Too many people think of software documentation as a project they will complete as opposed to a process they will establish. Software documentation projects almost always fail. They fail to meet the real needs of users. They fail to provide up-to-date information. They fail to deliver real business results.

The key to creating great docs is to abandon projects and instead establish a documentation process.

I explain the details of how you can accomplish this in the short video below. The tips I share in this video are what our most successful customers use to make software documentation a key part of their business strategy.

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Have you ever been to Home Depot or Lowe’s and asked someone where a tool or part was? Which response did you prefer?

• The worker told you they “thought” it was somewhere around aisle 8.
• The worker escorted you to the exact location of the tool or part you needed.

Obviously we all prefer to be given the exact information we need, not just general directions of where to look. This is especially true of software documentation.

You need to optimize your software documentation so that you and your support team can deliver exactly the information your customers need, when and where they need it.

The best way to do that is to create documentation that is attached with velcro. In today’s Docs that Rock Whiteboard video I explain exactly what connecting your content with velcro means.

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I’m going to say something controversial.

In my opinion there is no such thing as good documentation that doesn’t have pictures.

It shouldn’t be controversial, but it is. Written words simply can’t communicate information as quickly and clearly as a screenshot can so if you are leaving out pictures you are killing the effectiveness of your documentation.

In this installment of our Docs That Rock Whiteboard Video Series I explain why in more detail:

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Online manuals are awesome. They make accessing and updating information so much easier. But if you apply the old paradigm of PDF software manuals to the new medium of online manuals you get documentation that is cumbersome to write and cumbersome for your users to use.

The biggest mistake we see companies making when authoring their documentation is misunderstanding the relationship between scope and detail in their help articles. The principle they are violating is the Goldilocks principle (part of our 5 keys to great software documentation). They either deliver too much information or not enough.

In today’s Docs that Rock Whiteboard video I discuss scope vs. detail in software documentation and how keeping these two concepts clear in your mind can help you write better docs that will help your users and drive product adoption.

If you want to see a funny example of dumping too much information on your customers then check out our Chatty GPS video.

By the way, we are going to be releasing a full series of Docs that Rock Whiteboard Videos over the next couple of months. These were inspired by SEOmoz’s Whiteboard Friday videos which, if you haven’t checked them out yet, are awesome.

If there are specific topics you would like us to cover in this series, please let us know in the comments.

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