Barry Millman

New Technical Writer: Have No Fear of Writing

OVERVIEW 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 hav... Read >

How Poor In-House User Documents Cost You Twice & What to Do About It

OVERVIEW Many organizations produce in-house tools or modify commercially-available tools for their own use. These tools should get documented so they are of use to others in the organization. If this documentation is not created or is poorly writ... Read >

Great Technical Writing: User Document Headings Should Be Guideposts, Not Advertisements

OVERVIEW Most heading are designed to entice us to read further. Headings in User Documents should enable your Reader to decide whether or not to continue reading that section. Use effective headings to make it easy for your Reader to access and unde... Read >

Benefits of Creating User Documents In-House

OVERVIEW For small companies, creating their product's User Documentation in-house, provides benefits to the company, to (idle) staff, and to the product. This article describes the benefits and some downsides of producing User Documents in-house. ... Read >

New Technical Writer: Avoiding the Interview-Writing Disconnect

OVERVIEW Lost or garbled information is a terrible waste. Especially if it's the information you gathered from an interview and must now write into your User Document. Here's how to prevent that waste. THE SITUATION You had an interview with a ... Read >

Great Technical Writing: Improve Document Searches

OVERVIEW Searches in User Documents (manuals, etc.) often fail because the Reader uses different words for a concept than the author uses. Since the Reader's words do not appear in the document, the document search mechanism cannot find them, resulting... Read >

New Technical Writer: Use the Persona to Create the Most Useful Section of Your User Document

OVERVIEW A good User Document includes sections on how to set up, use, and care for the product. However, to create a great User Document , the technical writer should use the Persona, generated in the analysis of the User/Reader, to create the topics... Read >

New Technical Writer: The Four Dimensions of Your User/Reader

OVERVIEW To create an effective User Document, the writer must know who he/she is writing for. This article presents four dimensions (Skills, Attitude, Knowledge and Experience) for describing the User of your product (your Documentation Reader), and ... Read >

Great Technical Writing: Make Your Product Fit

OVERVIEW Most product documentation sounds like their product is the only thing in the User's life. Such thinking results in User confusion and dissatisfaction. This article presents three real-life examples of this attitude, and what should be done ... Read >

Great Technical Writing: The Two-Edged Sword of Reader Experience

Overview When we write User Documents we rely on our Reader's/User's experience to simplify our work. This can cause problems for the Reader. This article will discuss the effects of Reader experience and how to minimize the negative effects of incomp... Read >

Great Technical Writing: Sell Your Readers On What's Important

Overview Our humdrum, sterile headings and writing manner do little to encourage our Users to read parts of the product documentation that would be especially beneficial for them. This article presents two real-world examples, how they fail their user... Read >

Great Technical Writing: Don't Let Your Product's Features Become Expensive Flaws

Overview Your product's unexplained features can turn into costly flaws. This article describes three real-world products with just such "features." It presents ways you can prevent these feature-to-flaw conversions by improving the User Documentation ... Read >

Great Technical Writing: Beware of Your Editor/Love Your Editor

Overview Your editor should be an integral part of your writing team. Do not think of him/her as a judge, but rather as a resource to help you in all phases of the writing project. This article will help you overcome any fear of your editor, and how ... Read >

Great Technical Writing: Banish These Two Attitudes

Overview Incomplete User Documents disappoint your Readers. Two attitudes of many Technical Writers result in incomplete User Documents. These two attitudes are: . "Everyone Knows That", and . "The User Can Figure It Out" This article describ... Read >

Great Technical Writing: Has Anyone Ever Used Your Product?

Product documentation gives the feeling that nobody has ever used the product. Most documentation: . Ignores the product's failings (warts), and how to overcome them. . Leaves out tips that would improve the User's experience with the product . L... Read >