Instructions Central to Technical Communication
This technical communication document is often one page however, it can be extensive, twenty pages and more. Instructions are designed to give authoritative information or advise, or a direction calling for compliance. They also give knowledge to the reader about some technical procedure. Instructions are written the most often of any other kind of major technical documents. The task usually asked of a company's engineering or scientific staff to write or contribute to. The simple one page type can be produced by one or two people. A team of two would include a technical writer and a graphic artist. Often SMEs (subject matter experts) may be called upon for their expert knowledge, to join the team. Larger instructions employ a larger team of experts. This team may include more technical writers, SMEs, marketing professionals, and legal specialists. Safety of the readers is the number one responsibility when instructions are drafted. Audience assessment called "usability testing" is often employed by the the team in order to make the instructions effective. People whose backgrounds closely resemble that of the intended audience are recruited to test the effectiveness of the instructions. Although some tasks have no safety risks many others do. To compensate for this instructions are carefully planned. Planning for safety includes three steps:
Instructions like their much larger cousins the manuals, are written sequentially. This means the tasks will be done in the order they appear. To ensure that the tasks are done correctly, the technical writer often actually performs them while writing the instructions. This eliminates the possibility of errors and omissions. Frequently, instructions are concluded with maintenance tips or troubleshooter's guide. The latter usually a table identifies common problems and provides solutions.
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