KevinM - The Secret to Successful Technical Writing

From what I have learned and experienced, Writing Technical Instructions is challenging. When writing, you must consider the audience, purpose, context, length, and complexity of what you are trying to instruct. Whether you are writing something very technical, or something as simple as driving directions, the following guidelines should help you to complete the instruction process.

1. Readability
- Remember your audience. Don’t assume that the people reading the instructions know anything about what they are reading. Make instructions detailed, but not to long.

2. Consistency
- Stick with the same style throughout the entire writing process. Make sure to number/alphabetize everything in order, and not to rename anything using a different name

3. Comprehensibility
- Make sure everything is well defined. If need be, use diagrams or illustrations to explain the point more clearly.

* The instructions should be tested for usability purposes as well. You don’t want to give instructions that don’t work

Finally, along with these tips, I believe there should also be a good conclusion. This explains to the reader why they followed the instructions they did and the ending result they should have. Following these tips, testing them out, and providing proper information should allow your technical writing instructions to be a success.