything…. Read more »
Technical authors tackle “The curse of knowledge”
If you’ve ever struggled to explain something to someone considerably less expert than yourself, you may have experienced “The curse of knowledge”. It’s a curse that technical authors resolve everyday, although they may not know they’ve been doing it. It’s a phrase that comes from a great book called “Made to Stick” by Chip and… Read more »
Ten Challenges for Technical Authors in the Network Age
The Supernova 2008 conference is currently running in San Francisco – on the theme of “the Network Age”. Professor Kevin Werbach has outlined ten challenges: “In the Information Age, computers and communications networks produced a global village and astounding gains in economic productivity. The Network Age incorporates those advances into an environment where anything connects… Read more »