Conclusions from a Conversation with a User

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 | Technical Communication

Yesterday, I called a user of the application I talked about on Friday to ask about his use of the documentation. It’s kind of refreshing to find out how people actually use the documentation. I found out that the dilemma I had on Friday really wasn’t a big problem, at least for this particular guy.

I had done a questionnaire among the user group, and some of them responded. The results suggested that people generally used the documentation more as they first began using the system, and as they got to know it and know how to complete the tasks, they referred to the documentation less and less until the frequency was about only once a month.

The documentation consists of (1) a context-sensitive help system, which provides information about the specific screens, and (2) a manual that explains how to complete certain tasks that may take the user through a number of screens. This particular user, whom I’ll call George, says he tends to use the help system for quick reference. He pops the help open, looks for the answer to his question and performs a text search if necessary, and then goes back to the app.

I had him open the manual, which is accessible in the app as a PDF, because in moving his office a few times, he had lost his hard copy. I pointed out the note boxes and asked him to tell me what he thought the difference was between the information in the boxes and the information in the main flow of the pages that went along with the task instructions. George really didn’t know and guessed that they were summaries of the information in the main column.

They’re just notes—things that aren’t essential but may be helpful. So I’ve got some work to do there to make it clear what type of content is in the boxes. I suppose that’s where “document conventions” sections come from, but I’d rather find a way, such as using icons and short headings, to make those kinds of things more apparent. Besides, how many people actually read introductions?

George told me, though, that having essential notes in the main flow with the instructions made sense to him and would be more helpful than having them referenced elsewhere. He pointed out that the less searching and poking around you have to do to find the information you want, the better. So he would rather have pertinent information right there rather than having just the task and ancillary information pushed to a different part of the document.

On Friday I was just concerned about having everything in one main flow of content that runs on and on and on. I think that’s why I like having two columns: You can have some less important information out of the main flow and peripheral but still quickly accessible in context. And having a narrower column gives the reader a sense of moving quickly through the content or process.

Of course, this conversation involved only one user, but I think what George said is broadly applicable. (I’d like to talk to others to find out for sure.) The rundown:

Context-sensitive help cuts down on the time required to search and scan information. It saves him the time of browsing for information about the screen he’s on.
He isn’t bothered by having the help system open on top of the application (though I know some people are) because if he can find the answer quickly, he can just close it again and get back to work.
Task-based information was especially beneficial when he was learning how to use the system. But now that he is very familiar with it (most of his job functions involve this app), he benefits from reference-type material rather than steps.
Having searchable, electronic documentation is preferable to hard-copy documents because it costs extra time to flip through pages in search of information.

I wouldn’t say these are shocking revelations, but all too often, we don’t talk to our users to find out what their preferences are. I have seen some users of the same app make their own notes in the hard-copy manual, so there are still people who like that format. But the third and last bullet points specifically are ones I hadn’t thought about before.

Perhaps the most important conclusion I came to as a result of this conversation is that I need to talk to the users more to see what they prefer. I’ll never be able to satisfy everyone, but getting user input is refreshing and actually helps me feel like I can give people what they want.

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