Who is my consumer?

Take your audience into consideration when building your documentation

Users Colleagues Partners

What is their technical ability?

• Long time user of Salesforce.
• Barely understand a web browser.

Are they "an input" into the process?

• A Sales Engineer sends the expense report to her manager for approval.
• A Support Agent changes the status of a Case which causes a Workflow Rule to fire.

Are they the "main actor" in the process?

• A Marketing Intern updates Campaign Members as we receive event RSVPs.
• A Manger approves a portion of an employee's PTO request.

Are they "an output" of the process?

• A Sales Ops Specialist gets a report of "stuck" Opportunities each week.
• A Partner gets a monthly update on their Leads.

Tone

"When we're helping people with technical problems, impatience is perceived as arrogance. "My time is more important than your problem." Hubris is perceived as belittling. And laziness? Well, that's just laziness.

Being patient and kind, helping people move at their own pace (even when it feels slow), is perceived as respect. Welcoming people at whatever level they are, and patiently helping them move up to the next level, is how you build your community.

Don't make people feel stupid: This must be a core goal.

Even if everyone else in the world is a jerk, you don't have to be."

-- Source: http://opensource.com/business/15/5/write-better-docs