I will give it to the people that write directions for a living. It is rather hard to phrase everything in a manner that just regular people will be able to understand. Every time I start to write my instructions, I have to go back and rethink about how to dull them down so somebody without hardly any technical background can follow them. But they also have to be good enough that somebody with technical background will use them and not cast the directions aside. That could lead to even more problems since they didn't follow them because they thought that they already knew the directions by seeing the first couple steps that most would probably know
The fire extinguisher directions get straight to the point and are easy to use. Just about anybody that has the function of their arms is should be capable of following the directions. Just pull the little pin, aim and shoot. while the directions that I'm writing are a little more complicated and there probably needs to be some technical background to understand them. I want to make it as easy as the fire extinguisher directions.
I agree with your predicament. People can be tricky to advise correctly, because before you know it, they will be looking down the extinguisher opening to see why it wont spray, and then pull the pin and see what happens. I am trying to write about how to test concrete, and althought it is simple once you have done it once, its getting it done that first time correctly that is tricky. All that is really done is you dump concrete in a container, compress it with a rod, dump it out and look at it. Its amazing how rock, water, and a little cement can be so tricky to discuss.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I agree, sometime it is difficult to instruct people correctly. Luckily, I chose a topic that can't really be done incorrectly at all.
ReplyDeleteI think you might find things easier if you exactly identify your audience, and then tailor the tasks to them. For me, once I identified my audience, I could picture them reading it and how they might interpret it. This made the process go smoother when I had someone to write to.
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