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New Technical Writer Don T Confuse Your Reader With Your Words
OVERVIEW
Stop confusing your Reader with the words you use. Your Reader is trying his/her best to understand how your product works without having to figure out your writing. Here are some writing guidelines to help you stop baffling your Reader.
SAME CONCEPT: SAME WORDS
User Documents are not meant to be entertaining. Do not try to be creative, especially by using synonyms for specific concepts in your product. When you talk about a topic use the exact same wording to describe (or name) the topic everywhere in your User Document.
For example, the "Same Concept: Same Words" guideline, says that if there is a control on your product called the "Activation Button," then everywhere you talk about that button use the term "Activation Button."
Don't be "creative" and use words like "Activation Control" or "Start Control" to refer to the "Activation Button." Using the different wordings forces your Reader to have to stop and think "Is this the same thing as 'Activation Button'?"
DIFFERENT CONCEPTS: DIFFERENT WORDS
I bought something on the Internet that had a rebate available for it. When I ordered the product, I was given a "Tracking Number" to monitor the progress of my order. This is common for orders from large companies.
When I applied for the rebate, the rebate company used the same word, "Tracking Number," but this time it meant "their rebate tracking number." When their website asked for "tracking number" I entered the only one that I knew, the product ordering tracking number. I was wrong; the rebate number was a totally different thing.
The Rebate number is different from the order tracking number and should have a very different name from the order tracking number.
One might argue that "the rebate company is a separate company, and must handle rebates for all sorts of sellers." Sure, but they can use a very specific name for their rebate tracking number. They can call it the "Rebate Identification Number." That name would not be used by any selling company to track an order. The problem is solved. No User would confuse "Tracking Number" with "Rebate Identification Number."
QUIZ
Given the information in the previous two sections of this Article, wouldn't it be really silly if the rebate company originally called it the "Rebate Identification Number" and then unannounced switched to calling it the "Rebate ID"? Answer: Yes, it would be very silly. The change forces the Reader to have to ask, "Is this the same thing as the 'Rebate Identification Number'?"
It's not that your Reader is too stupid or lazy to figure out what you mean. It's that your Reader has better things to do than to decipher your writing.
WORDS YOUR READER DOESN'T KNOW
Jargon is the shortcut language of any industry. Make sure that if you use jargon in your User Document, you explain what it means. If the writing project can afford the bit of time, I recommend that you include a glossary in your User Document. Define all the jargon, acronyms, and words that you might use in ways your Reader might not expect. A great example of the latter are "debit" and "credit." The common understanding of these words is exactly opposite to those in the accounting (banking) profession.
TIP: Be suspicious of any words your spelling checker identifies. Ask yourself two questions when your spelling checker identifies a misspelled word:
* Did I really spell that word incorrectly?
* If it's spelled correctly, am I certain that my Reader knows what the word (or acronym) means? If it's not in the spelling checker's dictionary it might not be in your Reader's vocabulary.
DON'T BE AMBIGUOUS
I have a notebook computer running MS Windows XP. If I am using the Media Player and I press the keys to hibernate the computer (put it into an energy-saving sleep state), something warns me that hibernating will lose my place in the video. It then asks: "Do you want to continue? Yes/No." Continue what?: Continue hibernating, or Continue watching the video? It would only take one or two more words to remove the ambiguity.
THE BOTTOM LINE
When you revise your writing, make sure that your Reader does not have to guess what a word might mean. If you mean the same thing as another concept, use the exact same name. If you mean something different, then use as different (unique) a name as you can. Define jargon, acronyms, and any unusually used words. Eliminate ambiguity.
Your reader is uncomfortable enough having to read your User Document, instead of using your product. Don't make things worse by using wording that makes your Reader have to work out its meaning.
BONUS : New Technical Writer: First Things To Do On The Project
OVERVIEW
You, a non-writer, have just been assigned to write the documentation for a product your company produces or markets. You may be stressed out about the assignment. Fear not! This article will get you started on the path to writing a successful document.
QUESTIONS AND NOTES
As soon as you get assigned to the documentation project you must begin to take notes and ask questions. The major goal of this early information gathering is to gain access to the sources of information that you will need in order to write your document.
TIP: There is always something to do or learn on a Documentation project. Don't stop working while you are waiting for something else to happen.
LEARN PROPER USE OF YOUR WRITING TOOLS
Do NOT get immersed in new technology. For most companies and for most documentation projects, investing the money and time to learn a Content Management System or exquisite document writing software are not worth the effort. Documentation writing is often the tail end of a project, and you will have no time to learn new technologies. Instead learn to get the best from your existing word-processing tools.
* Learn about and understand why you should use your word processor's "styles" for formatting your document.
* Learn to use your word processor's outlining capability. The outliner automatically assigns styles to the headings in your document. Design your Document using your word processor's outlining capability.
* Learn how to use your word processors revision system. The revision system is a facility where the author writes a document and then sends it to a reviewer. The reviewer can make revisions to the document, and sends it back to the author who can choose to either accept or reject each revision.
Technology comes second. Our goal will be to produce a great document, providing the:
* content (the information that your Reader needs or wants) and
* effective access to that content.
DOCUMENT ALL PEOPLE ON THE PROJECT
The people who are working on the project include (there may be others, include them in the list):
* Project Manager
* Those who will approve the parts of the Document, and who will approve the final Document
* Project Team
* Contacts
* Marketing
* Sources of Information
* Publisher of Document
* Editor
* Indexer
Keep this information about each member of the product and documentation team:
* Full Name
* Role in the Product Development
* Organization and Position in the Organization
* E-mail address
* Telephone contact (FAX number)
* Office address (if there is a company-wide directory, get the address from there, when you need it)
* Their expertise and what they did on the project
* Any other relevant information
DO IT NOW: LIST THE PLAYERS
You can keep the list using a word processor, spreadsheet, or dedicated address-book software and in your e-mail program.
Keep the list up to date.
YOUR PATRON
Lets call the person that assigns you the task of writing the document (or a portion of it) your "Patron". This is the person who is responsible for ensuring that the documentation gets produced. There are several things you must ask of your Patron, and you must carefully note the responses.
Ultimately, your Patron must provide you with (or put you in contact with someone who can provide you with):
* Access to literature about the product
Includes marketing, design, concept information, documentation for similar products; in short, anything they will let you read that might be related to the product. Once you get the written documentation, read as much as you possibly can about the product. A goal is to become the expert about the product.
* Access to the members of the project team.
Not only the names and contact information, but also provide the clout to get these people to provide information to you. This is vitally important!
This access must include the marketing and design teams. They can tell you about the potential Users of the product.
* Access to the product itself or a mockup of the product.
So you can gain some hands-on experience with the product.
Access to Users of similar products; access to potential Users of this product (or information about them)
If you have been hired by, for example, the Human Resources Department of the company, then Human Resources will have to direct you to the person on the project who is your Patron. Your Patron is not your client.
In the business world we speak of our "client." That is usually the person or organization that hires and pays us. It's the one we are working for.
However in reality your client is your Reader. It is your responsibility to do the best job for your Reader. If it's necessary to go against the judgment of your Patron then you must be prepared to convince your Patron of the merits of your way of doing the work.
Read all the material you can get about the product and the project . It will prepare you for the interactions you will have later with the project members. Be prepared by knowing as much background information as you can before you have your first information gathering session (meeting).
Ask: "What can I read or do in order to get the background on this topic?"
Even if you are the developer, there are things you need to learn. One of the most important is concerns the characteristics your potential User.
Your early investigations should be aimed at answering these questions:
1. Overall (brief) Description of the Product.
What does the product do for the User;
How does the product change the way the User currently does things.
2. Intended Audience (the Users) for the Document and the Product
This is the "target market" for the product; information about who will use the product. This information could come from the marketing and design groups for the product. Ask them: "Tell me about your potential User of this product?"
3. Goals of the Document that You are Writing
This is the "scope" of the document what is your document supposed to deal with regarding the product. See the next item on this list, item 4. Is your document to be a User Manual, Reference Manual, Setup Guide, or a combination of these?
4. Are there to be any other User Documents to be produced that are related to this product? That is, is the document you are working on a portion of the User Document set that the organization will produce for the product? If yes, what are the other documents in the set (so you can refer to them in your document)?
5. The contact information that I discussed just above. For every question you might have, you must have a source (be that source written or verbal) for an answer.
The items on the above list would probably be answered by higher level members of the project team. Perhaps your Patron can answer them; if not, he/she must guide you to where (or from whom) you can get the answers. These are the first things you will write about in your User Documentation. Get this information early in the project.
In short, you need to get both written documentation about the product and contacts who you can ask to provide more information.
Eventually you will enter this information in a word processing document that you can share.
Document all of this information.
ASK ABOUT MECHANICS
Very early in the documentation project you should ask your initial contact about these writing-mechanics topics:
* What is the time frame for producing the documentation. When do you have to have the writing finished so that it can be edited and published.
* What are the Companys (your company, group, division) Documentation Guidelines and Standards
Look over some acceptable documentation produced by the Company
* What are the Legal Guidelines for the documentation
You will need this for disclaimers, safety information, and the copyright notice
* How the document and components of it are to be approved by those responsible for the product and its documentation.
Ensure that you know when and how the components or stages of the document are to be approved. Know
who is to approve your writing. Stay in close contact with those people.
* What writing and outlining software does the Company use
Your software should be compatible with that of the Company
* Get a Style Manual
A style manual is a guide for selecting phrases. It sets down writing customs for your industry or Company. For example, the style guide for the indexing community says that the plural of "index" is "indexes," not "indices." A mathematical style manual would select "indices" as the plural of "index."
If your company has adopted a style manual, use that one, if appropriate to the product. If not, search an on-line bookstore for "Style Manual" or "Style Guide" and your industry, such as "Style Manual Mathematics".
* What are you to deliver on this project?
* How will the document be published
Printed, on-line, Adobe Acrobat PDF, context-sensitive help, XML (so it can easily be manifested in any display medium)
Keep track of all this information. You will organize it and add to it as you this documentation project moves forward.
GIVE SOME INFORMATION
You should give everyone your contact information so they can get in touch with you. You might consider using your business card, and writing on it that you are writing the User Document for whatever product. Make it easy for your contacts to get in touch with you. Ensure that you have your contact information in any e-mails or copies of the document that you send to others.
You should also tell your Patron how you plan to write the documentation. You will be writing the document in pieces (which are logical topics or modules), and provide the pieces to members of the product team for review.
Also (unless you are a professional writer, in which case you may do most of the editing yourself) make it known that you plan to use someone else to edit your document. Interim materials that you provide might not be edited; you are providing them in order for reviewers ("experts" within the project team or marketing) to evaluate them on completeness and accuracy. You will ensure clarity of the writing in the (later) cycles of editing and revision.
One of my (ideal) goals for you is that you become the focus of all the User-oriented information about the product. You become the resource that others on the project turn to for information.
I believe that you should provide information to those involved (and especially those to be involved at a later stage in the project, such as the indexer) as early as possible in the life of the project. There are several benefits to this:
* They will learn about and think about the product and project. This will happen because people do want to do a good job after all, its their livelihood.
* There will be fewer surprises. People know what is happening with the project, how their roles and timing might change. Encourage your Readers to comment back to you about anything related to your work.
Learn, learn, learn! Become the expert about the product and its documentation.
SET UP AN INFORMATION SHARING RESOURCE
I believe in sharing information...it makes for a better work environment and a better product. Use whatever available technology you have to create (or get created) some kind of resource to share information. This information will be in the form of computer files...nothing magic.
You may be able to use a shared directory on a local network, or a protected area on your company's intranet. Investigate what is needed. Provide read and write access to all the people (inside the company) who are involved on the project.
One of the first things to post is the list of people on the project. Make sure that whatever you post, it is in a form that everyone who has access to it can read (and possibly write) it.
NEXT STEPS
Other articles in this "New Technical Writer" series will assist you as you progress through the writing project. Look for them in the links in the "Resources" section.
OVERVIEW
You, a non-writer, have just been assigned to write the documentation for a product your company produces or markets. You may be stressed out about the assignment. Fear not! This article will get you started on the path to writing a successful document.
QUESTIONS AND NOTES
As soon as you get assigned to the documentation project you must begin to take notes and ask questions. The major goal of this early information gathering is to gain access to the sources of information that you will need in order to write your document.
TIP: There is always something to do or learn on a Documentation project. Don't stop working while you are waiting for something else to happen.
LEARN PROPER USE OF YOUR WRITING TOOLS
Do NOT get immersed in new technology. For most companies and for most documentation projects, investing the money and time to learn a Content Management System or exquisite document writing software are not worth the effort. Documentation writing is often the tail end of a project, and you will have no time to learn new technologies. Instead learn to get the best from your existing word-processing tools.
* Learn about and understand why you should use your word processor's "styles" for formatting your document.
* Learn to use your word processor's outlining capability. The outliner automatically assigns styles to the headings in your document. Design your Document using your word processor's outlining capability.
* Learn how to use your word processors revision system. The revision system is a facility where the author writes a document and then sends it to a reviewer. The reviewer can make revisions to the document, and sends it back to the author who can choose to either accept or reject each revision.
Technology comes second. Our goal will be to produce a great document, providing the:
* content (the information that your Reader needs or wants) and
* effective access to that content.
DOCUMENT ALL PEOPLE ON THE PROJECT
The people who are working on the project include (there may be others, include them in the list):
* Project Manager
* Those who will approve the parts of the Document, and who will approve the final Document
* Project Team
* Contacts
* Marketing
* Sources of Information
* Publisher of Document
* Editor
* Indexer
Keep this information about each member of the product and documentation team:
* Full Name
* Role in the Product Development
* Organization and Position in the Organization
* E-mail address
* Telephone contact (FAX number)
* Office address (if there is a company-wide directory, get the address from there, when you need it)
* Their expertise and what they did on the project
* Any other relevant information
DO IT NOW: LIST THE PLAYERS
You can keep the list using a word processor, spreadsheet, or dedicated address-book software and in your e-mail program.
Keep the list up to date.
YOUR PATRON
Lets call the person that assigns you the task of writing the document (or a portion of it) your "Patron". This is the person who is responsible for ensuring that the documentation gets produced. There are several things you must ask of your Patron, and you must carefully note the responses.
Ultimately, your Patron must provide you with (or put you in contact with someone who can provide you with):
* Access to literature about the product
Includes marketing, design, concept information, documentation for similar products; in short, anything they will let you read that might be related to the product. Once you get the written documentation, read as much as you possibly can about the product. A goal is to become the expert about the product.
* Access to the members of the project team.
Not only the names and contact information, but also provide the clout to get these people to provide information to you. This is vitally important!
This access must include the marketing and design teams. They can tell you about the potential Users of the product.
* Access to the product itself or a mockup of the product.
So you can gain some hands-on experience with the product.
Access to Users of similar products; access to potential Users of this product (or information about them)
If you have been hired by, for example, the Human Resources Department of the company, then Human Resources will have to direct you to the person on the project who is your Patron. Your Patron is not your client.
In the business world we speak of our "client." That is usually the person or organization that hires and pays us. It's the one we are working for.
However in reality your client is your Reader. It is your responsibility to do the best job for your Reader. If it's necessary to go against the judgment of your Patron then you must be prepared to convince your Patron of the merits of your way of doing the work.
Read all the material you can get about the product and the project . It will prepare you for the interactions you will have later with the project members. Be prepared by knowing as much background information as you can before you have your first information gathering session (meeting).
Ask: "What can I read or do in order to get the background on this topic?"
Even if you are the developer, there are things you need to learn. One of the most important is concerns the characteristics your potential User.
Your early investigations should be aimed at answering these questions:
1. Overall (brief) Description of the Product.
What does the product do for the User;
How does the product change the way the User currently does things.
2. Intended Audience (the Users) for the Document and the Product
This is the "target market" for the product; information about who will use the product. This information could come from the marketing and design groups for the product. Ask them: "Tell me about your potential User of this product?"
3. Goals of the Document that You are Writing
This is the "scope" of the document what is your document supposed to deal with regarding the product. See the next item on this list, item 4. Is your document to be a User Manual, Reference Manual, Setup Guide, or a combination of these?
4. Are there to be any other User Documents to be produced that are related to this product? That is, is the document you are working on a portion of the User Document set that the organization will produce for the product? If yes, what are the other documents in the set (so you can refer to them in your document)?
5. The contact information that I discussed just above. For every question you might have, you must have a source (be that source written or verbal) for an answer.
The items on the above list would probably be answered by higher level members of the project team. Perhaps your Patron can answer them; if not, he/she must guide you to where (or from whom) you can get the answers. These are the first things you will write about in your User Documentation. Get this information early in the project.
In short, you need to get both written documentation about the product and contacts who you can ask to provide more information.
Eventually you will enter this information in a word processing document that you can share.
Document all of this information.
ASK ABOUT MECHANICS
Very early in the documentation project you should ask your initial contact about these writing-mechanics topics:
* What is the time frame for producing the documentation. When do you have to have the writing finished so that it can be edited and published.
* What are the Companys (your company, group, division) Documentation Guidelines and Standards
Look over some acceptable documentation produced by the Company
* What are the Legal Guidelines for the documentation
You will need this for disclaimers, safety information, and the copyright notice
* How the document and components of it are to be approved by those responsible for the product and its documentation.
Ensure that you know when and how the components or stages of the document are to be approved. Know
who is to approve your writing. Stay in close contact with those people.
* What writing and outlining software does the Company use
Your software should be compatible with that of the Company
* Get a Style Manual
A style manual is a guide for selecting phrases. It sets down writing customs for your industry or Company. For example, the style guide for the indexing community says that the plural of "index" is "indexes," not "indices." A mathematical style manual would select "indices" as the plural of "index."
If your company has adopted a style manual, use that one, if appropriate to the product. If not, search an on-line bookstore for "Style Manual" or "Style Guide" and your industry, such as "Style Manual Mathematics".
* What are you to deliver on this project?
* How will the document be published
Printed, on-line, Adobe Acrobat PDF, context-sensitive help, XML (so it can easily be manifested in any display medium)
Keep track of all this information. You will organize it and add to it as you this documentation project moves forward.
GIVE SOME INFORMATION
You should give everyone your contact information so they can get in touch with you. You might consider using your business card, and writing on it that you are writing the User Document for whatever product. Make it easy for your contacts to get in touch with you. Ensure that you have your contact information in any e-mails or copies of the document that you send to others.
You should also tell your Patron how you plan to write the documentation. You will be writing the document in pieces (which are logical topics or modules), and provide the pieces to members of the product team for review.
Also (unless you are a professional writer, in which case you may do most of the editing yourself) make it known that you plan to use someone else to edit your document. Interim materials that you provide might not be edited; you are providing them in order for reviewers ("experts" within the project team or marketing) to evaluate them on completeness and accuracy. You will ensure clarity of the writing in the (later) cycles of editing and revision.
One of my (ideal) goals for you is that you become the focus of all the User-oriented information about the product. You become the resource that others on the project turn to for information.
I believe that you should provide information to those involved (and especially those to be involved at a later stage in the project, such as the indexer) as early as possible in the life of the project. There are several benefits to this:
* They will learn about and think about the product and project. This will happen because people do want to do a good job after all, its their livelihood.
* There will be fewer surprises. People know what is happening with the project, how their roles and timing might change. Encourage your Readers to comment back to you about anything related to your work.
Learn, learn, learn! Become the expert about the product and its documentation.
SET UP AN INFORMATION SHARING RESOURCE
I believe in sharing information...it makes for a better work environment and a better product. Use whatever available technology you have to create (or get created) some kind of resource to share information. This information will be in the form of computer files...nothing magic.
You may be able to use a shared directory on a local network, or a protected area on your company's intranet. Investigate what is needed. Provide read and write access to all the people (inside the company) who are involved on the project.
One of the first things to post is the list of people on the project. Make sure that whatever you post, it is in a form that everyone who has access to it can read (and possibly write) it.
NEXT STEPS
Other articles in this "New Technical Writer" series will assist you as you progress through the writing project. Look for them in the links in the "Resources" section.
