Kyle J’s Writing Technical Instructions

One of the most common and one of the most important uses of technical writing is instructions—those step-by-step explanations of how to do things: assemble something, operate something, repair something, or do routine maintenance on something. But for something seemingly so easy and intuitive, instructions are some of the worst-written documents you can find. Like me, you've probably had many infuriating experiences with badly written instructions. Here are some good guidelines when writing technical instructions.

• Clear, simple writing.
  
• Have a thorough understanding of the procedure, before you start.
  
• Be able to put yourself in the place of the reader, the person trying to use your instructions.
  
• Be able to visualize the procedure in great detail and to capture that awareness on paper.
  
• Finally, be willing to go that extra distance and test your instructions on the kind of person you wrote them for.
  

By now, you've probably studied headings, lists, and special notices—writing a set of instructions with these tools probably seems obvious. Just break the discussion out into numbered vertical lists and throw in some special notices at the obvious points and you're done! Well, not quite, but that's a great start.

Always test your instructions before you publish!