On Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:06:38 +0000, Orchid XP v8 wrote:

> Sometimes the hardest thing is figuring out why you're actually writing
> something. Like, I mean, I *know* I have to write this policy. But *who*
> is actually going to read it, and why?

Yep, that is the hardest thing about writing.  If you don't know your 
audience, then all else becomes secondary.

> But, IMHO, *the* hardest thing is figuring out all the stuff your
> audience doesn't know that happens to be trivially obvious to you. 

That also can be difficult, because it requires putting yourself in your 
audience's shoes.  I had a discussion with a coworker who does some 
course development recently, and he observed that another guy who has 
expertise with the software in question was involved in designing a 
course and was designing it to be something he'd *take*, not something 
he'd *teach*.  He was having a hard time explaining that the course being 
developed wasn't for the other guy to take because there wouldn't be a 
huge market for it.

> Like,
> I've read *so many* projects on SourceForge that tell you about all the
> fantastic features this software has but doesn't actually say... what...
> it... does! >_<

I see this in a lot of different areas, not just in technical areas.  
Even in advertising, I occasionally see a commercial where I get to the 
end and wonder what exactly it was they were advertising.

> even the vaguest clue what the software is for. This is so trivially
> obvious to them that they've completely forgotten about it.

Happens in professional development houses all the time.

Jim

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