ISO standards for software user documentation

During the past five years, a working group of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) has produced the first-ever international standards for software user documentation. Four of these standards are directed at various audiences involved in producing user documentation (documentation designers and developers, managers, testers and reviewers, and acquirers and suppliers), while the fifth addresses the unique challenges of producing documentation in an agile software development environment. These standards have also been adopted by the IEEE Standards Association. This workshop will briefly describe the process used to develop the five standards and provide an overview of their content. Then it will examine in detail how managers can use these standards to ensure the quality of documentation their organizations produce and advance respect for documentation within the larger organization.