[Novalug] OT: Question for software developers about documentation

[Dan Arico]

On Thursday 17 April 2008 11:07:28 am Jim Ide wrote:

> In your experience, do customers still want/require requirements docs,
> specs, user manuals, and help screens?  Are government customers are more
> likely to require these docs than private sector customers?
>
> Do users ever read these docs?  In my experience, users are more likely to
> call the help desk when they have a question/problem than read a user
> manual or help screen.  What is your experience?

It's my impression that people never bother to read the documentation. 
Personally, I think this is because programmers don't usually write very good 
user documentation.

In my ideal world, developers would comment their code heavily and leave users 
manuals to people who know more about writing than programming. As an aside, 
any marketing type who tries to write a users manual should have his hands 
broken.

Dan Arico

-- 
One OS to rule them all, One OS to find them,
One OS to bring them all, and in the Darkness bind them,
In the land of Redmond, where the Sales Reps lie.