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Bill Hackos, PhD
Vice President, Comtech Services, Inc.
www.comtech-serv.com
Traditionally, we place information development in the supply
chain, the process of creating and delivering new products. After all, our job
is to document the product as it is being developed, right? That's why we work
so closely with the SMEs. As a result, our work as documenters is a necessary
cost of development, despite the fact that customers buy a product
because of its features, not because of its documentation.
Our companies also have a support chain, the process that
is followed to help people who have already purchased the product. The support
chain includes accessory sales, maintenance, training, and customer service, all
of which are or can be profit centers, right?
Something's wrong with these arguments. They place information
development right up there with the reception and the janitorial as necessary
services to support the product developers, while training and customer service
are viewed by management as having a vital role in interacting with customers.
The problem is caused by a fuzzy notion of what information
development is. Information development has roles to play both in the
supply-chain and the support-chain process.
In the supply chain, the role of information development is
product documentation. We document the design and functions of the product,
producing what might be viewed as product specifications. In this role, we
should work closely with the product designers, not the developers. Of
course, if a product is developed without a design, then, the designer and
developer are the same. Unfortunately, this situation is so common in software
manufacture that we consider it to be the norm.
Our distinct role in the support chain is user
information. We help customers use the product easily and effectively so
they will be encouraged to purchase accessories, training, and customer service
and will want to upgrade and purchase other products from us. We start sounding
like a profit center!
Unfortunately, senior management rarely makes the
distinction between supply chain and support chain in information development.
As a result, we produce publications that mix two goals, and we make the
information less useful for both the developers and the users. Organizations
that maintain a distinction separate their information-development activities,
resulting in better documentation for developers as well as better user
information for users. Because the user information is part of the
support chain, we can continue to create new information as the
product matures and reaches more conservative users with less technical
expertise.
Many writers have long considered the product developers
the nexus of power and influence in an engineering-focused organization. They
are. But being the servants of the developers is not the way to gain respect and
influence. The best way for information developers to earn the respect we want
is for us to be independent of the developers and become advocates for
the users.
For more information, read Dr. Michael Hammer's white paper,
Inside the Support Chain.
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