Brandon Wright's Policy and Manual Writing

Hey guys. This week I am supposed to help you guys with tips on writing policies and manuals. One of the main things I can say to really help you out in this process is using a template. The template will lead you in the right direction, help you when you get stuck and contain information that will help you along the way. The template will also give you the structural format that you can follow that will definately ease the process.
Most policies or manuals want to be simple, easy to use and consistent, much like other forms of documents we've read about so far into the semester. Good policies and manuals always follow the 5 C's, they have too. People will be reading these for guidance and information, thus calling for the policies and manuals to be as clear and concise as possible.
Another thing to remember is that manuals and policies should be written with the reader, customer or whoever in mind. After all they will be the people reading these documents most. Manuals above all need to be clear and concise. A manual's job is to explain how something works, how to put something together, etc., calling for this type of document to be at the peak of the 5 C's. No one is going to buy a product, read a manual or follow a policy if the wording is unclear and hard to comprehand. Another big thing for manual writers to keep in mind is that they can't let the document get to technical and wordy. Nothing is going to frustrate the reader more than a bunch of technical words they have to look up or get mad and upset about.
Another big aspect to focus on that I mentioned above is the format. Consumers and readers want to be able to just flip through right to step or procedure they are on. So the writer needs to make sure that presentation of the policies or manuals is in a fashion that will allow the reader to do so, otherwise the reader might get frustrated and that's not what the writer wants.

References:
http://www.ucsc.edu/ppmanual/pdf/guide.pdf
http://www.helpscribe.com/2009/04/guide-to-writing-policy-and-procedure.html