It works it is a miracle

by noel on Aug.21, 2008, under Technical Communication

I recently read an amazing story about a baby that was declared dead coming back to life a few hours later over a Reuters.

What really caught my attention, apart from the story itself, is a quote by hospital deputy director Moshe Daniel:

We don’t know how to explain this, so when we don’t know how to explain things in the medical world we call it a miracle, and this is probably what happened

This got me thinking about a piece of software I’m currently documenting as part of an upgrade. I would love to update the help with something like:

If you manage to complete the tasks you require it is a miracle, pat yourself on the back and treat yourself to a good night out.

Alas, what kind of Tech. writer would I be if I did that? I think it brings to the forefront what all Tech. writers should be aiming to achieve. To be a thorough part of the design process in terms of usability. I’ve always thought “if it is easy to document it will be easy to use”. I could have provided a huge list of improvements to UI and workflow that I believe would have made the software easy to use. But because I only get to review the software when it is nearing the end of its development lifecycle any changes I suggest at this point fall on deaf ears.

From now on I’m determined to get my foot in the door a lot earlier with suggestions for workflow and UI improvements. I have even started to raise issues through the QA team to highlight areas I feel need additional work. What I would really like is the organisation to see me not only as a documentation resource, but a customer with intimate knowledge of the product and suggestions at how it can be improved.

If only it were that easy to change the mentality of an organization.