TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: "Granny" instructions From:"Peter Ring, PRC" <prc -at- ISA -dot- DKNET -dot- DK> Date:Sat, 15 Nov 1997 09:15:01 +1
> I was asked to produce some idiot-proof instructions for procedures
> that I thought were already documented fairly comprehensively.
>
> I find that I'm not very confident about how much to
> include. The customer seems to want _everything_ included -- they
> even asked me to spell out all abbreviations and acronyms, even
> though abbreviations are used in the menus and windows. (This does
> not strike me as a simplification, but it indicates that they want
> everything down to the nth detail.)
>
> So sometimes I feel as if I'm describing much too much
> (and therefore including a lot of text that will confuse and
> eventually bore the user) and other times possibly not enough.
>
> I'm concerned that the procedures will be much too long. I really
> dislike seeing 20- or 30-step procedures.
>
> An influencing factor is that the users are not native English
> speakers, which may account for some of the difficulties they've had
> in trying to follow the existing procedures.
>
> Any thoughts or ideas on this subject? Aside from using clear and
> simple English, which of course I'm trying to do.
Krista,
consider a completely different apprach - if and how well it works
depends of course of the product:
Accept that the "granny" types who almost can't read also can't
learn a very complex product in a short time by reading a huge
manual. Therefore, split the manual up in two or three levels:
A. The most basic procedures: Cartoon style with very short
"sentences", max. 2-3 words.
B. Other common/important procedures: Cartoon style with full text.
C. Advanced procedures: Examples + survey tables/flowcharts.
In that way you satisfy them all:
- The granny who will be able to start doing the basic things, - and
maybe learn to use some of the more sophisticated procedures later
on
- The advanced users who will be able to use all the procedures. And
even find them fairly quickly. These people has in general some
experimental capacity, and that makes the example + survey
approach very attractive because it shortens down the manual
significantly.
- Your client, who will now get all the information in.
And by the way, this system will make it possible to reduce the
number of 20-30 step procedures significantly, leaving you more time
to break those you write down into sub-procedures ("chunks").
This solution is based on the theories described in my book. You can
find more info about the book on my website.
Greetings from Denmark
Peter Ring
PRC (Peter Ring Consultants)
- specialists in user friendly manuals and audits on manuals.
prc -at- isa -dot- dknet -dot- dk http://isa.dknet.dk/~prc/
- the "User Friendly Manuals" website with links, bibliography, list
of prof. associations, and tips for technical writers.
