What makes a good technical publication?

There are several elements that combine to produce quantity technical publications, the most

important of which is knowing your target audience. It is essential to have a good understanding of

the capabilities of the person you are writing the manual for. This will determine the depth to which

you describe the product and the assumptions you can safely make when doing so. Structure is also

vitally important; keep descriptive elements separate from instructions, do not try to mix the two as

this will cause confusion. It is much better to provide the end user with an initial overview of the

item, detailing it use and how it is achieved, followed by a detailed description of each component.

Again, the detail must be levelled at the target audience. Where possible, brevity is to be

implemented. Short concise statements or instructions are to be used containing only relevant

information.

Think logically about the chapter layout; start with description followed by operation and possibly

routine maintenance instructions to keep the equipment fully operational. If the item fails to work

properly the next logical chapter is failure diagnosis, followed by any removal or replacement

procedures and finally a list of parts available from the manufacturer.

Illustrations should be used to supplement the written words, but ensure they are relevant and only

contain annotations to support the text; use colour to enhance images. Where possible, ensure the

illustration is as close to the text as possible or at least on a facing page; it is annoying to have to flick

from one page to another to view what is being described. If wiring diagrams or schematic drawings

are included insure they can be easily read; if necessary increase the size and place on a fold-out

page. When providing illustrations to support a parts list try to create them in the order the item or

components would be disassembled and do not have too many annotations on one page, it makes

the page look messy and is a lot harder to find the item required. If an electronic version is to be

created Hot Spot the items and link to the parts list it makes locating the item so much easier.

When writing maintenance procedures it is better to produce a list of single actions rather than

producing several in one sentence. Ensure that any warnings are detailed before the instruction and

avoid just listing them at the beginning of the section or chapter; nobody reads them there, they

always skip the first pages, but if they are located immediately before the effected procedure they

are more likely to be adhered to.

Writing good, usable technical publicationsis not rocket science, unless of course you happen to be

writing about a rocket, think what you would wish to see in a publication and what has annoyed you

about others. The guidelines above should enable the production of documents that both accurate

and user friendly.

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