Scenario Topics

Scenario Cards - Advance organizers

SDK writer — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 02:10:44 GMT

I recently attended a course on Minimalism, taught by Joann Hackos. It was a good and right in line with

Team System User Education on Scenario Topics

Rob Caron — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 03:27:46 GMT

Take a look at a proposal ( Visual Studio Team System User Education : Scenario Topics ) from David Chesnut

New World Documentation - Scenario Topics?

A CRM Riff — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:19:34 GMT

A couple of friends of mine in the Microsoft Visual Studio Team System team are doing some ground breaking

re: Scenario Topics

Randy Eppinger — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:27:58 GMT

It certainly looks promising, and I am quite tired of the usual list of links.

Maybe this is overly picky of me, but I'd really like to see a working version of this new idea. From a usability point of view, I'd like to experience this new way of finding solutions. Perhaps you could pick a very small subset of topics and create a quick prototype somewhere?

re: Scenario Topics

Erik Sargent — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 02:47:15 GMT

I like it - it would be quicker to scan and accomplishes what you are after very well.

Here is the thing though - what if that isn't what I need? Where do I go then?

What help files need is a thesaurus which can use the words I use to map to words that the product team uses in the product until I understand all the metaphors and basic terms correctly for the product. (And once that happens I might not need help anyway).

My scenario is that I want to do something. I am pretty sure the product will do it - I just know know what the feature is actually called in the product, just the name of the concept as I am thinking about it generally.

That is by far my biggest frustration with Microsoft help files for both Visual Studio and Office.

re: Scenario Topics

Dmytro Lapshyn — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 23:39:57 GMT

I really like the idea. It's like user stories in agile software development. Such scenario topics are certainly useful if the user discovers them through searching or hitting F1 provided the visuals are more interactive - say, the user can click on a task and be navigated to a more orientation "How To" topic.

The visual representation can, by the way, utilize Silverlight to introduce animation and more interactivity.

re: Scenario Topics

A user of developer documentation — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 11:30:48 GMT

Please don't do this. The existing organization and structure of your documentation is easily comprehensible and usable already. It uses a model that is familiar to anyone who has read and used a technical book with a well-crafted table of contents.

Using search on MSDN (when it works, Google is often a more effective entry point) and then selecting a topic, orients you to the organization of the MSDN Library as a whole using the hierarchical structure of the table of contents control and "breadcrumbs" within each topic.

Also realize that people do need to spend some time reading to understand and orient themselves to a subject. High quality, accurate writing cannot be replaced by pictures and terse and cryptic bullet points. Concision is valuable, but should not be an end in itself.

The example "orientation" topics you provide as bad examples, are actually more effective and comprehensible than the constructions you have created. Many of the pictures you've provided are largely superfluous and distracting. They would make much more sense if they were all contained within a single conceptual overview so that they could be related to each other. The notion that every "scenario card" should contain an illustration seems arbitrary. An illustration or diagram should serve a purpose. Complementing the written content, or providing information that is not readily explained in words. They should not be provided simply to fill a slot in a template.

Please don't waste time fooling around with the periphery of your sets of documentation. Spend more time writing thoughtful core content with usable and well-explained code samples. Take advantage of editors and knowledgeable technical reviewers to produced accurate, refined, and clear prose.

Feedback on documenting scenarios in Team System

Jeff Beehler's Blog — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 20:53:00 GMT

David Chesnut has posted an article asking for feedback on changing the orientation of the documentation

Do pictures help

Visual Studio Team System User Education — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 02:19:23 GMT

We rolled out scenario cards as a way to give some navigation and advance organization to our content.

Do pictures help

Noticias externas — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 03:01:54 GMT

We rolled out scenario cards as a way to give some navigation and advance organization to our content

Diagram-based articles on CRM

Visual Studio Team System User Education — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 23:17:52 GMT

In a continued bit of discovery, other teams are using a similar approach to the scenario topics we proposed

Diagram-based articles on CRM

Noticias externas — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 00:10:47 GMT

In a continued bit of discovery, other teams are using a similar approach to the scenario topics we proposed

Sample Help File for Scenario Topics

Visual Studio Team System User Education — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 23:19:09 GMT

A sample help .chm file is available for download that demonstrates scenario topics. Please provide review feedback on this sample.

Sample Help File for Scenario Topics

Noticias externas — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 23:28:30 GMT

Last June I posted a blog entry proposing a new concept called “Scenario Topics”. (See http://blogs.msdn