{"id":3981,"date":"2012-11-15T18:13:14","date_gmt":"2012-11-15T08:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nsrd.info\/blog\/?p=3981"},"modified":"2012-11-15T18:13:14","modified_gmt":"2012-11-15T08:13:14","slug":"enable-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nsrd.info\/blog\/2012\/11\/15\/enable-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Enable me"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m directing this at all IT vendors \u2013 your job is\u00a0enable<\/em> me. Enable me to work, enable me to sell, enable me to speak with authority on your products.<\/p>\n

It’s the same story, regardless of whether I’m a system integrator, a solutions architect, a support consultant or a customer.<\/p>\n

Regardless of what my role, I want \u2013 I need \u2013 vendors to\u00a0enable<\/em> me to do my work. If they want to sell their hardware, or their software, or their services, I need to be convinced, and I need to be informed.<\/p>\n

So what happens when I go to genericvendor.com\/support<\/strong>, and want to pull down all the documentation for a specific product?<\/p>\n

…click to download the install guide<\/p>\n

…click to download the admin guide<\/p>\n

…click to download the command reference guide<\/p>\n

…click to download the error guide<\/p>\n

…click to download the release notes<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And so on, and so forth. It’s a click-hell \u2013 and for so many vendors, it’s not even one-click per document. It’s multiple clicks. If I want to learn about product X I might have to download 10, 20, 30 documents, and go through the click-hell with each document.<\/p>\n

Some vendors offer download managers. It’s a bit of a clueless response \u2013 “It’s a problem, we’ll introduce ANOTHER download into the equation for you!”<\/em><\/p>\n

There’s a simple solution though:\u00a0zip<\/em>. Or\u00a0tar.gz<\/em>*.\u00a0That’s<\/em> your download manager.<\/p>\n

You’re a vendor, you have more than 2 documents for a product? Give me a zip file of\u00a0all<\/em> the documents. It should be as simple as:<\/p>\n

Login > Click Support > Click Product > Download all docs…<\/p>\n

(And that’s assuming you want people to be logged in before they access your documentation.)<\/p>\n

Of course, that may mean I’ll get more documents than I need. I may not need to know how to integrate AS400 systems with your FCoE storage product over a WAN. But here’s the thing: I’ll accept that\u00a0some<\/em> of what I download in that consolidated zip file is dross, and I won’t complain about it, so long as I can download it all in one hit.<\/p>\n

Oh, and when I open that zip file and unpack all the documents? Have them named properly, not by serial number or part number of some internal version of ISBN or Dewy-Decimal or some indecipherable 30 random-character filename dreamed up by your document management system that not only achieved sentience, but also went insane on the same day. If it’s an administration guide for product X version Y, call it “Product X Version Y Administration”, or something logical like that. That way my first act after downloading your documentation isn’t a tedious: “Preview > Find Title > Close Preview > Rename File > Type new Filename”. Even on a Mac, with excellent content based search capabilities, having a logical filename makes data\u00a0so much easier<\/em> to find.<\/p>\n

It’s not much to ask for.<\/p>\n

For goodness sakes, it’s so logical that I shouldn’t even need to ask.<\/p>\n

Do you want me to know about your product, or not?<\/p>\n

PS: Regrettably I’ve not had much opportunity to blog recently. My RSI has been particularly savage of late.<\/p>\n

—
\n* If you suggest “.7z” or “.rar”, I will smack you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m directing this at all IT vendors \u2013 your job is\u00a0enable me. Enable me to work, enable me to sell,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12],"tags":[339,1071],"class_list":["post-3981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-technology","tag-documentation","tag-vendors"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t