How, oh how, can I convince my boss?

[BHJohn]

How can I convince my boss to move away from the archaic, old-fashioned, clunky RoboHelp and WinHelp to the much more streamlined, flexible, beauty that is Flare and HTMLHelp?

[RamonS]

Show him the results that people get from the "Flare in action" thread (http://forums.madcapsoftware.com/viewto ... =13&t=1015) and make list that show the ROI when using Flare. You could also tell your boss that you'd otherwise quit....hmmm, nah, not a good idea.
Why do you want to use Flare instead of RH?

[BHJohn]

3 different systems in two different languages with 80% common content.

Robohelp = 6 projects.

Flare = 1 using conditional text.

Also, I hate having to be forced to used MS Word. But my contempt for it is an entirely different subject.

[RamonS]

OK, playing boss here....is Flare cheaper? Can you get the work done quicker? Can we replace other software with Flare and thus save licensing cost?

In the end the business doesn't care if you have the tools you like, but how much money they make for the money spent (on you and on stuff). A good boss knows that good tools produce good work and giving you the tools you like makes you a better and happier worker. Often enough it comes down to the numbers.
If you are really ambitious float the idea of using OpenOffice instead of Microsoft Office, that is a bunch of savings right there.

[Robotman]

I would also try to determine if the boss has any (negative) issues with the current help and target those directly to them as well as adding 'it can also do this....'.

I'm not sure what RH costs so can't offer any options there but if you're doing multi-language then I'd ensure to give your boss the full costs involved to replace your current systems with Madcap (including Lingo, Maintenance Plans so you get the updates, etc.).

[bobmoon]

I think there is a corollary to the "business cares about how much money they make on the money they spend" argument from RamonS (with which I heartily agree). Your boss will care (or should care) more about your customer's satisfaction than your professional satisfaction. Any argument you make for a particular development tool could be just a cover for wanting to update your experience so you can find a better job. An argument about how you can increase the value you bring to the customer has more weight. Otherwise, you're just proposing prettier window dressing.

Are your customers satisfied with your current help? Are there aspects of WinHelp that limit their ability to find what they need (and honestly, is HTMLHelp much better?) Does the time it takes to manage your six RH projects limit you from being able to improve the content in ways that would help the customer? Will you gain operational efficiencies in moving to Flare that will offset the time and money it will take to migrate and give you more time down the road to improve the help?

I think these are stronger arguments, if you can develop them...

Bob

[BHJohn]

Where this all comes from is about a year (over a year, actually) we had serious discussions here about moving our software product to Windows 7, which didn't support WinHelp. A little reseach and the 30 day trial convinced me that Flare could not only handle the help migration, but also support out paper/PDF manuals as well. Even years ago there was very serious talk about being able to single-source all our user documents (help and UMs). Eventually we will get there, I'm just trying to speed the process up.

Thanks to everyone who replied.

[RamonS]

Your boss will care (or should care) more about your customer's satisfaction than your professional satisfaction.

I agree with that, but keep in mind that disgruntled and unmotivated employees do not produce good work (which is why I don't get why support is paid so badly, they are the folks talking to the customers on a daily basis!). That means that employee satisfaction should not be ignored. Happy employees will put the customer first automatically.

[ccardimon]

Here is some of what I said to my supervisor in an email back in 2008. At the same time I was taking Flare for a test drive, so was he. I hope this gives you an idea or two.

"My trial period for Madcap Flare had ended. This application is reviewed as the best replacement for RoboHelp. Other authoring tools exist that are not as advanced as Flare, but that might suffice for our needs. They also import RoboHelp projects, but not as well or as completely as Flare does."