Hardware technical writer

As a technical writer, I’m an expert in documentation, not an expert in any particular product. I get the information I need from the real experts – your developers and engineers – and turn that info into something your customers can understand. So I don’t need to know your industry inside-out to create great manuals. However, I understand that it is less of a leap of faith if you can see that I’ve worked on technical products before (especially if they have some similarity to yours).

There are some common problems that I come across with operating manuals, particularly those for physical products. These problems usually come about because the writers are ex-engineers, and are taking an engineer’s view of the documentation, when it needs to be written from the perspective of a customer. People who build products think about them differently to the people that actually use them.

How do I make sure your hardware operating manuals provide a high quality end-user experience? By delivering content that includes:

• Topic-based approach. People don’t read manuals in order, from cover to cover. A topic-based approach allows people to dive straight in to a section and still make sense of it, even though they haven’t read ‘earlier’ sections.

• Appropriate language. For the most part, this means clear sentences, simple phrasing, and making sure there is a logical flow through the information. Some might say it should mean no jargon, but that’s not always the case. In some industries, the jargon is commonplace and using alternative terms leads to confusion.

• Ease of use. People need to be able to find the information they need, quickly and easily. Your topics need to be presented in a sensible order, and in larger manuals, indexing will help people too.

• Relevant examples. Stories work well as learning tools, so explaining concepts with realistic examples can help readers understand more quickly.

• Cross-references. Instead of expecting readers to have read everything in a particular order, your manual should use cross-references to guide them to related information.

• Clear and useful images. Sometimes, information is much easier to understand as a graphic. Plus, pages of uninterrupted text can make your manual look daunting, and put people off using it.

• Clearly visible notes, warnings, and cautions. If there are safety issues or just helpful tips that readers need to know, they have to stand out and use industry-standard colours and icons.

• Regulatory Information. Some industries have regulations and certain information has to be included in the instructions. For example, there are declarations that need to be included for products that use radio communications. Most of my clients are already aware of this, and it is just a case of adding the information. But if you don’t know what you need, I can help you to find out.