Good Documentation Wrap up

Clear requirements, honest representation of steps required, visual aids & contextually placed troubleshooting. Together these points guarantee successful documentation. Ignore these rules and suffer the wrath of employees everywhere. Trust me. They will curse you under their breath even if they don’t mention out loud. So do us all a favor and pledge yourself to following at least these 4 Tips.

1. State versions and software used upfront.
2. Individual steps with one clear thought
3. When in doubt, use graphics
4. Troubleshoot in place, not at the end

Laying these ground rules is merely the beginning of my current responsibility as a designer. I am about to start rewriting the documentation for my office processes and it’s one of those messy jobs no one looks forward to. Still by following my simple tips I’m sure the work will get done and I’ll have a solid beginning to a User Guide.

Good luck and good documenting.