FROM ENGINEERS TO END USERS & BACK AGAIN:

Using two-way collaboration to create effective document strategies

NATHAN ROBERT BROWN

US Marine from 1996 – 2001MA in English/Mythology from MSU12 years as professional author

14 published titles to date

4 years as Tech Writer for Satellite Antenna firm in TX

2+ years as Tech Writer in Health IT at Nextech Systems in FL

THE PROCESS1. Assess the Current Situation

How do engs/devs/staff members view end users? Are any of these views negative?

2. Pin Down the Big Problems What are users doing/not doing to cause negative views? Are users ignoring information? How is that info being presented?

3. ID the Communication Breakdown(s) Interview end users (face-to-face, preferably) & RECORD what they tell you

4. Create Solutions/Changes: Implement, Test, Record What could/can be done to improve user reception of info? What is the desired result from these changes? (decreased support calls,

increased sales, improved user behaviors, etc.) How will you record results? (Analytics, Hubspot, Salesforce, etc.)

5. Keep what works. Cut what doesn’t work. (Some things won’t work and that is okay)

THE SITUATION: “OUR END USERS MUST BE STUPID” Initial weeks in Sat. Ant. industry = Total ChaosUsers regularly damaging/destroying their own MILLION

DOLLAR equipmentSome users were even injuring themselvesSafety/Danger warnings being widely ignored

WARNING: Never disable antenna hard limitsDANGER: Never stand inside or in front of antenna aperture

while in operation

General opinion of engineers: “Our end users must be stupid”

THE BIG PROBLEMS

The Crushed Dishes Southern Hemisphere = flipped compass Reboot = reset compass Disabled hard limits = antenna becomes a million dollar

paperweight

The Soldiers Who “Felt the Burn” Several had jumped into dish to “Make quick tweaks” Fried by radiation Why did they ignore the warning (posted ON THE ANTENNA

DISH)? “The warnings didn’t say it could HURT me.”

THE COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWNSOur Engineers = highly intelligent & well educated in their

field Installers/Technicians = Skilled laborers, with licenses or

certifications in their fields, who are aware of dangers, etc.End Users = for the most part, 19-22 year old soldiers with

high school diploma or GED and/or (in some cases) uneducated/unskilled “attendants.”

To add to the problem, for a decade, all Tech Writers had been temps who simply wrote what the engineers told them with little to no user input.

Supervisor gave me free reign to interview users and find solutions

THE SOLUTIONSAll warnings followed up with result statements.

“Does this tell the user WHY/WHY NOT to do something?”Created two separate manual sets:

Advanced Technical Manuals For licensed/certified installers & technicians ONLY

Basic User Manuals For everyone else

RESULTS:User-caused damages dropped by 50% in one year Tech Support calls/emails dropped off 35% in one year

(which made our ONLY tech support guy very happy)

SITUATION: “OUR USERS DON’T CARE ABOUT UPDATES”

Falling in Love with Dentist = Shift to Health IT in FLPRNs & Product Promo Materials become my primary job In “triage mode” for months because they hadn’t kept a

Tech Writer on staff in about 17 yearsGeneral software dev opinion: “Our users don’t care

about new updates. The don’t want to spend more money on new features and just want what they already have.”

THE BIG PROBLEMS

Despite MAJOR new release with tons of new bells & whistles, only new clients were purchasing it (by default)

Current clients seemed uninterested, despite being sent TONS of “newsletter” emails

And there was that whole ICD-10 thing (don’t worry, I’ll explain it)

THE COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWNSDevelopment didn’t talk to Product Management (PM). PM

didn’t talk to Sales, or Sales to Implementation. (long story short, there was no interdepartmental communication)

Fighting to go to the EDGE A.K.A. “Nathan pays to stay in a hotel that looks like a jock’s fever

dream so he can attend a user conference hosted by his own employer.”

Most common dialogue: User: “Why don’t you guys have an ICD-10 solution?” Me: “We do. It’s in the new update.” User: “There’s a new update?”

No one seemed to be reading our emails Then I had to tell my boss (CTO)

THE SOLUTIONSUpdate alerts show up IN the software “Highlights” section added to release notesCloud hosting with automatic upgrades availablePublishing Blog articles about new features (more users

were reading Blog than emails)Also, our blog readership jumped by 900+% (I’m not kidding)

RESULTS: Sales of new releases to existing clients jumped 15% in three

monthsNew release sales to existing clients increased 25% in one

year

QUESTIONS?