Is Your Technical Documentation Valuable?
What I would like to discuss today is how valuable your technical documentation is. You may be surprised to learn that not all technical docs are equally valuable, though they might be detailed and carefully thought out. So what is valuable content? To me, it is the content that not only describes how to press buttons, but it is the content that supports users’ decisions and the correctness of their actions. Telling users which button to press next is different from making them take the best decision in the situation they have. So…
How to make your content valuable?
Ask Why
Before you start writing your content, answer the question: why?
- Why do users need to know this?
- Why do users need to do that?
- Why doesn’t the product work?
- Why do users need this feature? (What could they do if they didn’t have it?)
Finding the reason is the basic thing here. If users clearly see that your content answers their questions, they will definitely appreciate it.
Eliminate the Obvious
It often happens that users start reading the manual and after 5 minutes ask themselves: why do I have to read the obvious things? Here it is: find the obvious information in your user manual and reduce it. Describe what is really important. When you create a plan for your user manual, ask yourself: what if I will not write about that? What will change? Do I really have to describe this very process? Besides, you need to have a more detailed interview with the SME to make sure that what seems to be valuable is valuable indeed.
Analyze the Product Closely
When you examine the product you are going to describe, pay attention to the moments when you stumble and to the things that make you feel frustrated. If you face these problems, other users will see the same. That is a great idea to help users with moments like that in your manual. That would add value to your technical documentation as the content must solve particular problems and support decisions.
Conclusion: Give users information that will help them make the right decision and use the product most efficiently. This is more important than simply to describe which button to press first.
