> But this works better if you have someone else try it out instead: get on a video call with them, have them share their screen and speak their thoughts out loud, and most importantly, don't help them. You're trying to find out if they can complete this without additional help. (Yes, it's a usability test.)
If you take _nothing_ else away from the article and/or this thread, take this away!
I pride myself on the quality of docs that I produce and my "secret" is enlisting guinea pigs. Before linking somebody to the doc(s) they need, I'll send them a message akin to "if you get stuck at literally any point or encounter literally any error or shell output that does not match what's in the docs, stop and message me. We'll work it out together and the docs will be better for the next person"
Do that a few times and you have a high-quality document that'll cover the process and any known edge cases.
The critical bit is that the person that needs the doc is already not having an awesome day; make it clear to them that you're here to help and not in a "come to me after you've spent 2 hours trying to make it work" way.
If you take _nothing_ else away from the article and/or this thread, take this away!
I pride myself on the quality of docs that I produce and my "secret" is enlisting guinea pigs. Before linking somebody to the doc(s) they need, I'll send them a message akin to "if you get stuck at literally any point or encounter literally any error or shell output that does not match what's in the docs, stop and message me. We'll work it out together and the docs will be better for the next person"
Do that a few times and you have a high-quality document that'll cover the process and any known edge cases.
The critical bit is that the person that needs the doc is already not having an awesome day; make it clear to them that you're here to help and not in a "come to me after you've spent 2 hours trying to make it work" way.