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Re: Preference: One Big Manual or a Bunch of Smaller Ones?
Subject:Re: Preference: One Big Manual or a Bunch of Smaller Ones? From:Michele Marques <mmarques -at- CMS400 -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 29 Apr 1999 09:29:55 -0400
This depends on the content and audience of the smaller manuals.
If the small manuals are intended for (or are frequently used by)
different people, then this makes sense.
If they are all meant to be used by the same individual, I would
personally prefer either one or two manuals, as I would worry about
the manuals getting separated (and hard to track down). For an
example of two separate guides: one-time information, such as the
installation and tutorial, could be separate from the continue use
(user guide, reference materials, trouble-shooting). But this is a
personal preference, and I'm sure others would have different
opinions.
- Michele Marques
mmarques -at- cms400 -dot- com
Date sent: Wed, 28 Apr 1999 10:52:46 -0400
From: Kevin_Feeman -at- HILL-ROM -dot- COM
Subject: Preference: One Big Manual or a Bunch of Smaller Ones?
> All:
> I got a legacy document that was over 300 pages with a lot of information. It
> was once called a Theory, Installation, and Maintenance Manual. It has just
> about every type of information that could ever be needed including user guide
> stuff, part numbers, troubleshooting, etc. It was horribly written, designed,
> and IMHO, has way to much data to be digested by an end user, in this case, it
> would be a nurse or similiar type person in a healthcare facility.
>
> After trying to figure out what this original TIM was supposed to be, I decided
> to break it out into four smaller manuals: an installation manual, user's guide,
> system design guide, and a troubleshooting/maintenance manual.
>
> My question is this: Would an end user rather have a large document that
> contains lots of information in a format that is hard to use and find the
> necessary data, or would a user prefer to have smaller documents where the
> information is easily accessible? My assumption is that the user would rather
> have something that is useful, hence the small documents. Has anyone else had
> experience in this, I am sure you are out there! It seems like a common problem,
> at least in my experience that companies try to cram way too much information
> into manuals. But I don't have the access to end users to do a usability study
> on this issue. Any thoughts, opinions, ideas?
>
> Thanks in advance.
> Kevin
>
