How to Write a User Manual
All devices require guides and manuals that will help people use the product effectively. A user manual has its own specific structure and should be written in a clear manner. Developing documentation is a difficult process but this article will help to organize it.
Preparations
Let’s assume that you should develop a user manual for a device. First of all, think about your target audience who will read your user manual. So what can you do to communicate with potential users? You can gather a focus group, but first of all, prepare a list of questions about their age, education, occupation, and what not (if necessary), this information will help you later. Then ask them to test a prototype of the device. Write down their feedback, what was unclear, what difficulties they have faced, and so on. Then interview those people who know the device better, for example, subject-matter experts (SME), developers, and programmers.
When you finish the interviewing part, you can go further. The next step involves reading other manuals. Pay attention to the word choice, style, and structure. The majority of significant and reputable companies such as Google, Apple, Microsoft has its own effective manuals. However, you should not read them if they are not relevant, read only those manuals that are similar to your product and scope.
The last step of preparations is doing a task analysis. It’s about the action plan that is key for potential users and their product interaction in a proper way. So, you should carefully think over errors, bugs, and troubleshooting — as product thinking is product solving.
The Writing Process
I chat with technical writers on Facebook and realize that many of them use MS Word. Some of them don’t even know about professional tools, others use MS Word against their will because “some companies just haven’t been ready for the 21st century yet.” If you want to use a help authoring tool but you don’t know which one you should choose, here is a list of the most popular of them. However, if your company isn’t ready for new products, I recommend you to talk to your team leader and describe all advantages of modern technical writing tools.
Let’s talk about the style and vocabulary. As you may notice while reading other manuals, technical writers use active voice and it makes sense. Such writing manner helps readers to understand information easier. Also, it’s preferable to start every step with an imperative. Imperative verbs are usually used for the response sequence, so it’s easier to follow the required actions.
Speaking of the vocabulary, use information that you’ve gathered about your target audience. For example, if potential users are adults and they don’t have relevant education to the product, don’t use specialized vocabulary and technical language.
As I’ve said above, a user manual has a specific structure. It should be logical, so a user can find necessary information quickly. In order to create a manual that will be easy-to-interpret, take a look at the list of elements that every technical document should contain and use it as a checklist while writing.
About Product Care
So, you develop a user manual for the device, that’s why you should include a section that will describe how users can clean it and how often they should do it. Enumerate all cleaning steps. If it’s necessary to remove some parts, be sure to explain this process in detail. If users can service a device by themselves, also describe it using a bulleted list.
Storage options are also important, and if they are obvious for you, they can be unclear for users. Explain why it’s necessary to store a device in a proper way and how users should do it. For example, “Store the product in a cool, dry place.”
Also, develop a section with common problems and how to solve them. In order to simplify searching, group problems. For example, if there are issues with displaying information, named them “Screen Problems”. Moreover, you should include an email or a phone number of the technical support service.
When a Manual is Ready…
When the manual is ready, ask your friends to read and follow some steps of product using. This step is important because your friends are not familiar with the product, and if something is unclear for them, they will help you to describe it better.
Conclusion
So, these are steps that will help you develop and implement your documentation effectively. Good luck with your technical writing!