The Lean user guide

It was suggested I read The Lean Startup, by Eric Riess. This book outlines how principles of Lean manufacturing can be applied to startup businesses, and software businesses in particular. For startups, it’s about how to figure out the right thing to build – that people will pay for – as quickly as possible. I’m still reading it, and so far, it is very good.

It begs the question:

Where does user documentation fit in a Lean startup, and can the principles of Lean be applied to User Assistance?

Measuring the value of Help in desktop applications

One of the challenges for Technical Authors is quantifying the value of what they produce. For example, how can you tell how many people are reading online Help when the software is installed on someone’s desktop computer? One application mentioned in passing as last week’s UAEurope conference, ApplicationMetrics, might be able to provide the answer. ApplicationMetrics… Read more »

Any user guide, as long as it’s black

At last week’s UAEurope conference (and in this season’s Communicator magazine), Dr. Tony Self suggested how car manufacture can be an allegory for the technical communication profession. Henry Ford revolutionised car manufacture when his production line replaced the method where cars were hand-made by artisans. Famously, Henry Ford offered the Model T in “any colour…… Read more »

A help system with 3 million readers, 800K edits and 3K comments

At this moment, Autodesk’s Web based Help system statistics stand at: 3,166,604 visitors (since 1 Feb 2011) 31,268 registered users 388,517 pages 4914 videos 3,282 comments 815,966 page edits 2,333,219 all contributions More at  Irregular Enterprise Would you like your Help system achieve similar results?