The slim WITT diet

During the port of a software testing product to a new environment, we revamped our product information to meet our customers´ demands by: reducing the number of books; providing more examples; and putting the information where the users need it. Before we changed our information structure, we researched industry trends, competitors, and customer preference. We then categorized our information and determined the type of information we wanted to present in online help, interactive tutorial, or book form. A particular challenge was balance: how to limit redundancy, but put the information where the customer expects to find it. We followed a plan but modified it as we went along. We conducted usability testing during our information development cycle to verify that we were on track. This paper documents our information development process. We share the whats and whys of what we did