JSK Writes

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Case Study 1: Revitalizing Legacy Documentation

Summary: A comprehensive overhaul of legacy User Guide, improving user experience, reducing support inquiries, and establishing best practices for future documentation projects.

Problem/Challenge

A leading developer tools company faced challenges with fragmented, outdated documentation. Their User Guide with 150+ topics suffered from inconsistencies, obsolete content, and missing information, frustrating users and increasing support costs. Despite the legacy WinForms control being a key revenue source, poor documentation impacted user experience. Additionally, the Japanese help file was more detailed than the English version, creating a content gap.

Your Role and Approach

As a technical writer, I was tasked with reengineering the legacy WinForms documentation. My approach involved a comprehensive overhaul, focusing on:

Deep Product Understanding: Through discussions with SMEs and product owners.

Gap Analysis: Analyzing competitor documentation, user support queries, and forums.

Modern Documentation Structure: Designing a new, easy-to-navigate table of contents.

Code Verification: Verifying and correcting code examples as per the updated product features.

Content Refresh: Updating information, language and clarity.

Missing Topic Creation: Authoring new content, including information from extra Japanese topics.

Tutorial and How-To Development:Identifying common user scenarios to create easy-to-follow tutorials.

Screenshot Updates: Replacing outdated visuals.

Topic Templates Designing: Creating standard flow for different types of topics keeping all documentation in mind.

Tools: Using HelpStudio, Snagit, and Visual Studio.

Process Challenges: Navigating a time-consuming approval system.

Solution

  • Revitalized the WinForms User Guide (approximately 90 topics).
  • Developed comprehensive tutorials and practical guides.
  • Implemented a new, user-friendly documentation structure.
  • Replaced outdated screenshots and corrected code examples.
  • Translated missing topics from the Japanese help files.
  • Delivered topic templates as a guideline for all documentation.

Outcomes

  • Led to a noticeable decrease in support inquiries, freeing up support resources.
  • Enabled faster user onboarding and product adoption.
  • Established best practices for future documentation.
  • Improved user satisfaction, evidenced by reduced support queries.
  • Served as a prototype for further documentation revamps.
  • Personal growth: Transitioned to content creation and realized potential.

Key Skills Demonstrated

  • Research and Analysis
  • Structured Authoring (Custom)
  • Code Comprehension and Verification
  • Japanese Language Skills (Translation)
  • Technical Documentation Development
  • Collaboration with SMEs
  • Problem-Solving
  • Tool Proficiency (HelpStudio, Snagit, Visual Studio)

Let’s Discuss Your Documentation Needs

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