Effective Documentation Projects – Part 1 of 3 – Understanding’
The development of user documentation is a large element of any software program undertaking. Sadly, it is usually undervalued and left towards the final moment. But that doesn’t imply it should be with no a good conduite program.
This is the first within a collection of three posts outlining the important components of an excellent user documentation procedure. It is kind of an “ideal” procedure; extremely couple of tasks will likely be check here out able to put into action every action, plus some will call for further steps. Even so, it really should provide you having an excellent basis (especially if you are new to user documentation management).
Here is an overview in the three posts.
Post 1 (this post) – Recognize
Identify your scope
Familiarise yourself using the perform atmosphere
Familiarise your self with the item
Identify the audience for the documentation
Specify perceived audience requirements
Roughly estimate doco task duration and here sources
Research audience specifications
Article 2 – Specify (See divinewrite /docoprocess2.htm)
State your objectives
Write your concept specs
Design some achievable implementations
Conduct usability testing on your prototypes
Write your specifications specifications
Estimate project duration & resources
Conduct usability testing in your writing sample
Write your operate pracs & style specs
Write-up 3 – Write (see divinewrite /docoprocess3.htm)
Write the doco
Manage production
So here goes
Comprehend Your Venture
Determine Your Scope
The very first phase in any venture is to determine exactly what you happen to be expected to do. Generally this will happen before you take on the job, but it should still be the initial thing that you document. Identifying your scope involves figuring out where you fit within the overall development method and where you fit inside the company. No documentation project is ever just documentation, so it really is critical to know exactly what else is involved. Some in the other areas that documentation people are/should be commonly be involved in include:
Spec review
GUI review
Product consumer specifications research
Documentation audience requirements investigation
Usability testing
All of these things are integral towards the development method, and should be scheduled properly.
Familiarise Yourself with the Operate Environment
Get to know everyone involved while in the product. For a computer software undertaking, this will suggest the task manager, the designers, and the guys that is going to be doing the low-level coding. Try to have a really very good relationship with them. They have to respect you, otherwise they’re not heading to listen to much of what you have to say.
Familiarise Yourself with the Product
Find out what’s going to become involved while in the product. You should know:
what are the goals in the development
what consumer specifications they are trying to meet
how the product will probably be used
who will be using it
what the features from the item are
how the item will look and feel
will it require a specific doco design? For instance, it may only run on the latest version of Windows, it may have a particular look and feel, a particular environment (that the help may have to become integrated into), etc.
These are all things that you may have input into, either through simple critique, or through input into user investigation specifications. Try to read as much documentation as you can find, and interview as many people stakeholders as possible. As you go, note down any issues you identify, any questions you have, or anything you think demands to become different.
Some (non-human) sources that you can utilise to achieve this include:
Feature and product specifications
Project plans
Funding application documentation if applicable
Determine the Audience for your Documentation
Discuss using the venture manager (and other stakeholders esp. marketing) the perceived user/audience.
Specify Perceived Audience Needs
Make some educated guesses about audience requirements so you’ll be capable of offer a rough estimate of product duration and resource specifications.
Discuss with the undertaking manager (and other stakeholders esp. marketing) the perceived user requirements that the help ought to satisfy. See if someone has researched consumer goals, jobs, and the mental models users employ when employing the product (or similar products). If they haven’t, interview inhouse experts to determine perceived goals, projects, mental models, etc.
Secondly, you should identify what the theory says about user documentation (i.e. documentation approach, visual considerations, indexing considerations, etc.). I recommend Minimalism Beyond the Nurnberg Funnel, (1998) edited by John M. Carroll.
About estimate doco undertaking duration and resources
Although, by this stage, you don’t actually know enough about the product or your audience needs to know how long the documentation will take to complete, administration will even so like a rough estimate. This can be OK, as long as everyone is aware that it is a Very rough estimate, and subject to change pending additional knowledge and analysis.
This first estimate must incorporate all with the time you’ll spend on the stages that occur before and after the writing stage. Remember, these stages are essential, and must not be short-changed. (TIP: Inside a well managed undertaking, planning really should take approx 30% of your time, writing 50%, production 19%, and evaluation 1%.)
Estimating pre-writing stages
Allowing for the pre-writing stages is trickier than allowing for writing. If you are getting trouble, estimate the writing stage, then base all other estimates on that, utilizing the above figures as a guide.
Estimating writing and post-writing stages
Because you most likely still don’t know an excellent deal about the product or the users, your estimate here will be based primarily on a combination of past records, experience, intuition (gut feel), and industry standards in combination using the goals and jobs you’ve already specified. Start with the following actions.
1. Estimate the quantity of function required to document the duties the user will need to execute to achieve their goals.
2. Track down any previous doco records. See in case you can cross reference the time taken to produce similar doco inside the past with the current quantity estimate. Derive a figure based on this method.
3. See how this compares using the estimate derived from industry standard figures (e.g., I think the current industry standard is to allow 1 day per page of documentation – this covers all drafts and reviews).
4. Compare the two figures and determine a great compromise based on your experience and intuition.
5. Figure out how long you truly have to do it, then how many writers you’ll want to get it done during this time.
6. Draw up an undertaking schedule utilizing something like Microsoft Project. Don’t forget to allow time for recruiting, training, and writing operate practices.
TIP: At this stage, you ought to publish the first draft in the Documentation Project Strategy. It should include or refer to all of the actions outlined in this document. Basically, it ought to reflect the procedure advocated here, but be specific to the venture you are working on. It really should also include a timeline.
Study Audience Specifications
Investigation on the users with the product and the audience of the documentation is one in the most critical parts of any profitable product. Sadly, it is also one with the most often overlooked aspects of any undertaking. This generally occurs because decision makers feel they already know pretty much everything there is to know about the users and audience.
When managing a documentation task, you should investigate the chance of conducting research. If you are employed late within the item life cycle, you must ask if consumer analysis has already been conducted for your product itself. If it hasn’t, there’s a great chance you won’t get support for audience research.
Audience study ought to seek to determine:
user objectives (what the consumer hopes to achieve using the product)
user expectations in the doco (Manuals? Online help? Tutorials?, usability requirements, localisation specifications, etc.)
user mental models (how they already see online help, what impressions they have of it, etc.)
user jobs (how the consumer uses the item to achieve their goals)
which users carry out what projects (user/task matrix)
how long have users been doing these tasks?
which duties are one-off and which are repeated?
did they ever do them differently?
do they do a variety of jobs, or go here just a few?
do they hate doing it? (is it tedious, repetitive?)
do they find it difficult?
which jobs are considered essential?
are they normally under pressure when they do the task?
are there other distractions (environmental, social, etc.)?
Some research methods to consider are:
Observation of users doing their work in their perform environment
Focus groups and interviews with users
Questionnaires
TIP: For additional details on these methods, take a look at Managing Your Documentation Projects by Hackos (1994), User and Task Analysis for Interface Style by Hackos & Redish (1998), Social Marketing: New Imperative for Public Health by Manoff (1985), Designing Qualitative Study 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 become continuedSee component 2 of this write-up (divinewrite /docoprocess2.htm) for information on preparing your requirements.
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