Writing Training and Procedure Manuals

You can have the most complete and informative training or procedure manual in the world, but it still might not do the job you want it to do.

Here's why. Too often people who write training materials, instruction books and procedure manuals know their material extremely well, but may know it too well. That can lead to the use of language that is not readily understandable by the people it is supposed to be informing.

One reason could be that the writer doesn't begin at the trainees' beginning, but rather what he or she considers the beginning. "Everybody knows that," is often what pops into his or her mind, simply because he or she has been doing it for so long. In fact "everybody" doesn't know that, only the writer of the manual.

Fresh eyes and someone experienced in writing training can see immediately what needs to be done to make the training more accessible.

Procedure manuals are another situation where steps might be left out. One of the most difficult things there is to write is instructions. You can see for yourself how complicated it is with a simple example. Write step-by-step instructions for making a pot of coffee. Remember, each step has to be included, such as, get the coffee can or jar from the shelf.

Imagine the difficulty in writing instructions for a complicated and convoluted procedure with all kinds of side steps and if-this-then-thats.

We can ensure that your training materials are simple to understand and get the message across that you intended.