In praise of dummies

We live in a world so diverse and so complex that everyone has to deal with situations where we’re really don’t know what’s going on. We have to ‘drive blindly’ – we’re all dummies at some time or another. The reality is, it’s rarely your fault. The last person said to know everything about the… Read more »

Why do Technical Authors only use two of the three qualities of good design?

Why do Technical Authors only use two of the three qualities of good design? Vitruvius, the Roman architect, claimed a structure must exhibit the three qualities of firmitas, utilitas and venustas: it must be solid, useful and beautiful. Paul Mijksenaar, a modern day Information Designer, turned these qualities into a practical three-point formula: Reliability, Utility and… Read more »

Creating more engaged users

As part of my prep for my presentation on user documentation as a more emotional experience for the user, I revisited this presentation by Kathy Sierra. This hasn’t ‘made the cut’ into my presentation due to lack of time, so I thought I’d post it here.

How the curse of the jilted Technical Author hit Google

Beware the software developer who releases software without adequate user assistance (in plain English: user guides and online Help) for “The curse of the jilted Technical Author” may strike your product. This curse has just hit Google, who last week announced the demise of Google Wave. Google released Google Wave without any online Help or… Read more »

Getting the balance right between hotline support and user documentation

Many organisations find it hard to know how much time, money and effort to put into supporting their users. There’s a competition, of sorts, between the Technical Support and Technical Publications departments over how much budget they should receive. In some organisations, these departments are also competing, in a way, with content generated by users… Read more »