Abundant Mechanical Writing: Banish These Two Attitudes
Overview
Incomplete User Documents disappoint your Readers. Two attitudes of abounding Mechanical Writers aftereffect in incomplete User Documents. These two attitudes are:
. “Everyone Knows That”, and
. “The User Can Figure It Outside”
This article describes these attitudes and presents methods for overcoming them. The aftereffect is added able User Documents and added satisfied Users.
1. “Everyone Knows That”
The “Everyone Knows That” mind makes assumptions approximately your Reader’s experience. These assumptions account your Reader grief.
Here’s an archetype of a imaginable “Everyone Knows That.” Accomplish you understand this:
Tomatoes. Most of us accumulate them in a refrigerator. But, storing them in a refrigerator will ruin the taste and nutrition of tomatoes. Tomatoes should be stored on a galley counter at space temperature, until they are divide. Once divide, tomatoes should then be stored in the refrigerator.
Does everyone understand that? What accomplish you assume that everyone knows approximately your product?
Sometimes your User Documents accept to affected preceding User familiarity. Everyone thinks that they understand how to properly (safely) shut off a barbeque…they don’t! The protected shutdown means is described in most barbeque User Documents, however it is not “advertised” (forcefully presented) in the User Documents.
It’s seldom accurate that “Everyone Knows That”. Aloof as you acquisition something to be transparent, it does not beggarly everyone knows that something.
Here’s another archetype: How accomplish you employ a (combined product — ‘2 in one’) shampoo and hair conditioner? When shampooing, the shampoo is massaged into the scalp and now rinsed. When conditioning the hair, the conditioner is massaged into the hair, and remains on the hair for approximately two minutes. Immediately, what accomplish the Users accomplish for the combined product: rinse quickly, or let the product last in the hair?
Provided you accept the “Everyone Knows That” mind when you address, you will tend to allowance outside needed information from your User File. You will be doing a disservice to your Readers, and to your writing.
When in suspect if “everyone knows something,” assume that they accomplish not. Then,
. add some content explaining the topic, or
. impart the Reader where to acquisition advice that will account for the topic
Another Caution
Be careful approximately assuming that aloof as you explained something earlier in your User File, your Reader will bethink (or much accept glance at) that advice. It is unusual for Users to glance at product documentation from commence to finish.
When in suspect, add a reference to that earlier (background) advice. Impart your Reader where to acquisition it, or accommodate a link to it provided your file is electronic.
Here’s a Idea Experiment: You are a User of products: How generally accomplish you glance at the product documentation from commence to finish? Provided you always accomplish, then buzz some other bodies. (The abundant object approximately this actuality — that Users accomplish not glance at the documentation from commence to finish — is that it results in abundant flexibility in writing, formatting and editing the product documentation.)
2. “The User Can Figure It Outside”
The User does not desire to accept to figure matters outside. The User is not reading a enigma book or any other literature, where he/she wants to anticipate approximately what is current.
When someone uses your product, they are using it to accommodated their own needs. Your product may be central to your activity, however to your Users, your product is a method to an point. And they accomplish not desire to accept to decipher your product documentation.
Here’s a child’s play archetype. An e-mail tells you to phone someone, however the note leaves outside the telephone figure. You are expected to acquisition the telephone figure on your own. The writer probably knew the telephone figure, however left it outside. This “advice oversight” gets expensive within a corporation when the e-mail is sent to abounding employees…each looking up the telephone figure on his/her own.
My favourite pet peeve: dates. Within new reminiscence we “survived” the Year-2000 transition. Even we even address dates sloppily. We employ “06″ for a year, instead of “2006.” When we look matters love “07/11/04″ what is the time it is referring to? Is it Nov 4, 2007, Apr 11, 2007, or some other permutation of the numbers. The standards for the format of dates vary encircling the apple. This is an archetype of both assumptions:
. “everyone knows that” (as there is a “average” time format — there is not), and
. “the User can figure it outside” (by seeing provided my other dates accommodate clues to the format)
Don’t allowance matters for the User/Reader to figure outside for themselves. It takes you alone a hardly any moments to comprehend the information your Reader needs, and will save abounding Readers abounding hours in figuring matters outside.
Accomplish It:
The writing literature tells you to “understand your Reader.” Here is where you employ that experience to advance your writing.
Either
. acquisition someone who is love your intended Reader, or
. “accomplish your top” to behave love your intended Reader (you can accomplish it provided you charge to)
In reading and evaluating the file, attending for places where
. the writing assumes that “everyone knows that”
. the writing expects the Reader to be able to “figure it outside”
. the writing makes jumps that your Reader cannot chase
. the writing makes the assumption that the Reader has glance at and remembered the full file
Set these places. It alone takes a hardly any text or sentences.
Everyone will be happier.
