The Understanding Of Technical Documentation
The benefits of technical documentation make the difference between competency of a product, and, or inadequacy of manipulation. Every person has a different level of comprehension and it is not an easy task to put all persons on the same page of clarity.
The instruction consists of three areas: That of product, process, and professional orientation. The quality of said instruction is dependent on the source, or person responsible for provision of the documentation. The quality of documentation varies and is dependent on the point of view of the person documenting, as the inventor of a product or concept generally is not the person who provides the clarification or instructional follow up.
Generally, by presumption if you invented something, you would be the best person to describe, and manipulate it. This factor does not necessarily hold true. Research has shown that inventors also presume that the product is self-explanatory in how it works. They are too close to the fundamentals, and if they were to attempt to provide documentation of an explanatory nature, there would be a lot of information that would be missing.
A documentation writer must be conscious of his own point of view and ensure that it does not affect the comprehensibility of the product as he is writing the technical information. It would be easy to make this mistake, and part of his tools are recognizing, the importance of user feedback in determining and incorporating balance within the document.
Orientation of the process involves the aspect of quality, with the quality in itself being reliant on the comprehension of the person putting together the documentation. Do not be led astray however, as the person documenting has been trained on this procedure. There are schools that one can attend to learn how to utilize the information passed on by the inventor.
There are schools just for the enhancement and education of technical writers. They learn how to effectively take the information from the inventor and document it effectively to a wide audience in understanding the what, and why of a product. Their professional demeanor comes across in the finished manual.
To perfect this type of skill takes continuous work in the industry. Different concepts assist the writer in keeping their skills sharpened, with user feedback providing data for continuous improvement potential. The ability to relay technical information to lay persons is a skill indeed.
Feedback is vital to ensure that the writer has achieved effectively the “how to” as described in the instructions to the user. If the user is at a total loss after reading the instructions to figure out how to manipulate the product, the writer’s job is not complete. The user will contact the company, who in turn will monitor the information received. Depending on how many contacts received in relation to a particular product will be the deciding factor that the documentation is not effective, and requires revision.
The benefits of technical documentation provided to us by highly skilled writers enable us to be not only confident but also proficient in understanding about, and how, something works. This ensures that we get the best use out of a product, and learn the most fundamental way of taking care of it. Technical writers do not have an easy job, but they can make it look easy. Sometimes it can get a bit complex, but good feedback can work through any language barriers or confusion that may arise.
Allen Wright has been an outspoken supporter of proper technical documentation for 3 years now, and is a strong advocate of stereo instructions.