Content is a Symptom not a Solution

NOTE - This blog is in no way meant to belittle the role of technical writing or technical writers. Technical writing and user manuals still play a critical role in industries like Aerospace and Medicine where following processes can make all the difference between life and death. 

Content developers hate me when I say this, but it's true. Traditional content like user manuals are a symptom of poor product design. Now, that might sound like an exaggeration, and probably is, but it is true to large extent. If a product has been designed to solve a certain problem, then it's user interface (GUI, CLI, whatever) is the solution to the problem. If the user ends up having to read a manual to understand the interface, then that's a really big problem. ;) Unfortunately, manuals are mostly about how to use the UI. The core purpose of the product and what the user can do with it is almost always lost.

In other words, while manuals do a good job of explaining the HOW, they almost never articulate the WHY? In this day and age, do users really need a manual to understand how to use a product? Can't that information be woven into the interface through better product design? Can the WHY information be handled better?

These questions and many more go into defining content strategy. A good content strategy is key to improving the adoptability of a product. Instead of spending precious man-hours developing manuals, organizations need to focus on effective and relevant communication techniques for the new generation of customers who are largely young, restless, and most importantly mobile (in every sense of the word.)

If you work for a start-up or a broad-minded organization, try some of these ideas:

• Build a community around your product: Communities can go a long way in improving the adoptability of a product. Users prefer to learn from each others.  It's cheap and easy to start a community, but be ready to constantly update it with announcements, seed discussions, create polls, and provide updates. However, remember, you first need a compelling product to keep the community active. If the community doesn't like your product, the product might never take off. :)
• Use a WIKI for documentation: That's right. Collaborative authoring helps spread the ownership of documentation and is the best way to keep documentation effective and up-to-date. You can embed media into WIKI pages and make them rich. If you have any doubts, look at Wikipedia! While managing modifications will be a bit tough at first, things will settle down. Also, if you want to produce PDFs, there are several good plug-ins for creating PDFs from WIKI pages. Finally, WIKIs make content truly sociable (more on that in another blog.)
• Use screencasts and videos to highlight your features: There's a huge difference between describing the UI in a manual and demonstrating the product. Screencasts allow you bring the UI to life thus grabbing the user's attention and communicating key points effectively. Videos, if planned and used properly, are potent sales tools. 
• Use Twitter and blogs to keep users updated: Pushing information on to a user's device is the way to go. E-mails are nice, but Tweets for announcements and blogs for detailed updates work better. Get ready to say goodbye to release note and cumbersome installation guides. A simple installation blog with embedded videos will be a lot more effective than a huge installation guide. That said, why should the installation process be so complex as to require a guide? ;)
• Create your presence on Facebook and Linkedin: While Facebook is still looked upon as an informal social networking site, it could be a great way to present a human face to end users. A Linkedin page, however, is almost a must. A Linkedin page can also be used to attract talent.
• Simplify your interface: I should have put this right at the top, but........This is almost the toughest to do. But here are a bunch of ideas that will work:
• Remove online help from wizard screens. Obvious isn't it. :)
• Remove UI descriptions from context-sensitive help screens. Instead, fill them with examples and use cases. 
• Use mouse-over text for UI descriptions. Man pages on UNIX and Linux machines are still so effective.
• Keep the manuals light: In some cases, you might need to hold on to your manuals for legal/compliance reasons. If that's the case, make sure that the manuals contain enough information for readers to understand what your product is and how it operates. Highlight warnings. 

Content is nothing but packaged information. For instance, a story (information) can be transformed into a dazzling movie (content.) However, for information to be effectively communicated, the delivery medium, i.e. content type, needs to be chosen very carefully. I'm sure user manuals were originally created to help users. Today, however, they are created as a matter of routine. What's worse, manuals are used as a means to short-circuit the product design process. Design limitations are simply documented with the hope that users will read the manuals and learn how to get past the limitations. This strategy is bound to fail in the long run. Information is a competitive differentiator. So how you delver information is key to the survival of your product. Make content a solution, today!