Starting New Projects

Defining the deliverables

Deliverables are the end results of your work, such as a manual, online help file, or white paper. You should define the deliverables at the beginning of every project. You can usually do this in a meeting that involves all of the stake holders (those people that have a say in the documentation you're writing). The meeting doesn't have to be anything fancy, it can be as simple as a brief talk at someone's cubicle or office.

To really understand what your clients want (and I'm using clients to mean the people who want you to create the documentation, even if they are members of your own company), you'll have to get a few key pieces of information, including:

• Purpose/Goal
  What do your clients hope to accomplish with the documentation? Understanding the purpose of the documentation will help you and your clients figure out what the content should be. Part of defining the purpose of the documentation is defining who the documentation is for (the target audience).
• Content
  What kind of information should you include? This is closely linked to the purpose of the documentation. I'm not saying that you should expect your clients to tell you what the content should be. After all, it's your job to figure out what to include and what not to include. But, you need a general idea of what your clients expect to see. Besides, this is just another bit of information that can make your job easier.
• Format
  Will it be print, electronic, online help, or something else? This will help you to figure out how to go about creating the documentation, what information to include, and what tools to use to create it. You'll need to know if there are going to be any page limits or constraints on file size. You'll also want to know if there are any regulations, such as Section 508, or any standards, such as ISO, they want the documentation to meet. Such regulations and standards will not only shape the format of your documentation, but also shape the content.

You'll find that your clients may have a very vague understanding of what they are looking for. They may even have difficulty explaining what they want. As the writer, it will be your job to offer suggestions to help your clients form a clearer picture of their needs. This will only benefit you in the end as a clear understanding of what you are supposed to be writing will make your job easier and save you unnecessary stress.

When you're defining deliverables, don't get too caught up in the details. Your clients probably won't know about such things or won't even care. All they want is a document and it's your job to worry about the details. So be flexible and be prepared to start a project on very vague requests.

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