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Some people need to get the context; to see how what they are about to do fits into the big picture before they can do anything at all. For them, we provide overviews, diagrams, road maps, etc.
Others freak at the sight of a diagram. "Just tell me what I have to do" is their mantra. They skip the explanations and go straight to the detailed, step-by-step procedures. If it's training material we're writing, we also intersperse detailed explanations in the steps that are clearly labelled as such so that the step-by-step people can ignore them if they want. After a few times doing the procedure by rote, users are often ready to read about the why's and wherefores. If not, so be it. We can't force users to understand what they are doing, but we can and should provide them with the material to understand it if they are so inclined.
On Tue, 24 July 2001, leanne -dot- sanderson -at- us -dot- abb -dot- com wrote:
> > Darren Barefoot asked, "What benefit is "a basic understanding" of how a watch
> works going to be to me?"
>
> If you're an analytical learning/thinker it makes a big difference. I am what
> they call a "global" learner, I want the big picture, the bottom line. But if
> you are a "sequential/analitical" learner, how things work is equally important.
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