Where did “Why?” go?

by Jen O Neill

Gripe no. 1. Where did “Why?” go?

Nothing is more frustrating when reading a manual than when the instructions only seem to focus on “How” to do something without telling me “Why” I need to do it.

Gripe no. 2. Receiving a manual for localisation that has serious usability problems.

It really is a waste of time and money getting such documents translated. Good translators will pick out inconsistencies and ask how to handle them (try answering such a question about a product you didn’t document but need the answer quickly.) There’s the real risk that in-country reviewers will then rewrite the translated manual to try to improve the content with the result the translated manual no longer matches the English source one and you may well incur extra charges from the translation agency as the translator now has to do extra work to update the translation memories. And then the customer probably won’t use the manual and will phone Tech Support instead. I can think of better ways to blow several thousand euros without annoying customers.

Gripe no. 3. Poor public signage.

Street names are like chapter titles for streets. They tell you where you are. Some cities are terrible at placing street names on every street corner and placing them so they can be easily seen by pedestrians and drivers (not two stories up the side of the building or just simply missing, for example.) Of course, once you do find that elusive street, you’re assuming the buildings are then clearly numbered…

Gripe no. 4. Why does it rain once I clean the windows?

I have to have some reason why I don’t clean them.

Tags: musings