Before thinking about your content strategy and architecting your information, talking to few of your cross functional folks and asking relevant questions might help to meet your customer needs in your documents.
Meet the Product Manager - Ask to see the Product Requirement Definition. (PRD). Discuss the must have, good to have or nice to have features in plan for the product. Ask how these features are going to enhance, complement or replace any existing product in the market or feature in your product.
Talk to the Development Manager - Ask what is their plan for development. Agile? Waterfall? How do they track the features? Do they have an evolving functional spec? Or are they setting things on stone before beginning development? How do you want to integrate document for this product. Are you considering integrated content, in-product documentation or a set of hybrid documents? How complex are the features? Do you want video documentation?
Discuss with the QA Manager - What is the plan to test? Can they give you access to the test environment? Most of the time QA folks find the issues and glitches in the product and can help you with those information. You have to document these as warnings/guidelines/recommendation or limitations for your customers. Ensure to involve them in the review process.
Talk to the TME - TMEs and Technical/Customer Support people are the closest you can get with the customers in your organization. Plan a meeting with the TME, request to understand how a typical customer approaches the product. What do the customer look for in the docs? Discuss the types of document that'll be helpful on the field. Based on this you can come up with list of docs you must write, need to write and may write and prioritize.
Talk to your Documentation Manager - Plan for right kind of writing support. Plan and start working on the product, or if its a hardware play around with it to understand the components. Write, get reviewed, edit, rewrite and publish.
Talk to Technical/Customer Support Engineers - After you write, get reviewed, post and when the users start using the product, find the Technical Support engineer for your product. Sit with them. Ask if they use your documentation at any point to answer support calls. Are they able to find the answers your customers and they want to find. If not, ask what would be helpful.
Along with all these, if you can get access to your actual typical customer, ask them, how you, the technical writer can help them better.
The role of documentation in a product's customer experience is unique. If the product is absolutely no brainer, no one looks for that Help icon or google for additional information. When the product is complex, and someone is trying to figure out something, they do look for that question mark and click on it, with a hope to find what they are looking for. It is our job to anticipate, work on it and give it there.
Meet the Product Manager - Ask to see the Product Requirement Definition. (PRD). Discuss the must have, good to have or nice to have features in plan for the product. Ask how these features are going to enhance, complement or replace any existing product in the market or feature in your product.
Talk to the Development Manager - Ask what is their plan for development. Agile? Waterfall? How do they track the features? Do they have an evolving functional spec? Or are they setting things on stone before beginning development? How do you want to integrate document for this product. Are you considering integrated content, in-product documentation or a set of hybrid documents? How complex are the features? Do you want video documentation?
Discuss with the QA Manager - What is the plan to test? Can they give you access to the test environment? Most of the time QA folks find the issues and glitches in the product and can help you with those information. You have to document these as warnings/guidelines/recommendation or limitations for your customers. Ensure to involve them in the review process.
Talk to the TME - TMEs and Technical/Customer Support people are the closest you can get with the customers in your organization. Plan a meeting with the TME, request to understand how a typical customer approaches the product. What do the customer look for in the docs? Discuss the types of document that'll be helpful on the field. Based on this you can come up with list of docs you must write, need to write and may write and prioritize.
Talk to your Documentation Manager - Plan for right kind of writing support. Plan and start working on the product, or if its a hardware play around with it to understand the components. Write, get reviewed, edit, rewrite and publish.
Talk to Technical/Customer Support Engineers - After you write, get reviewed, post and when the users start using the product, find the Technical Support engineer for your product. Sit with them. Ask if they use your documentation at any point to answer support calls. Are they able to find the answers your customers and they want to find. If not, ask what would be helpful.
Along with all these, if you can get access to your actual typical customer, ask them, how you, the technical writer can help them better.
The role of documentation in a product's customer experience is unique. If the product is absolutely no brainer, no one looks for that Help icon or google for additional information. When the product is complex, and someone is trying to figure out something, they do look for that question mark and click on it, with a hope to find what they are looking for. It is our job to anticipate, work on it and give it there.
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