The Writing Jobs

You're a non-writer who has just been assigned to write the User Documentation for your company's new product.  Your overwhelming emotion is fear, perhaps with some anger.

With any new activity there will be some anxiety.  Writing may have added anxiety because of your writing experience while you were a student. 

Writing User Documentation is not like the writing that you had to do in school.  Those activities were filled with anxiety and "writer's block."  In this article you will see how to overcome your writing anxieties so you can write a good User Document.

What You're Not Writing

All writing and writing situations are not the same.  Let's differentiate writing a User Document from other types of writing and writing situations.

You're Not Writing a Novel

You don't have to worry about a plot, characters, and techniques to make the writing flow.  You do not have to worry about transitions from one section to another; you don't have to worry about continuity.  It is extremely rare for your Reader to read a User Document from start to finish; Readers usually only look up the information that they need at the time. 

You're Not Arguing a Point

You don't have to determine a point to argue, think up arguments to support that point, and then convincingly present the arguments.

You're Not Writing a Laboratory Report

While lab reports provided a structure for writing, it was usually over-restrictive and those doing the grading were very picky regarding that format and structure.

Your School-Writing Experiences

At the end of your school writing exercise there was a critic (your teacher).  Your goal was to impress him/her with your writing, all the time being extremely careful to write grammatically, and follow the prescribed structure.   Later we will get a "critic" (editor) to be on your side in the writing project.

Writing a User Document is Different.  The team is on your side. (I am ignoring office politics.)   Everyone wants to have a successful product, and good User Documentation is part of a good product. 

Remember that other members of the team are human, also.  They have their tasks to complete, and would probably prefer not to have to answer your questions.  Be prepared (read background info, etc) before you ask questions.

Structure Makes Writing Easier

The overall structure of the User Document will follow the interaction between the User and the product.  Within that structure you will write components...pieces of the User Document, each dealing with a specific topic.  Each component will have a defined structure: overview/background, the actual material, and additional information.