: Problems with getting meaningful and actionable feedback from readers As someone who doesn't get paid to write stuff nobody reads :), I'm always on the lookout for the best ways to collect meaningful

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I'd recommend identifying your 'power users' and work directly with them.

As in all situations the people your documentation is aimed at will differ. Those that do not read at all, those that refer to the documentation only after all else failed, and on the other side of the spectrum the guys that read the new release cover to cover and send you a memo pointing out every single typo and then some.

If the no-readers are on the left and the memo responders are on the right you need the rightist middle ground. Long-time users deeply entrenched in the subject matter that help out the newbies would be ideal. I called them power users but a more precise/formal term might be Business Analyst if that is actually a position in your company.

Now you need to find one or more guys with this skill set able AND willing to sit down for a thorough analysis of the document you want to tackle. Be prepared for feedback that another document needs attention more urgently and/or other suggestions quite out of the box.

How to find them? Any sort of user organisation will know, or more likely have such a person as chair.

In my experience this is the fastest and most effective method to push your output to the next level (and beyond).

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This depends somewhat on the audience. You could have internal corporate docs that can only be viewed by coworkers, publicly available docs that everyone can see, etc. Certainly a comments section is a good start, as is contact information for personalized support.

Generally there is also a review process to get the docs published in the first place. This is best handled by making review and sign-off a requirement that is enforced by project management, and not an informal process.

For example, if you are using a project management system like Jira, Remedy, etc. the item should be added to the task for the SME or someone similar and only closed out once that review process has been completed.

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