documentation best practices

[Steve Rickaby]

At 02:56 -0800 5/12/11, hessiansx4 wrote:

>I could use some insight into a situation I haven't encountered before today: how does one best respond to a request (read: order) to include something in their product's documentation about a functionality that will not be released with the upcoming release (it will still be in development) but is hoped to be ready "shortly" (whatever that means) after the product is released.

I have just caught up with this thread, and was reminded of one of the nicest things that was ever said to me in my career as a tech author: 'I think we'll implement it the way you've described it in the user guide'. ;-)

The legal point Lea made is important, I guess, and probably more so in the US. How about borrowing a tactic from the advertising industry and putting in a disclaimer to the effect that 'This feature may not be present in some versions of the software', omitting to mention that it's not present in any of them? ;-)

It's been a long day...
-- 
Steve