Presentation Date

10 July 2012
buy-now_over

What Should Technical Communicators Do When Products "Just Work"?

Ellis Pratt

Overview

One of the challenges technical communicators face is the sometimes-held belief that “no one reads the manual,” and that the technical documentation budget would be better spent on improving the usability of product itself. What is the future for technical communicators when many organizations believe products are getting easier and they don’t need to spend so much on user documentation?

This webinar will look at how to deal with this belief and what it means to our future. Is the traditional model for technical communication broken? We'll look at research into how “cool” apps such as Facebook do (or don’t) provide Help, and we'll suggest how to deal with developers who believe the need for a user guide is a sign of poor software usability.

Presenter Biography

Ellis Pratt is director and help strategist at Cherryleaf, a technical writing services and training company based near London, in the United Kingdom. He has over fifteen years’ experience working in the field of documentation, has a BA in business studies, and is an Associate of the Institution of Engineering and Technology. Ranked the most influential blogger on technical communication in Europe, Ellis is also an author and editor of two books: How to Write Instructions and Trends in Technical Communication.