atw: No-one uses the help guide anyway!
- From: "LIVERANI Petra" <Petra_LIVERANI@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 10:57:12 +1100
<snip>"In our experience, no-one actually uses the online Help anyway!"</=
snip>
Yes, I wonder about the value of creating help guides that people aren't =
going to use. I produced a online help for a system that people had 2/3 d=
ay training on. The training involved presenting to the students with no =
use of the help guide (which hadn't been produced at that stage anyway). =
Later two other students were to get training on the system in only an ho=
ur which occurred within a 3 day training period on all kinds of things. =
I decided to just give them the online help and some exercises and let th=
em work through them. I thought it would be a good test to see how good t=
he help was and also it gave them a break from being talked at. It seemed=
=20pretty successful considering how limited their time was. I think trai=
ning people by having them have read the online help will encourage them =
to use it in the future.
Regards,
Petra
-----Original Message-----
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, 16 December 2004 09:59 AM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: Fields of Tech Communication
Hi all,
Not exactly the same topic but I also am considering a work change. =20
Over the years I have been mainly working in a series of permanent=20
positions for both IT and non-IT orgnisations. I have been in my=20
current position for two years. I seems that after a couple of years in =
an orgnisation, the profile and worth of the technical writer is much=20
less than it was at the beginning. When I commence a new job there is=20
usually much appreciation that at last there is someone who can actually =
write to take over all those pesky documents and Help projects. After a =
year or two the core system, online and procedure documents have been=20
written and (in my experience) the writer goes into "maintenance" mode. =
This means that you are no longer seen as an important asset to the=20
company. As was so innocently put to me by my boss last week, "In our=20
experience, no-one actually uses the online Help anyway!" After all=20
documentation does not actually generate revenue for the business like=20
programming or project management does!
My question actually is, how difficult is it to actually make a decent=20
living out of contract work? At the moment, it certainly looks more=20
appealing to me than dealing with another lot of patronising,=20
unappreciative ....need I say more... set of bosses. My problem is=20
that when I am looking for work, I panic and accept a permanent job and=20
its security because the thought of starving does not appeal much=20
either. Those of you contractors, do you find the constant job search a =
real grind or do the benefits outweigh the negatives of a permanent=20
position?
Ilana
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