Documentation Questionnaire

Gautam Soman

Documentation Questionnaire

IntroductionEvery documentation project starts with

information gathering. Since interviewing the subject matter experts

is the main source of information, it is imperative that a tech writer asks the right questions.

Here are some questions that one can ask, irrespective of the type of application, domain or the project to be documented.

Note that these questions discussed here are representative and by no means exhaustive.

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Questions for Project ManagerThe first person you are likely to meet from

the team is its project manager. Here are some of the important questions

you need to ask the project manager.


Questions for Project ManagerProduct nameRelease date and documentation deadlineDocumentation suiteDeliverable formatScope of workPoint of Contact and Communication ChannelsVersion control toolReference documentsAccess to servers, Mailing list, etc.Client communication


Questions for Team LeadIn large projects, the project manager is

likely to delegate the task of documentation communication to either the technical lead or the QA lead.

Here are some of the important details you need to get from these people.


Questions for Team LeadApplication overviewSystem Overview/Process flowSystem configuration (minimum and

recommended)Technologies involvedAccess to bug-tracker and change requestsNames of modules and respective SMEsTime slots and communication channels for

discussions


Questions for Developers and QAAs the documentation proceeds, you will be

interacting with the individual members of the team: programmers and quality analysts.

Apart from the questions specific to the application, here are some general queries that you can ask.


Questions for Developers and QAThe 4 Ws + 1 H:

WhatWhenWhereWhyHow

Process workflowSystem limitationsImpact of bug fixes/change requestsTroubleshooting tips /Tips and tricks


Questions for ClientIt’s always a good idea for a tech writer to

be directly interacting with the customer: it relives the project manager of undue communication, and resolves many misunderstandings.

Here are some questions best answered by the customer.


Questions for ClientDocumentation suiteFormat of end-deliverablesDocument structure and templatesScope of workTarget audiencePoint of contact and Communication

channelUS-English/UK English


Thank you!This presentation is based on a blog-post

written by Gautam Soman. You can read the complete article at

ByteSpace

Gautam Soman,http://www.gautamsoman.com


http://bytespace.blogspot.com/2010/01/documentation-questionnaire.html

http://www.gautamsoman.com/

Documentation Questionnaire

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