Being an engineer, I tend to lean towards the spinning in circles mode when it comes to writing technical "how to" data. I find it curious how easy it seems to follow a given set of directions without thinking about how difficult it probably was to create them in the first place.
After my first draft, I found that as hard as I tried, I still managed to fill the instructions with as much technical details to make it into a textbook. My girlfriend can attest to this as she was my first subject to not succeed in understanding the procedure, and even after 25 minutes of explaining, I dove too deep into "civil world" as she tends to call it.
This was both frustrating and positive advice, because I realized I had to address a specific audience for the task and not the entire world......simple, I wrote it for younger engineers whom my techno babble would at least make some sense in theoretical terms. To further challenge myself I also chose to address it to persons in the field who would most likely benefit having a quick summary guide to the topic.
After reducing many syllables and inserting a good many pictures, I was finially satisfied that I had the proper balance of technical background and ease of use found in the common instructions....although I doubt that anyone will ever perform a slump test in their free time or unless they are sweathing on the side of the road.
All this leaves me wondering how on earth those poor souls at LEGO design their complicated instructions to put the thousands of colored blocks together to make a suitable car, tank or airplane....for kids, using pictures only. My hat is off to them.
I mean seriously, how do you design a instructions guide for this......
I had a hard time coming up with a topic to write about too! And it is very hard knowing what details to put into your instructions.. that is why it is very important to make your audience clear from the begining.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like once you narrowed the audience down, the rest fell into place. I think this is crucial for an effective set of instructions, or any document for that matter. When you can picture a member of the target audience reading the document, it becomes much easier to write.
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