Asterisk Engineering Communications

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=100 BGCOLOR="#CCCCFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="04400640egdysm.jpg"> <div> <I><B>Asterisk Engineering Communications</B></I></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> An Enginuity Development Network Partner</div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#0000BF" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <B> </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Enginuity Development Network, Inc. Con"><U><B>Enginuity Home Page</B></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=380 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Why do you need Asterisk?</B></div> <bR> <div> When a project, especially at a startup group, is in the paper-napkin stage, it's easy to believe that the hardware and/or software is all of the product, and when the HW/SW is done, the product is done, and the project's over. After the first few widgets go out the door, however, previously un-addressed issues begin to raise their ugly heads and threaten to stall product development, probably both the current product and the next generation.</div> <bR> <div> For instance: with many brand-new products, the designers are the people most qualified to answer serious tech support calls, and if the interface is a <I>bit</I> confusing, and the product has a <I>few</I> little bugs, and the user manual is <I>little</I> rough, and the market is just <I>slightly</I> different from what was projected, the designers soon become mired in tech-support calls, and product development stops, right when you need it most.</div> <bR> <div> If, on the other hand, you had decided to develop the user manual, with well-thought-out tutorials, while the HW/SW was in development, the first product out the door would have more usability testing (tutorial development does that), a real-world problem-solving user manual, and more people to answer the initial tech-support phones and train tech-support staff. Asterisk will do that for you. We'll even create sales training or marketing documents.</div> <bR> <div> Using this same example, it's not uncommon for the original designers to seek greener pastures when the project moves from the exciting pre-release stage to the more mundane post-release stage. Without a comprehensive technical manual, much of the product's (history?) is lost with the developers, and valuable time is lost re-creating design information. Asterisk will create a technical manual built on core dumps from the original design staff, and that technical manual will also help production test and service departments do their work quickly and efficiently.</div> <bR> <div> So why do you need Asterisk? Because small and startup design efforts are often highly compartmentalized, software people do software, hardware people do hardware, money people do money, and the little things, the things that seem to be no-one's responsibility, slip through the cracks, to the ultimate detriment of the revenue stream. You need us to do those small information-based things, the technical manuals, the functional requirement spec, the usability testing, the user manuals, the training for sales, service, tech support, and customer, and the applications note.</div> <bR> <div> You don't need just tech writers, you need engineers who write and teach, and that's Asterisk.</div> <bR> <div> Bob Brunjes</div> <div> <A HREF="mailto:AEC@EngDevNet.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:AEC@EngDevNet.com"><U>AEC@EngDevNet.com</U></A></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>