8 tips on how to write a manual

I have been writing manuals for all kinds of things for many (many) years. I have discovered that over the years I have become more comfortable writing manuals and have perfected my writing skills for the public. I have written operations manuals, instruction manuals, training manuals, national contracts and even franchise disclosure documents (which is probably my least favorite). After writing manuals for so long, I have developed my own list of tips on how to write a manual.

1. Create a list: write all the topics you should / want to include in your manual. They still don't have to be in any particular order. Simply deciphering the issues can help with the thought process. If you think of something about a specific topic at random, you can open your document and write down your ideas for expansion later.
2. Always have a pen and paper on hand: you will have random thoughts and ideas when working on other tasks in your daily work. If you write them at the same time, you can include them in your manual later.
3. Check with other people in your company; In most cases, you won't know everything You have to know about a specific topic or procedure. Instead of striving to invent something that sounds good, talk to the expert on that topic … and take very good notes for later translation into the manual.
4. Do not do the work that has already been done; If you include sections in your manual that the pieces have already been written on that topic, look for those documents or pieces and start there. For example, I like to include an introduction about the company (that is, who the company is, its mission and values, etc.). Most companies include this information on their company's website. You may have to rewrite some things, add or even delete some things from existing material, but this is much easier than having to start from scratch.
5. Get everything written and then Format the document: it does not make sense to format and put everything in the correct order until everything is written. If you start formatting before you finish writing, you will probably find that you are spending more time formatting than actually writing.
6. Write in the third person and don & # 39; t use specific names: use I, you, we, etc. in the manuals it can get quite confusing (and it really doesn't seem professional). Continuing to use the company name and employee titles is also safer. If you include employee names, you can find yourself updating the manual every time someone leaves or joins the company. This not only takes a long time, but it is unnecessary. The use of titles simply simplifies your life and makes the document much easier to manage (especially if it is in the hundreds of pages like mine).
7. Always Have someone else review the document, either once or in sections. You wrote the document, so when you try to correct it, you will probably lose at least some errors. Having someone else do the correction for you will allow a couple of new eyes to examine the document and find things that may have been lost.
8. Find a co-writer, if you can. If this is you & # 39; baby & # 39; then you will be writing alone, but if you can find a co-writer and divide the topics, it will probably be completed in half the time. However, one caveat: both may have very different writing styles, so the document may not flow very well. Finding someone with a similar writing style, or finding someone who can edit to look like it is written by the same person, can help with the flow of the document.

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