The company had a vision of where it needed to go–but no map to get there. Here’s how a little data saved the day
Before I started writing full-time in 2001, I worked at a Fortune 100 retail giant on a small team of documentation specialists and designers. I was hired in 1996 to figure out how to help employees use software in their jobs, both at the head office in the Twin Cities and in the field. We wrote manuals and help systems, and provided some guidance on how to improve the software’s look and feel.
While none of us were actual programmers, we lived in a world of programmers. They had only a loose understanding of good design principles-they made software that they could understand.
In the first year, we did quite a bit of head-scratching. The problem seemed too insurmountable. There were too many users and the software was too complicated. Few understood why the team even existed. We plowed away, creating what was essentially a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound.
…to read this article in full, visit leading US small business resource, Inc.
