Re: One big manual or several small ones?

["Comeau, Lisa" <Lisa -dot- Comeau -at- MOH -dot- GOV -dot- ON -dot- CA>]

I deal with people every day who absolutely REFUSE to read anything longer
than one page. These are "busy" people who are intimidated by technology,
and want things to look as simple as possible. If it doesn't look simple,
they'll call me to do it for them. (And we all know that support staff is
NEVER busy...)

For them, it doesn't matter HOW WELL something is organized, many pages
means "complicated, takes too long, waste of my valuable time". So I created
"Quick Cards" - instructions on a 5" X 8" piece of paper that give the basic
steps of a procedure. They are given to those people who have attended
training on a topic, and who already have the full manual. The Quick Cards
are used as a refresher.

At the top of each card is a list of things that must be done PRIOR to using
the Quick Card. (For example, making sure you have backed up the files on
your hard drive) If the user doesn't know how to do this, they must go to
their BIG manual, and look it up.

Not only does this save me from having to create 4 bilion copies of really
long manuals with very basic instructions that experienced users don't need,
it also encourages those "busy" people to read through the manual, and work
for themselves.

My 2 cents.

Lisa Comeau
Accounts Representative
Client Services Group
Y2K/Exchange Project
(O) 327 1112
(P) 715 9198


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