Dec 8, 2021
Red Hat follows Modular based Documentation. A lifesaver for its users indeed!
The world of open source means any contribution can come in from any part of the world at any time, couple that with the CI/CD environment and it could be chaos for users to keep up with things. So how does Red Hat help its users with their Use cases? It practices empathy. yes, it's that simple.
Instruction manuals have been a long time thing, the grand idea is to COMMUNICATE. Communicate, how to do something. When that communication lacks empathy, you get this!
*Spams Product Return button*
When you forget to practice empathy and fail to map the User Journey through your product, you operate in the world of assumptions.
So how does Red Hat do it, how does it practice empathy to help its users maneuver around complex products? Modular Based Documentation.
This type of documentation is written based on user stories.
What are user stories? They are one-liners which detail a user’s characteristics (The Who), user’s want (The What), and why the user wants it (The Why)
“As a fast-food lover, I want fast food to be delivered at home so that I don't have to wait in a queue or commute to my fast-food chain.” You get the idea.
At Red Hat, they write modular documentation that is based on user stories. This means that each assembly documents a user story.
Modular-based documentation addresses user scenarios directly by telling its users how to get something done. Usually in software, with a lot of modules & features, to get something done means you have to be familiar with multiple features that work in tandem to help you achieve a certain task.
So when a user says, “Since I am *insert user characteristics*, I want *feature* so that I can get *benefits*”, you will be directly telling the users how to achieve their goals, in doing so you make them aware of the different features and functions in the software.
Taking User Experience into consideration while shipping out anything product-related greatly enriches the chance of product success and user retention.
So, that's a no to traditional thick user manuals and anything that ruins a User Experience.
