Plan to Not Plan
I don’t ever plan my documentation. I used to. But not anymore. It’s a waste of time. Maybe if I were on a documentation team and had 6 months to get the documentation ready then maybe I would plan. I could plan and then revise and then plan some more.
But I am not on a documentation team. I run a business. I am the web programmer, accountant, custodian, sales person, system admin and business development director. I don’t have time to plan my documentation.
So what have I done? I have planned not to plan. I have created a system for documentation that requires no planning at all AND creates documentation that is much more useful to our customers. It really is quite simple. Just follow these simple steps:
- I write down the questions my customers have actually asked me.
- I create lessons in ScreenSteps that answer those questions.
- I post the answers as a manual to ScreenSteps Live. You can see an example here.
- When a customer asks a question I do one of two things:
- If I have a lesson that answers their question I send it to them. - If I don’t, I create one, add it to the manual and send it to them. See here and here for two lessons I added to our manual this last week in response to customer questions.
This system has worked really well for me. I don’t end up writing content that won’t ever get used again, the lessons are very easy to update because they focus around a specifc task and I can quickly respond to customer questions.
Try it out. On your next documentation project, plan not to plan. Just answer the questions people are asking. You will find that your documentation will be easier to create and easier to use.
Download the free webinar to learn why your documentation/knowledge base is ineffective and what simple steps you can take to improve it.
February 7th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Great! Amen to that, thanks!
jb
February 9th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
[...] or you want a better way of documenting your products and services, I recommend taking a look at Plan not to plan, which outlines how small businesses can use ScreenSteps. Posted in Tech Talk Blog | Tags: [...]
January 19th, 2010 at 11:44 am
[...] is that documentation must be a process, not an project. Documentation has to be something that is constantly evolving if it is going to be of any [...]
July 22nd, 2010 at 11:31 pm
Good concept. Seems so simple but really so much more effective in the end. Kudos.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:53 am
Interesting. So how would someone learn how to program in Linux? Through Q&A? How would someone learn how to design a car part? How would you learn how to develop a complicated formula which required precise steps at preset intervals?
Q&A is great, I am a big fan. But documentation is very important. Especially in the more regulated fields.
July 23rd, 2010 at 8:25 am
@Mark -
Thanks for the comment. Let me answer your question ;).
How would someone learn to program Linux? By asking questions.
How would someone learn to design a car part? By asking questions.
How would you learn how to develop a complicated formula which required precise steps at preset intervals? By asking questions.
In each of the examples you give people still have to ask questions. They just ask them in email lists, forums, and directly to other people specifically because the documentation doesn’t answer their question. The question still needs to be answered. It’s just the documentation in most cases isn’t doing its job so people have to turn elsewhere.
I am not advocating against documentation. I am just suggesting a simplified process for creating more effective documentation. Our customers who follow this approach end up with much more documentation than they ever had before. They create it in less time and with less stress. Most importantly they see their customer satisfaction increase and their support requests drop.
In most people’s minds writing documentation is hard, but answering questions is easy. By reframing the goal from “creating documentation” to “answering questions” you get much more output and much better results.
November 3rd, 2011 at 1:27 am
Greg, I really love your approach to documentation. It’s seems a very philosophical approach. And it leads to much greater clarity.
To me, life is about questions, and getting them answered quickly and elegantly.
Your software helps people get answers, and I applaud your efforts to encourage businesses and individuals around the world adopt this approach.
Thanks a million.
April 4th, 2012 at 10:16 am
How do you scale customer support?…
The issue isn’t really handling more customers. It is handling more questions. Now generally more customers means more questions but customers by themselves don’t require customer support, just customers with questions. So, you need to ask yourself, …