Why Your Software Documentation Sucks, And How To Fix It

If it wasn't for the damn users, all software would be perfect.  But they persist in trying to actually DO things with your shiny code, and then shit happens.  The complaints start pouring in.  They don't know where the "ANY" key is.  They type "l-o-g-i-n" as the login and it doesn't work.  They think a strong password is something like "password" or "secret".

Yeah.  I've actually heard all of those.  I used to support some pretty large software products, and try to develop training and support materials so the damn clients could actually use the stuff.  And it's not trivial.  Turns out, if they can understand how to make your software do stuff, they like it and buy more!  If not, your cute little loft startup with the basketball hoops and the Razor Scooters is toast, Dude.

I'll show you five typical boneheaded ways that coders screw up documentation, and (at no additional charge) how to fix them.