Don't Forget That Manual!
?>
Download eBooks and Software
 Real Writing Jobs
New & Improved Pricing Structure With Multiple Price Points, Downsells, And Upsells. Doing Better Than Ever! Plus, We Keep Emailing All Interested Users With Your Affiliate Link In The Emails To Make Sure You Get Credit! Realwritingjobs.com/affiliates.php
Insider Secrets To Cheap Flights - Downsized Agent Reveals All
Air Travel Will Always Be Expensive And People Will Always Want To Save Big Money On Flights. Super Conversions, Almost Unlimited Article Writing Potential. Great Product For New Internet Marketers. 75% Commission = Over $20 US Per Sale.
Brighter Side Of Darkness By Best New Christian Author Sylvia Lucas
Sylvia Got "saved" While Writing This Book! Through Its Main Character Donna Highlights The Impact Of Women Growing Up In A Fatherless Home. Donna Is On A Quest To Find True Love. A Must Read For Every Woman In America!
Articles > WritingDon't Forget That Manual!
by: V. Berba Velasco Jr., Ph.D.
No user manual? Surely you jest!
It may seem comical, but it’s a surprisingly common situation. I’ve encountered many companies that don’t provide any user manuals with their products. If they do, their manuals are often horribly incoherent, or else years out of date. It shouldn’t happen, but it happens all the time.
Now, this problem is less common when buying off-the-shelf software or consumer electronics. That’s because these products typically come from large corporations that pay attention to such details. Among smaller engineering firms though, this is a frequent occurrence. In fact, I’d estimate that about half of the small engineering companies that I’ve encountered are guilty of this offense.
I remember how one engineer told me why his company didn’t provide any user manuals with their products. In hushed tones, he said, “It’s because we don’t make any money by writing manuals. It’s not a money-making venture, so our management doesn’t want to waste time on this.” An annoyed expression crept into his face, then he leaned closer and said, “We have lost so many customers because we don’t have decent documentation. Talk about being penny-wise, pound-foolish!”
It’s not just the customers who suffer when manuals are inadequate or non-existent. What about the employees themselves? What happens when a new engineer comes on board, and has to learn quickly? Or what happens when existing engineers need to familiarize themselves more with unfamiliar aspects of their product lines? The user documentation, if properly written, can provide a gentle and efficient way of bringing the up to speed. Without it, they will be forced to rely more heavily on other engineers to educate them, thus wasting the time of everyone concerned. Weeks, if not months, of valuable manpower can be squandered in this fashion.
At times, a company will pay lip service to user documentation by slapping together some hastily written document that is difficult for a new user to digest. “Who cares about wording anyway?” I’ve heard many engineers say. “We’re not writing poetry or screenplays here. What matters is that the manual must be technically accurate.”
This is an appallingly short-sighted view. Technical accuracy is indeed important, but so are presentation and style. Few engineers would listen to a job applicant who shows up in a bathrobe and slippers, or a litigation attorney who speaks like a valley girl—and yet somehow, these same engineers expect their customers to slog through pages of meandering, poorly phrased text. Even matters as fundamental as spelling, grammar and proofreading are often treated as mere annoyances—piddling details that are worth nothing more than a cursory glance.
(To my relief, I have not encountered any such attitudes at my place of employment. I hasten to say this, lest anyone think that I’m complaining about the people that I work with! No, I’ve found that we all appreciate the value of excellence, for which I am always thankful. But I digress.)
Mind you, I understand that there are times when a company might not choose to invest an all-out effort in user manual development. This can happen during the early startup stages, for example, when manpower is in short supply and the products are still undergoing refinement. Unfortunately, many small companies never grow past that stage. Even after many years, they continue to thinks of user documentation as a trifling detail which deserves only a modicum of effort. By perpetuating that mindset, they ultimately shortchange both the customers and themselves.
Like it or not, a company’s user documentation (or lack thereof) is a reflection on the company itself. You can be sure that your customers will notice if the user manuals are poor or non-existent. In today’s busy world, where people need to absorb information as efficiently as possible, the lack of quality documentation can be nothing short of disastrous.
About The Author
V. Berba Velasco has been plying his trade for nearly a decade. During that time, he has repeatedly discovered the importance of good technical writing, and the pitfalls that can occur from ignoring its value.
Dr. Velasco currently works as a senior electrical and software engineer for Cellular Technology Ltd (http://www.immunospot.com, http://www.elispot-analyzers.de, http://www.elispot.cn). Dr. Velasco takes great pride in the company’s commitment to user-friendliness and product excellence.
|
?>
News on Writing
Content Writing King Creates New Search Engine Optimization Service Guide
Content Writing King Creates New Search Engine Optimization Service Guide Article marketing company, Content Writing King, has announced that they have created a new search engine optimization basics guide to help consumers who are new to SEO. [...] it helps to clarify as many industry buzzwords as possible so that newcomers aren’t confused. When asked about the connection between the new SEO ... Writing ability declines but still crucial for success
At the large South Florida law firm Gunster, poor writing skills can obliterate a young lawyer's chances for a job, no matter how glittering the resume. Livescribe Celebrates Five Years of Digital Writing
Livescribe, the innovative company behind the world’s first smartpen, is celebrating its fifth anniversary. Livescribe revolutionized the digital writing market by syncing recorded audio with handwritten notes and providing a valuable new tool, which saves times, improves learning and enhances business productivity. Writing was an act of love in 1824 Philadelphia
 The writing and typesetting of "El Habanero" in 1824 must have been intensive labor of love for the one who put it together. Word by word and letter by letter, patiently assembling the lines of movable type, avoiding at all cost the devil in the typos, must have been a total headache wherever it took place in Old City Philadelphia. Greater even than the headache the author created when his ... Writing from the front lines
WWII journalists were in thick of it The cause of 60 million deaths, World War II remains the greatest cataclysm the human species has yet inflicted on itself: an exhibition, if the gods were watching, of humans at their most depraved, but often their most noble. No wonder that seven decades later historians are still toiling to convey the dimensions of that horror, and the glory that often ...
|
