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Will You Add? - Successful Documentation Projects - Part 1 of 3 - 'Understanding'
FORWARDThe 188 stage Hero's Journey (Monomyth) is the template upon which the vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters are based upon. In fact, ALL of the hundreds of Hollywood movies we have deconstructed (see URL below) are based on this 188+ stage template.Understanding this template is a priority for story or screenwriters. This is the template you must master if you are to succeed in the craft.[The terminology is most often metaphoric and applies to all successful stories and screenplays, from The Godfather (1972) to Brokeback Mountain (2006) to Annie Hall (1977) to Lord of the Rings (2003) to Drugstore Cowboy (1989) to Thelma and Louise (1991) to Apocaplyse Now (1979)].THERE IS ONLY ONE STORYTHE 188 STAGE HERO'S JOURNEY:a) Attempts to tap into unconscious expectations the audience has regarding what a story is and how it should be told.b) Gives the writer more structural elements than simply three or four acts, plot points, mid point and so on.c) Gives you a tangible process for building and releasing dissonance (establishing and achieving catharses, of which there are usually four).d) Tells you what to write. For example, at a certain stage of the story, the focus should be on the Call to Adventu
TIP: At this stage, you should write the first draft of the Documentation Project Plan. It should include or refer to all of the steps outlined in this document. Basically, it should reflect the process advocated here, but be specific to the project you’re working on. It should also include a timeline.
Research Audience Requirements
Research on the users of the product and the audience of the documentation is one of the most important parts of any successful product. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most often overlooked aspects of any project. This generally occurs because decision makers feel they already know pretty much everything there is to know about th
You may have heard some people telling you that affiliate marketing don’t really works but do you know that those people who told you that are mainly people who are looking for a get rich quick scheme.What actually separates a successful affiliate marketer from an affiliate dropout lies in the attitude. Those dropouts are usually looking for instant gratification by putting in only some effort. Once they do not see any results in a few days time, they give up in this business model and start telling everyone they meet that it is a failing model.The concept of affiliate marketing or an affiliate business works exactly the same as any offline business. It requires constant efforts and constant marketing in order to work but the main difference between affiliate business and offline business lies in the following factors- Low Startup Capital- Can coexist with your day job thus giving you more security- No need to create own products- No need to stock up inventoryAlthough there are difference between affiliate business and offline business, the idea of running both businesses remains the same. If you treat your affiliate business the same way as you would have done for your offline business, then I can tell you straight here that you are goin
This is the first in a series of three articles outlining the key elements of a good user documentation process. It’s kind of an “ideal” process; very few projects will be able to implement every step, and some will require additional steps. Nonetheless, it should provide you with a good foundation (especially if you’re new to user documentation management).
Here’s an overview of the three articles.
Article 1 (this article) – Understand
- Identify your scope
- Familiarise yourself with the work environment
- Familiarise yourself with the product
- Identify the audience for the documentation
- Specify perceived audience requirements
- Roughly estimate doco project duration and resources
- Research audience requirements
Article 2 – Specify (See http://www.divinewrite.com/docoprocess2.htm)
- State your goals
- Write your concept specifications
- Design some possible implementations
- Conduct usability testing on your prototypes
- Write your requirements specifications
- Estimate project duration & resources
- Conduct usability testing on your writing sample
- Write your work pracs & design specs
Article 3 – Write (see http://www.divinewrite.com/docoprocess3.htm)
- Write the doco
- Manage production
So here goes…
Identify Your Scope
The first step in any project is to identify exactly what you’re expected to do. Generally this will happen before you take on the job, but it should still be the first thing that you document. Identifying your scope involves figuring out where you fit in the overall development process and where you fit within the company. No documentation project is ever just documentation, so it’s important to know exactly what else is involved. Some of the other areas that documentation people are/should be commonly be involved in include:
- Spec review
- GUI review
- Product user requirements research
- Documentation audience requirements research
- Usability testing
Familiarise Yourself with the Work Environment
Get to know everyone involved in the product. For a software project, this will mean the project manager, the designers, and the guys that will be doing the low-level coding. Try to have a really good relationship with them. They have to respect you, otherwise they’re not going to listen to much of what you have to say.
Familiarise Yourself with the Product
Find out what’s going to be involved in the product. You must know:
- what are the goals of the development
- what user requirements they are trying to meet
- how the product will be used
- who will be using it
- what the features of the product are
- how the product 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 be integrated into), etc.
Some (non-human) sources that you can utilise to achieve this include:
- Feature and product specifications
- Project plans
- Funding application documentation if applicable
Discuss with the project manager (and other stakeholders esp. marketing) the perceived user/audience.
Specify Perceived Audience Requirements
Make some educated guesses about audience requirements so you’ll be able to provide a rough estimate of product duration and resource requirements.
Discuss with the project manager (and other stakeholders esp. marketing) the perceived user requirements that the help must satisfy. See if someone has researched user goals, tasks, and the mental models users employ when using the product (or similar products). If they haven’t, interview inhouse experts to identify perceived goals, tasks, 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.
Roughly estimate doco project duration and resources
Although, by this stage, you don’t really know enough about the product or your audience requirements to know how long the documentation will take to complete, management will nonetheless like a rough estimate. This is OK, as long as everyone is aware that it is a VERY rough estimate, and subject to change pending further knowledge and research.
This initial estimate must incorporate all of the time you’ll spend on the stages that occur before and after the writing stage. Remember, these stages are important, and should not be short-changed. (TIP: In a well managed project, planning 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’re having trouble, estimate the writing stage, then base all other estimates on that, using the above figures as a guide.
Estimating writing and post-writing stages
Because you probably still don’t know a great 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 with the goals and tasks you’ve already specified. Start with the following steps.
- Estimate the quantity of work required to document the tasks the user will need to perform to achieve their goals.
- Track down any previous doco records. See if you can cross reference the time taken to produce similar doco in the past with the current quantity estimate. Derive a figure based on this method.
- See how this compares with 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).
- Compare the two figures and determine a good compromise based on your experience and intuition.
- Figure out how long you actually have to do it, then how many writers you’ll need to get it done during this time.
- Draw up a project schedule using something like Microsoft Project. Don’t forget to allow time for recruiting, training, and writing work practices.
Research Audience Requirements
Research on the users of the product and the audience of the documentation is one of the most important parts of any successful product. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most often overlooked aspects of any project. This generally occurs because decision makers feel they already know pretty much everything there is to know about the
It would be silly to say that there is anyone who does not need money to survive in this life. It would also be unlikely that anyone will want to care and support for adult relatives for very long. There are many ways to go about making more money for yourself with some time and effort over the internet.We all want to make more money but don’t always have the time to dedicate to an additional part-time job nor have the energy to serve the public in two separate facets, however, in order to increase income over the internet, you must be prepared to invest some time. The really nice part of this time investment is the time spent will be from home and can be in what otherwise would be free time.One of the best ways to make more money over the internet is to start a website and use a variety of advertising venues which pay you for advertising their products, links or information on your site. There are tons of advertising sites which pay for this type of “free” advertising, which they do pay you a percentage of the sale made. This can be very effective in creating a few hundred dollars a month in additional income.Another very helpful way to make money over the internet is to complete online surveys. There are literally hundreds of survey sites out there waiting f
So here goes…
Identify Your Scope
The first step in any project is to identify exactly what you’re expected to do. Generally this will happen before you take on the job, but it should still be the first thing that you document. Identifying your scope involves figuring out where you fit in the overall development process and where you fit within the company. No documentation project is ever just documentation, so it’s important to know exactly what else is involved. Some of the other areas that documentation people are/should be commonly be involved in include:
- Spec review
- GUI review
- Product user requirements research
- Documentation audience requirements research
- Usability testing
Familiarise Yourself with the Work Environment
Get to know everyone involved in the product. For a software project, this will mean the project manager, the designers, and the guys that will be doing the low-level coding. Try to have a really good relationship with them. They have to respect you, otherwise they’re not going to listen to much of what you have to say.
Familiarise Yourself with the Product
Find out what’s going to be involved in the product. You must know:
- what are the goals of the development
- what user requirements they are trying to meet
- how the product will be used
- who will be using it
- what the features of the product are
- how the product 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 be integrated into), etc.
Some (non-human) sources that you can utilise to achieve this include:
- Feature and product specifications
- Project plans
- Funding application documentation if applicable
Discuss with the project manager (and other stakeholders esp. marketing) the perceived user/audience.
Specify Perceived Audience Requirements
Make some educated guesses about audience requirements so you’ll be able to provide a rough estimate of product duration and resource requirements.
Discuss with the project manager (and other stakeholders esp. marketing) the perceived user requirements that the help must satisfy. See if someone has researched user goals, tasks, and the mental models users employ when using the product (or similar products). If they haven’t, interview inhouse experts to identify perceived goals, tasks, 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.
Roughly estimate doco project duration and resources
Although, by this stage, you don’t really know enough about the product or your audience requirements to know how long the documentation will take to complete, management will nonetheless like a rough estimate. This is OK, as long as everyone is aware that it is a VERY rough estimate, and subject to change pending further knowledge and research.
This initial estimate must incorporate all of the time you’ll spend on the stages that occur before and after the writing stage. Remember, these stages are important, and should not be short-changed. (TIP: In a well managed project, planning 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’re having trouble, estimate the writing stage, then base all other estimates on that, using the above figures as a guide.
Estimating writing and post-writing stages
Because you probably still don’t know a great 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 with the goals and tasks you’ve already specified. Start with the following steps.
- Estimate the quantity of work required to document the tasks the user will need to perform to achieve their goals.
- Track down any previous doco records. See if you can cross reference the time taken to produce similar doco in the past with the current quantity estimate. Derive a figure based on this method.
- See how this compares with 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).
- Compare the two figures and determine a good compromise based on your experience and intuition.
- Figure out how long you actually have to do it, then how many writers you’ll need to get it done during this time.
- Draw up a project schedule using something like Microsoft Project. Don’t forget to allow time for recruiting, training, and writing work practices.
Research Audience Requirements
Research on the users of the product and the audience of the documentation is one of the most important parts of any successful product. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most often overlooked aspects of any project. This generally occurs because decision makers feel they already know pretty much everything there is to know about th
Highly effective marketing is accomplished when your marketing materials and marketing strategy work together to reliably move your prospects through your sales process.Have you ever caught a whiff of a tantalizing aroma wafting through the air as you walked down the street? With your senses suddenly alerted to something tasty nearby you notice the bakery on the corner. As you draw closer you see the storekeeper handing out free samples of the cake you smell. You happily try the sample and before you know it your standing on line waiting to buy a whole cake.How did this happen? How did you go from going about your business to buying a cake you had no intention of buying when you left your house? The fact that you ended up waiting on a line to buy a cake is no accident. The proprietor of the bakery from which you bought your cake knows something about highly effective marketing.Just what does he know?He knows that he first needs to get his prospects attention to draw them to his shop. He accomplishes this step with particularly strong exhaust fans he uses to permeate the local air with the tantalizing aromas of his pastries. Once he has his prospects’ attention he demonstrates the value of his goods by giving away yummy free samples and offering a buy
Some (non-human) sources that you can utilise to achieve this include:
- Feature and product specifications
- Project plans
- Funding application documentation if applicable
Discuss with the project manager (and other stakeholders esp. marketing) the perceived user/audience.
Specify Perceived Audience Requirements
Make some educated guesses about audience requirements so you’ll be able to provide a rough estimate of product duration and resource requirements.
Discuss with the project manager (and other stakeholders esp. marketing) the perceived user requirements that the help must satisfy. See if someone has researched user goals, tasks, and the mental models users employ when using the product (or similar products). If they haven’t, interview inhouse experts to identify perceived goals, tasks, 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.
Roughly estimate doco project duration and resources
Although, by this stage, you don’t really know enough about the product or your audience requirements to know how long the documentation will take to complete, management will nonetheless like a rough estimate. This is OK, as long as everyone is aware that it is a VERY rough estimate, and subject to change pending further knowledge and research.
This initial estimate must incorporate all of the time you’ll spend on the stages that occur before and after the writing stage. Remember, these stages are important, and should not be short-changed. (TIP: In a well managed project, planning 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’re having trouble, estimate the writing stage, then base all other estimates on that, using the above figures as a guide.
Estimating writing and post-writing stages
Because you probably still don’t know a great 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 with the goals and tasks you’ve already specified. Start with the following steps.
- Estimate the quantity of work required to document the tasks the user will need to perform to achieve their goals.
- Track down any previous doco records. See if you can cross reference the time taken to produce similar doco in the past with the current quantity estimate. Derive a figure based on this method.
- See how this compares with 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).
- Compare the two figures and determine a good compromise based on your experience and intuition.
- Figure out how long you actually have to do it, then how many writers you’ll need to get it done during this time.
- Draw up a project schedule using something like Microsoft Project. Don’t forget to allow time for recruiting, training, and writing work practices.
Research Audience Requirements
Research on the users of the product and the audience of the documentation is one of the most important parts of any successful product. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most often overlooked aspects of any project. This generally occurs because decision makers feel they already know pretty much everything there is to know about th
When you are looking for a job, it is very important to be organized. You want to present a professional attitude, and be prepared and knowledgeable. Following these easy steps will make sure that you get you a job quickly and easily.Find openings in companies that interest you. Research the position available, as well as the company itself.Write your resume. Tailor your objective statement, summary, and experience points to meet the job that you need.Print off your resumes, being sure to have multiple copies. Try using sticky notes to keep track of what resume you want to go where.Write your cover letters. Use keywords from the job descriptions (just like in the resume). Demonstrate your familiarity with the companies.Attach the appropriate resume to the appropriate cover letters.Place your resumes and cover letters in a folder. You want them to be crisp and clean when you hand them out.Go to hand your resume in. Dress professionally. Plan to arrive at a convenient time for the company.Ask to speak to the manager, or human resources. Give them your resume and smile.Keep a list of all of the places that you handed your resume in. Make sure you know the dates that you handed your resume in.Two business days
Roughly estimate doco project duration and resources
Although, by this stage, you don’t really know enough about the product or your audience requirements to know how long the documentation will take to complete, management will nonetheless like a rough estimate. This is OK, as long as everyone is aware that it is a VERY rough estimate, and subject to change pending further knowledge and research.
This initial estimate must incorporate all of the time you’ll spend on the stages that occur before and after the writing stage. Remember, these stages are important, and should not be short-changed. (TIP: In a well managed project, planning 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’re having trouble, estimate the writing stage, then base all other estimates on that, using the above figures as a guide.
Estimating writing and post-writing stages
Because you probably still don’t know a great 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 with the goals and tasks you’ve already specified. Start with the following steps.
- Estimate the quantity of work required to document the tasks the user will need to perform to achieve their goals.
- Track down any previous doco records. See if you can cross reference the time taken to produce similar doco in the past with the current quantity estimate. Derive a figure based on this method.
- See how this compares with 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).
- Compare the two figures and determine a good compromise based on your experience and intuition.
- Figure out how long you actually have to do it, then how many writers you’ll need to get it done during this time.
- Draw up a project schedule using something like Microsoft Project. Don’t forget to allow time for recruiting, training, and writing work practices.
Research Audience Requirements
Research on the users of the product and the audience of the documentation is one of the most important parts of any successful product. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most often overlooked aspects of any project. This generally occurs because decision makers feel they already know pretty much everything there is to know about th
Credit card reward programs are great if you are looking to get a little cash back from all your spending. But consumers should be wary of the penalties of overspending when trying to earn rewards.From a recent online poll, a majority of consumers claimed to not care about what APR rate they were paying on their reward cards. They majority claimed they paid off their balance in full each month, so the APR did not matter to them. This can be risky for folks who are struggling to make nthose monthly payments. Miss a payment and watch your APR soar, not to mention the interest penalty you now have to pay.One consumer stated they tried to put their new car purchase on their credit card just to earn the reward points. Imagine if they had trouble payig that one off. The interest penalties alone would make it hard to keep up.Some credit card companies offer online programs to auto-pay your bill each month. For those of you playing the reward card game, I would recommend looking into setting up such a service so you don't have to worry about missing a payment, or getting hit with high interest penalties.In regards to what reward programs are best. The majority of consumers polled preferred the cash back reward programs over any other. The most popular reason
TIP: At this stage, you should write the first draft of the Documentation Project Plan. It should include or refer to all of the steps outlined in this document. Basically, it should reflect the process advocated here, but be specific to the project you’re working on. It should also include a timeline.
Research Audience Requirements
Research on the users of the product and the audience of the documentation is one of the most important parts of any successful product. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most often overlooked aspects of any project. 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 project, you should investigate the chance of conducting research. If you’re employed late in the product life cycle, you should ask if user research has already been conducted for the product itself. If it hasn’t, there’s a good chance you won’t get support for audience research.
Audience research should seek to identify:
- user goals (what the user hopes to achieve with the product)
- user expectations of the doco (Manuals? Online help? Tutorials?, usability requirements, localisation requirements, etc.)
- user mental models (how they already see online help, what impressions they have of it, etc.)
- user tasks (how the user uses the product to achieve their goals)
- which users perform what tasks (user/task matrix)
- how long have users been doing these tasks?
- which tasks are one-off and which are repeated?
- did they ever do them differently?
- do they do a variety of tasks, or just a few?
- do they hate doing it? (is it tedious, repetitive?)
- do they find it difficult?
- which tasks are considered essential?
- are they normally under pressure when they do the task?
- are there other distractions (environmental, social, etc.)?
- Observation of users doing their work in their work environment
- Focus groups and interviews with users
- Questionnaires
To be continued… See part 2 of this article (http://www.divinewrite.com/docoprocess2.htm) for information on preparing your specifications.
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