What Is A Documentation Plan?
A documentation plan is a strategy for capturing notes about every aspect of a documentation project or task from start to finish. It can provide structure for collecting data, information, ideas, insights and more throughout different stages of the process. The elements included in each documentation plan vary depending on the purpose of the project at hand; however, generally speaking they should be comprehensive enough to paint a complete picture of what happened during its duration. With this knowledge in hand moving forward becomes much simpler as there will always be something to refer back to when making decisions or changes.
Writing a documentation plan is like going on an adventure with no destination in mind. You have the enthusiasm and drive to get started, but without clearly established goals it’s easy to miss out on key points along the way or end up somewhere you didn’t intend. A documentation plan helps guide your journey, ensuring that all areas of relevance are explored and documented accurately and efficiently.
Now that we know why creating a documentation plan is important let’s look into how you can establish the goals of your own.
Informative But Brief
A documentation plan is an invaluable tool for any tech team or company that wants to establish a documentation culture. It provides you with an organized list of all documents associated with your project, as well as the context needed for each one. The key is to be thorough without being verbose; nobody wants to read through 50 pages of documentation !
Once your documentation plan is complete, it’s time to get writing. Don’t forget to update your documentation plan with links to each new document that you produce. That way, you’ll always have a comprehensive view of your project’s documentation needs and status.
5 Major Components
When creating your documentation plan, remember to include these five major components of your documents .
1) Introduction
Project managers need to be able to draft up documentation that is both thorough and concise. The introduction should include the purpose, scope, general approach, timeline, and any other relevant details regarding your project’s documentation.
2) About the project
This sub-section contains general information about your project: what constraints you faced, which features were prioritized and why, and so on. This section may also include a glossary of terms for necessary jargon specific to your project.
3) Content Outline
The content outline is essentially an index for all of your documents. It provides a detailed reference guide for where to find specific information in your documentation.
4) Procedures
Procedures are the step-by-step instructions for completing a task. They can be used as standalone documents or integrated into your content outline.
5) Reference materials
Reference materials are just that: materials that are referenced by your procedures , such as images, diagrams, and calculations.
The Responsibilities of Technical Writers in Documentation Projects
Documentation projects require specialized skills to be successful. The most essential roles for these projects are the technical writers and the project manager.
A technical writer’s primary responsibility is to create content intended for users of a product or service. They must work closely with the project manager to accurately convey information in an engaging and concise way that people can easily understand. Additionally, they must ensure accuracy and provide feedback during the review process. As a result, it’s important for these professionals to stay up-to-date on industry standards and trends so that they can create quality content that meets the project requirements.
Technical writers must also contribute meaningful insights based on user feedback, develop topic summaries that focus on specific target audiences, manage workflow deadlines, conduct usability tests and revise existing documents when needed. Furthermore, they should be comfortable working within various platforms such as web applications and databases that are used in documentation projects.
In conclusion, becoming a successful technical writer within a documentation project will require knowledge and experience while utilizing tools such as analytics software which aid in understanding customer needs so that relevant topics can be created accordingly.
Establishing The Goals Of Your Documentation Plan
When it comes to establishing the goals of your documentation plan, there are a few things you should consider. First and foremost, think about why you’re creating this document in the first place. What is its purpose? Is it meant to explain something complex or provide guidance on how to use a product? Knowing what the ultimate goal of your documentation is can help inform other decisions like which topics need to be covered and format style used.
Another important factor when setting up goals for your documentation plan is who will be using it. Understanding the audience that you are writing for helps determine not only the level of detail needed but also how technical language should be handled. If the people reading your document have different levels of knowledge then make sure to include both basic and more advanced information as appropriate. Additionally, if they come from diverse backgrounds, account for any cultural differences in communication styles or expectations.
Once these core elements are taken into consideration, you can begin outlining the scope of your documentation plan with greater precision and accuracy.
Outline The Scope Of Your Documentation Plan
We all want to produce a document that is of the utmost quality. To make sure our work meets this standard, it’s important to outline the scope of our documentation plan. This process involves understanding what areas are covered by the project and establishing limits for those topics.
In other words, we need determine which subjects will be included in the document, as well as any boundaries or limitations involving them. It can also involve researching existing material related to these topics and looking into any potential risks associated with their coverage. By doing so, we are able to ensure that no crucial information is excluded from our narrative.
By defining its parameters before writing begins, we have a better sense of direction when constructing our document. Consequently, this helps us create content that is both comprehensive and concise – thereby providing readers with an accurate representation of the subject matter at hand. With such clarity on where we stand regarding our topic focus, it’s time now to turn towards who needs such information.
What are Technical Descriptions?
A technical description is a document created for the end-user to understand how a product, process, or concept works. A technical description typically includes the names of the product or process, gives a brief overview regarding its functions, and dives deep into its size, frames, and other components. A technical description describes a process in terms of its purpose, design, parts, and other key details.
A technical description is the building block of technical documentation as it forms the core of the entire documentation. Technical descriptions are often used as part of a larger document (for example, a project proposal ), but can be written as a standalone document as well.
A technical description typically includes the names of the product or process, gives a brief overview regarding its functions, and dives deep into its size, frames, and other components.
A technical description can be as short as a few lines or as long as many pages, describing the ins and outs of a process or product in great detail. A mixture of both text and images is used in such documents to help the reader fully understand the concept. Modern-day technical descriptions even contain videos and other rich media to make the explanation as simple and straightforward as possible.
Types of Technical Descriptions
Technical descriptions are broadly categorized into 2 categories: Product Description and Process Description
1. Product Description
A product description illustrates what the product is like, going into details about its features. A product can be anything- from a computer software program to a blow-dryer.
2. Process Description
A process description describes how a process works or an event is produced. These descriptions are written for people who want to learn the underlying mechanism of how something works. From photosynthesis to carbon emissions, process descriptions can be written for anything that needs explanation.
What is the Benefit Of Writing Technical Descriptions?
Well-written technical descriptions help your audience understand a particular product or process and empower them to use it without any difficulty.
No matter if your audience is your own employees, your target customer, external partners or clients, or someone else, the advantages of creating a technical description remain the same.
One thing to note is that these descriptions should be easy to read, comprehend, and most importantly, helpful. If the reader doesn’t understand your product or process after reading your technical description, the document failed to do its job.
Therefore, it’s important to write these descriptions in a simple, clear, and concise manner, getting rid of any jargon or buzzwords.
How to Write Technical Descriptions? (Step by Step)
Now that you know the importance of creating technical descriptions for both your employees and consumers, it’s time to get into the details of actually writing a technical description.
While most technical descriptions can be dull to read, making them engaging, interactive, and enjoyable can make a good impression on your readers. Follow these simple steps to create an astounding technical description:
Step 1. Define your audience
The first and most critical step to writing a technical description is to define your audience. The more you know about the end-user of your technical description, the better you will be able to explain and predict their challenges. In turn, you will be able to write a technical description that is effective and in-line with what the reader presumes.
Step 2. Describe the result
Illustrate how the reader will benefit from understanding the technical description you have written and what will they accomplish after doing so.
Step 3. Gather Information
Next, you need to gather information for your technical description. Gathering answers to questions like:
What are the frequently asked questions by your consumers?
Where do most clients face issues?
Spend time learning all you can about the product or process you are writing the description for, even if you are already familiar with it. You need to have a clear-cut understanding of the product/process before you begin writing a technical description for it.
Step 4. Build an outline
As we have discussed before, technical descriptions can be as short as a couple of lines and as long as few pages. If your technical description falls in the latter category, it’s a good idea to create a structured outline and follow it religiously.
List down every key detail (size, shape, components, software, steps, etc) you are going to cover in the description doc and classify them into various headings, sub-headings, or topics. This way, it would be way easier for you to write down technical descriptions clearly, especially if you are working in a team environment.
Step 5. Make it interactive
Most technical descriptions are text-heavy, filled to the brim with technical jargon no one wants to read. This leads to dissatisfied readers. Make your technical descriptions easy to understand and engaging by making them more interactive. Add images, infographics, videos, and more wherever it makes sense.
Since we all are visual creatures, we understand better when there’s some visual context around the content we are reading. This is extremely useful if you are describing something in steps as you can add screenshots to guide the reader to the end-point swiftly.
Step 6. Proofread & Edit
Before you “publish” your technical description, make sure you have proofread the entire thing. It helps to get an extra pair of eyes to go through the document and ensure you haven’t missed out on anything important. Stay away from grammatical errors and as it really hampers the reading experience or worse, confuses the reader.
Step 7. Keep updating
In case you have added a new feature to your product or changes the way you carried out a certain process, your technical description becomes obsolete. This is why it’s important to regularly re-visit your technical descriptions and update it wherever required.
Leave a Reply