As a New York-based technical writer with more than two decades of experience writing for clients in varied industries, in locations from Vancouver to New York to Haiti to Chile, I notice universal themes—pain points that affect all of my clients, whatever their business line or type of documentation.

It’s all about the user experience (UX). If your customers and staff can’t use your product or perform their task, the result is pain and frustration!

Top 5 Technical Writing Pain Points

Here are the top 5 technical documentation pain points:

1. Obsolete! Existing documentation or procedures are out-of-date
2. Unclear! Instructions are hard to understand, so staff or customers can’t follow correct procedure
3. Disorganized! People can’t quickly find the information they need
4. Incomplete! There are no answers for the particular problem or task
5. Inconsistent! Procedures or instructions have been updated in one place but not another, leading to conflicting and confusing information

First Aid for Technical Writing Pain Points

Here I’ll tell you how good technical writing documentation addresses these pain points, one by one. Turn your user experience (UX) into satisfaction and delight!

One: From Obsolete to Up-to-the-Minute

Time takes a toll on any set of documentation, bringing changes that require updates. Consider this when you create your documentation, and use a system that will be easy to update. Of course, that train may have already left the station, in which case you need:

• A Content Management System to keep track of all your source documents
• A regular update process and schedule
• A system for keeping track of changes, whether it’s specialized software or simply an Excel spreadsheet or an internal Wiki.

Two: From Unclear to Crystal

Unreadability leading to lack of understanding is one of the biggest problems with documentation, and it usually occurs because the person who wrote the documentation knows the subject matter well but is not a skilled writer. Ways to ensure your documentation is crystal clear:

• Use a simple writing style aimed at an eighth-grade reader
• Explain all jargon and technical terms
• Get actual users to follow the instructions and test the procedures – sounds like a no-brainer, right? But few companies actually do this!

Three: From Disorganized to Swiss Precision

Disorganized, hard-to-find information is a very common problem, especially with complicated software or procedures that require lengthy documentation. If you have a thick binder of operating procedures or a stack of user guides, chances are, no one will look at them. But even a slender tome won’t help if the user can’t find the information they need.

To make your content findable:

• Organize topics with clear titles and headings
• Deliver content in a searchable online format so that people can quickly look up the subject
• Include alternate search terms in your text or tags, so that people kind find a subject even if they don’t know the exact term that they’re looking for
• Organize content by user task, not by the software menu structure.

Four: From Incomplete to Spot-On

Identifying gaps in the documentation is tricky, because you don’t know what you don’t know. Here are some sleuthing techniques to discover what’s missing and fill the holes:

• Test the software or process rigorously, to find out what areas haven’t been documented
• Make a list of all the tasks or procedures your users need to perform and correlate this to the existing content to identify gaps
• Try doing the task wrong to find out what trouble-shooting tips your users will need
• Again, user-test the documentation and watch where they go wrong, as well as what kinds of information they try to look up, then make sure you give them what they need!

Five: From Inconsistent to Single Source

Inconsistency is a problem that often creeps in over time as different people update the documentation set, perhaps making changes in one place but not another, or using different terminology to describe the same thing. Even different writing styles can be confusing to the end reader.

With technical writing, consistency is king! To achieve it:

• Develop style and terminology guidelines, and follow them
• Keep on track by having an editor or dedicated staff member oversee all updates when you have a team making changes
• Use a Content Management System such as MadCap Flare to single source your text, so that a change only needs to be made in one place and it will be automatically updated throughout your documentation set.

A Cure for the Pain

What is your top pain point? Do you need a remedy?

Karen Rempel, technical writing expert, to the rescue!

• A good documentation specialist can solve your unique problems and create a set of documentation that meets your user needs and is easy to maintain.
• The technical writer is the advocate for your user, and brings a perspective that will help you design documentation that is findable, clear, and easy to follow.
• You get what you pay for. If you have a complex project, a product that is complicated to use, or procedures that are difficult to perform correctly, you need an experienced, expert technical writer. Budget for a professional, and you will save money in the long run.