Today, I am the perfect Pointy Haired Boss from Dilbert Comics. Not only because I run a software company or the genetically deformed head that extends outward symmetrically right where the pointy hair grows, but because I downed three bottles of Nyquil and god knows what else over the past three days. Those of you that had to talk to me this morning, sorry.

So here I sit with my 3 IQ points, reading Karl’s book and contemplating the release support strategy for Shockey Monkey. The software itself doesn’t matter, I could be launching Sheep Herder 3.0.8 and still have the same problems and the ethical dilemma that comes with the support of such a product.

Regardless of situation, there are only two ways to provide support for a software product: before shipping or after shipping.

Support for software before shipping comes in the form of writing documentation, designing the web site, etc. Pretty much the stuff that nobody ever reads. Support for software after shipping comes in the form of frustrated, angry users who have encountered an obstacle that must be fixed, yesterday. Because everyone is aware of nobody paying attention to #1, they end up costing out #2 as an expense that is variable with the product uptake - if lots of users use our product, then we’ll have lots of revenues and lots of room to provide technical support to people that didn’t read the manual. But eventually the firm just stops writing a decent manual to begin with because the smartest people that can actually use the product will be able to get it going right off the bat while the ones that don’t will likely give up on the product no matter how well its documented.

So I find myself in an interesting position. I have already written and sold a ton of Shockey Monkey, so my commercial launch timeline is flipped backwards. Now I’m sitting here trying to figure out the documentation aspect - video, audio or a book?

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