Letting Go of the Little Things

Editing for the big picture.

Leah Guren

Cow TC

© 2015 Leah Guren

Agenda

What’s it all about?

Back to basics

What to leave out

Cut, clarify, and refine

Finding creative solutions

Conclusion and discussion

What’s it all about?

Many people focus on proofreading: punctuation and spelling some rewriting for clarity

The problem is that nicely-written

content can still fail if it is: wrong for target audience illogical, unnecessary, or not useful

But big-picture editing is difficult

because you have to: use your brains, logic, and research skills take initiative be fearless

Back to basics!

What is the document purpose?

Who is the audience?

What info do they need?

How does the doc fit in the overall

strategy?

A Case Study

Document: manual for a medical

device

Intended audience: nurses and

doctors

Contained: patient-facing info

What to Leave Out

Let it goat go!

Consider the learning curve.

Users often have a short, steep

learning curve.

If you focus on the novice experience,

you skew the shelf-life.

Solution: strip novice info into a

tutorial or Getting Started topic.

Consider natural exploration.

User discovery is fine for non-critical

info.

Ask: can they get by without this info? do they need it right now?

Solution: allow users to explore and

discover on their own.

I am on a UI

adventure!

Drop redundancy.

Avoid excess repetition.

Avoid multiple methods.

Solution: determine the best way the

user would perform an action.

Skip low-probability actions.

Avoid odd-ball tasks.

Solution: write an

application note.

Discussion: what about

mystery legacy content? How to make

cottage cheese

before milking.

Cut, Clarify, and Refine

You’ve got this!

Remove fluff.

Extra words and empty phrases.

Pompous or overly-formal writing.

Solution: restate in simplest form.

Flufffffffy!

Purge ambiguity.

If it is open to interpretation, it is wrong.

Watch vague modifiers.

Solution: rewrite to avoid any

confusion.

I thought it

was cheesy.

Refine.

Once the meaning is clear and simple,

rewrite for style.

Test.

Solution: try several iterations.

Quality takes

effort and

practice.

Find Creative Solutions

Shift your focus!

Take a different approach.

Replace words with a graphic.

Try a flowchart instead of a text-based

procedure.

Place content in the UI.

Solution: get away from your desk

and oxygenate your brain.

Exercise

Conclusion and Discussion

Rethink the scope of your TC role.

Consider what you can leave out.

Cut, clarify, and refine.

Find creative solutions.

What’s your best tip?

Thank you!

Leah Guren

Cow TC technical communication training & consulting

tel: (+972) 54-485-3473

email: leah@cowtc.com

website: www.cowtc.com

A butter approach to

TC…