I'm not sure what your question is... User testing and focus groups are generally not focused on user assistance (no pun intended). User testing and focus groups generally are used to try to determine the usability of a product and its features, to find out what customer requirements are, and to see how users actually USE the product.
If your organization does not do this type of user testing (during which you can actually manage to steal an hour to get some docs tested), your best bet is during the beta testing phase. You should talk to the people who manage the beta program. They can provide you with information on how to obtain information from possibly a select group of users. Or they can include some questions in the beta questionnaire about participating in a survey on the docs. ...sue On 7/20/07, Kevin McLauchlan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > ... such unfamiliar concepts. > > > > I wonder how many people get to actually DO that stuff. > > > > The customers for my products are scattered around the world. The "users" > are mostly IT people and data-security people at big companies (banks and > credit-card companies and financial clearing houses and government > departments (various departments, various governments). Some are > developers > writing apps with which our hardware-and-software, or (gawd-forbid) a > competitor's, might be integrated. > > > > Even if there were a perceived business need and a requirement to test my > documents or the user interface, I can't imagine where we'd acquire the > necessary bodies. Our customers aren't going to send their staff. We > aren't > going to visit them with a traveling road show (that would interact with > one > or two persons at each location). Our product and our market assume a > certain industry knowledge and experience that you don't get by rounding > up > some street people, nor even by raiding the local technical college for an > afternoon of diverting technical fun... and free donuts... :-) > > > > The closest I can come are our in-house product testers (eng-test and QA) > and our support people. And they've mostly seen it all before, so they > can't > really simulate a naive customer/user all that well. > > > > Sometimes I get access to a new kid for a day or three, which means that > the > introductory stuff and some of the basic config instructions have been > refined by such exposure over the years, but the "victims" always seem to > get pulled away to "real" work before they ever get into the more arcane > aspects of our products (or of my documents about same). > > > > Is there a whole world of possibility that I'm missing here? > > > > Kevin in Ottawa > > > > The information contained in this electronic mail transmission may be > privileged and confidential, and therefore, protected from disclosure. If > you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately > by replying to this message and deleting it from your computer without > copying or disclosing it. > ______________________________________________ > > Author Help files and create printed documentation with Doc-To-Help. > New release adds Team Authoring Support, enhanced Web-based help > technology and PDF output. Learn more at www.doctohelp.com/tcp. > > > Interactive 3D Documentation > Parts catalogs, animated instructions, and more. www.i3deverywhere.com > _______________________________________________ > > Technical Communication Professionals > > Post a message to the list: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Subscribe, unsubscribe, archives, account options, list info: > http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com > Subscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe (email): send a blank message to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Need help? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Get the TCP whole experience! http://www.techcommpros.com > ______________________________________________ Author Help files and create printed documentation with Doc-To-Help. New release adds Team Authoring Support, enhanced Web-based help technology and PDF output. Learn more at www.doctohelp.com/tcp. Interactive 3D Documentation Parts catalogs, animated instructions, and more. www.i3deverywhere.com _______________________________________________ Technical Communication Professionals Post a message to the list: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, unsubscribe, archives, account options, list info: http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com Subscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Need help? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Get the TCP whole experience! http://www.techcommpros.com
