Monday, September 6, 2010

Documentation:worth its weight in gold?

When selling documentation services to software development managers I am often faced with the question "does documentation add value?" I usually start my response with talk of reduced support call costs, professionalism and improved end user experience, but until now I have failed to fully evaluate the true cost versus benefit. 

Poor documentation - who pays the price?
The obvious answer to this question is the supplier as they manage the incoming support calls whilst attempting to retain their standing within the market. However, there is also a cost to be shouldered by the customer caused by lost time and productivity. For example, each problem encountered by an end user may take the user 5-10 minutes of frustration trying to resolve the issue, followed by a 5 minute phone call to a support call centre explaining the problem, followed by a further 10-20 minutes following the guidance of the support technician to finally resolve the issue. Consequently a conservative estimate suggests an end user could easily lose 20-35 minutes from their day. If such losses occur too frequently productivity questions will soon start to be asked. 

Documentation in 2010
When I first started life as a technical author 10 years ago, we proudly produced hundreds of pages of documentation, all nicely filed in several ring binders (that allowed for changes to be inserted), to support our humble product which shipped on CD. From past experience these large cumbersome volumes made wonderful door stops, shelf supports and general dust catchers but did little to improve user experience. Bigger was definitely better in those days.

Nowadays though documentation plays a much more supportive role and is often accessed entirely via the Internet. Single-sourcing means that product documentation can easily have a second life as training manuals. Likewise through adding emphasis to new features your documentation in 2010 can soon become a selling aid. Imagine the glee on the faces of your sales team as they stand up with a slick product and an even slicker document that describes all the key features and workings!

Ongoing user support 
Online social networking seems to be taking over the lives of everyone at the moment, for example a report for the BBC in 2009 demonstrated that 67% of us use social networks, and this number is probably rising. Through the likes of facebook, twitter and youtube we are all familiar with the concept of "sharing" online. As a consequence we start to expect the same level of interaction with suppliers, and the use of user forums is equally on the increase. Reports as far back as 2008 suggested that almost a third of US IT users regularly accessed forums. 

As this social networking phenomenon grows and grows, why not harness its potential? Online forums offer users support at a fraction of the cost of a fully staffed support centre. Users help each others, although monitoring by support staff is essential to ensure accurate information is being provided and end users are gaining answers in a timely fashion. Furthermore the information you collect from your forum can form the basis of searchable online frequently asked questions, ensuring that future users can find answers quickly. Forums allow documentation gaps to be effectively identified ensuring that your product documentation grows in line with user expectation and experience.

Recession busting
As we continue to flounder through difficult financial times, organisations are being urged to cut costs whilst increasing profitability. On the face of it, such an equation is not always easy to balance, however improving your product or in-house documentation offers an opportunity to achieve the impossible. Not only can providing documentation reduce support costs, it can also enhance your organisation's standing through adding value to your product or service whilst removing an element of risk for your potential customers.


In conclusion
Quality documentation cannot fail to add value to the products and services offered by an organisation. The trick is to invest wisely and ensure that the value of the documentation is maximised. 

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