Well, this subject has been discussed lately in various blog posts (see for example Tom Johnson blog post about chunking). We chunk content in small pieces called topics. To just chunk ad-hoc as you write will most probably lead to a messy environment; especially if several writers co-operate in a content creation team.

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SeSAM has gained a level of interest lately (www.sesam-info.net). The controversial part of SeSAM is that an information analysis, to determine what content to write in end user documentation for a technical product, is not starting with an analysis of users, their goals and tasks, but the Meaningful Result Statements (MRS). Don’t get me wrong here; knowledge about users are a fundamental part of SeSAM, but they are not the first thing you focus on. Most of the content you need to write is derived from the MRSs. So what is a meaningful result statement? Read this blog post to find out.

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A user finds answers on how to use a product in various ways; by searching the internet, by using the traditional manual, in paper or electronic format etc. A certain user in a certain situation need answers and we, as technical communicators, carefully arrange many answers (topics) in a deliverable (map). The answers in the map are sorted and organized according to some principle. But, why do we sort and organize the topics we have referenced in the map?

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Today, companies must launch products to global markets faster than ever before if they want to remain competitive. R&D organizations within those companies are continuously improving the development processes and ways to produce products to enable this possibility. This means that technical communication teams are also faced with a challenge. The content volume that we must manage is growing and we must be able to in parallel manage content for multiple product configurations and release manuals in shorter time frames using the existing staff.

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A technical product needs documentation that helps the end user understand how the product is used to solve the needs, problems or requirements the user is facing. The documentation includes task information (as a DITA task topic) to instruct the user on how to do things.

But how does the technical communicator identify the user tasks? Let’s look at the traditional task analysis approach along with its challenges.

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