Barry Millman, Ph.D., has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and an M.Sc. and Ph.D.in Psychology. Visit: for resources to help you create the User Documents that your Product needs and your Users deserve. Visit for more articles like this one.
Great Technical Writing: The User-Product Life Cycle - A Documentation Tool The User-Product Life Cycle (U-PLC) is a powerful tool for the User Document writer. Use the U-PLC to generate the high-level topics for your User Document.THE USER-PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE (U-PLC)Usually, when we think of a Product Life Cycle, we think in terms of the develo... Similar Editorial : by Barry Millman. | Source : Script Writing Advice
New Technical Writer: Avoiding The Interview-writing Disconnect OVERVIEWLost or garbled information is a terrible waste. Especially if it's the information you gathered from an interview and must now write into your User Document. Here's how to prevent that waste.THE SITUATIONYou had an interview with a Subject Matte... Similar Editorial : by Barry Millman. | Source : Blogging Tips
Great Technical Writing: Beware Of Your Editor/Love Your Editor OverviewYour editor should be an integral part of your writing team. Do not think of him/her as a judge, but rather as a resource to help you in all phases of the writing project. This article will help you overcome any fear of your editor, and how to effectively use your editor du... Similar Editorial : by Barry Millman. | Source : Write a Poem
Great Technical Writing: The Two-edged Sword Of Reader Experience OverviewWhen we write User Documents we rely on our Reader's/User's experience to simplify our work. This can cause problems for the Reader. This article will discuss the effects of Reader experience and how to minimize the negative effects of incompatible experience, and how to ... Similar Editorial : by Barry Millman. | Source : Write a Poem
Great Technical Writing: Banish These Two Attitudes OverviewIncomplete User Documents disappoint your Readers. Two attitudes of many Technical Writers result in incomplete User Documents. These two attitudes are:. "Everyone Knows That", and. "The User Can Figure It Out"This article describes t... Similar Editorial : by Barry Millman. | Source : Writing Short Stories
Great Technical Writing: Has Anyone Ever Used Your Product? Product documentation gives the feeling that nobody has ever used the product. Most documentation:. Ignores the product's failings (warts), and how to overcome them.. Leaves out tips that would improve the User's experience with the product. Leaves out kno... Similar Editorial : by Barry Millman. | Source : Writing Short Stories
Great Technical Writing: Dont Let Your Products Features Become Expensive Flaws OverviewYour product's unexplained features can turn into costly flaws. This article describes three real-world products with just such "features." It presents ways you can prevent these feature-to-flaw conversions by improving the User Documentation for your products.... Similar Editorial : by Barry Millman. | Source : Free Writing
New Technical Writer: First Things To Do On The Project OVERVIEWYou, 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 NOTESAs soon as you get assigned to the documentation project you must begin to take notes and ask questions. The major...... Similar Editorial : by Barry Millman. | Source : Poetry Writing Tips
New Technical Writer: The Four Dimensions Of Your User/reader OVERVIEWTo create an effective User Document, the writer must know who he/she is writing for. This article presents four dimensions (Skills, Attitude, Knowledge and Experience) for describing the User of your product (your Documentation Reader), and how to build a Persona that turns your generic User into an almost-real person. The article stresses the need to actually USE this information when...... Similar Editorial : by Eric Shapiro. | Source : Poetry Writing Tips
Technical Writing: Visual Index For Reader Access OVERVIEWPeople are visual creatures. They look at your product, and see, for example, a button or display. They want to find out about that control or indicator. A Visual Index is a simple but powerful document access tool that enables your Readers to find the information that they want. This article describes the Visual Index concept and tells how to create one for your document.A VISUAL...... Similar Editorial : by Barry Millman. | Source : Graffiti Alphabets
Great Technical Writing: Make Your Product Fit OVERVIEWMost product documentation sounds like their product is the only thing in the User's life. Such thinking results in User confusion and dissatisfaction. This article presents three real-life examples of this attitude, and what should be done to remedy these unfortunate situations. The article concludes with some techniques for the writer.BACKGROUNDThere are two important facts that User...... Similar Editorial : by Barry Millman. | Source : Wells Author
Great Technical Writing: Improve Document Searches OVERVIEWSearches in User Documents (manuals, etc.) often fail because the Reader uses different words for a concept than the author uses. Since the Reader's words do not appear in the document, the document search mechanism cannot find them, resulting in frustration. This article describes a User-friendly technique for improving searches, without having to change the Users' behavior or the...... Similar Editorial : by Barry Millman. | Source : Wells Author
Great Technical Writing: Tell Your Users What To Expect OVERVIEWIn your User Documentation, you direct your Reader to perform tasks with your product. If you don't tell your Reader what to expect when performing those tasks, you will have a baffled Reader, resulting in dissatisfaction and expensive calls to technical support.EXAMPLE: REVERSE OSMOSIS WATER FILTER I bought and installed a Reverse Osmosis water filter. The instructions told me to fill,...... Similar Editorial : by Barry Millman. | Source : Wells Author
New Technical Writer OVERVIEWA good User Document includes sections on how to set up, use, and care for the product. However, to create a great User Document , the technical writer should use the Persona, generated in the analysis of the User/Reader, to create the topics for the most useful section of the User Document. This article describes this procedure.THE MOST USEFUL SECTION OF A USER DOCUMENTThe most useful...... Similar Editorial : by Eric Shapiro. | Source : Chinese Calligraphy Symbols
