What is a Quick Reference Guide?

["Thomas Quine" <quinet -at- home -dot- com>]

Matt Floyd wrote:
> We were thinking of internally developing or possible outsourcing some
User
> Quick Reference Guides for our application.  I have found a few examples
of
> guides commercially available, but not many.  Does anyone know of any
firms
> developing these guides, or can anyone guide me towards sample guides to
> evaluate?
_____
> Here I am on a Sunday working frantically on a set of Quick Reference
Guides
> (QRGs), so I'll take a little stab at a reply...
> From my point of view a QRG is a handy reminder for users who already have
> training or experience performing a procedure, but usually because they
> haven't done it in a while, they need a little quick reference as a
> refresher. They don't want a lot of discussion, they don't want a
tutorial,
> they just want clear, transparent instructions.
> A QRG is 100% task-oriented, so make sure you know what tasks the user has
> to perform before trying to create one.
> A QRG is quick, which means don't burden the reader with a full
explanation
> of things. Leave discussion of context, history, policy, prerequisite
> concepts, blah-blah to the users manual. Just tell how to do what it is
they
> have to do, and how to do it quickly.
> When I do a QRG I make sure that everything the user needs to perform a
task
> is visible on one page, or at most on a two-page spread. If you make the
> reader flip the page, you've lost them. I also eliminate cross-references,
> which again will cause you to lose a percentage of the audience. They're
in
> a hurry!
> A QRG is not to be confused with a job aid. A job aid is something like a
> keyboard template that shows you what key to push for what function, or a
> brightly colored card telling you what goes where when. I did a job aid
once
> for cash registers that just told the cashiers what key combinations to
push
> for this or that obscure function. They taped them up somewhere where they
> could refer to it quickly, but it didn't quite qualify as a "guide", since
> it was a single item.
> A QRG is definitely a book or booklet. Like any documentation, it can be
> beautifully illustrated and printed in four-color process, or it can be
> plain-old plain-old.
> Make sure you've done a task analysis, identify the most frequent and most
> critical tasks, document them as above, and you're a hero.
> Good luck!
> - Thom
> www.documen.com
>
>
>  -----Original Message-----
On Behalf Of Matt Floyd
> Sent:	December 1, 2000 11:03 AM
> To:	TECHWR-L
> Subject:	Quick Reference Guide:  In House vs. Outsourced Development
>
> Techwhirlers:
>
> We were thinking of internally developing or possible outsourcing some
User
> Quick Reference Guides for our application.  I have found a few examples
of
> guides commercially available, but not many.  Does anyone know of any
firms
> developing these guides, or can anyone guide me towards sample guides to
> evaluate?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Matt
- Thom
www.documen.com


Thom Quine
2395 Oak St.
Vancouver, B.C.
V6H 2J8
(604) 733-3363
quinet -at- home -dot- com



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