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Documentation Protocols

Learn to write instructions that others can follow to consistently achieve similar results.

Excellent documentation is critical to sustainable growth as it stands on it's own to take a reader on a journey from uncertainty to success.

Mantra

if it isn't written down it can't of mattered

Technical Writing​

Good technical writing transfers knowledge to the consumer as succinctly as possible.

Knowing when to use knowledge takes wisdom.

Being capable of applying wisdom requires a wealth of co-ordinated resources.

Checklist​

Process Analysis

  • What value is created?
  • How is value created?
  • What are required inputs?
  • What are the building blocks/tools?
  • What are weaknesses to improve?
  • What are the alternatives?

People

  • Who benefits from this? Needs to understand this?
  • What is the sales trigger to recognise value?
  • Who are the trustworthy experts?
  • Who are the hype merchants?

Content Structure

  • What don't you know/understand?
  • What does this relate to
  • Where can your learn more

Questions​

  1. Who is this for?
  2. What do they need to get done?
  3. Who are the experts? What proof?
  4. How is this valuable? What proof?
  5. What concepts do they need to understand?
  6. What logical steps?
  7. What can go wrong?
  8. Have you said what you need to say?
  9. Where to next? What is this related to? What don't you know?

Method​

Essential Steps:

  1. Know Your Customers
  2. Information Architecture
  3. Create a followable process
  4. Use the appropriate visuals
  5. Ensure searchability & SEO
  6. Review, Simplify, Edit
  7. Measure Performance

Create schedule to drive continuous improvement by extracting heuristics into ANKI flashcards linked back to appropriate page here to increase working memory.

Update Flow​

Address the single source of truth.

  1. Fork and update a process or document
  2. Create a change request or meeting agenda
  3. Write an email or chat referencing process or document defining action
  4. Use chat to agree amendments and action plan

Choose verbal or video if sensitive topic or team members that have a low teamwork index rating.

Tools and Templates​

Invest in templates and checklists to drive consistency and make it easier to get started. Investing in the right tools has potential for a payback in cutting out firefighting and support efforts to save time and money when customers can help themselves.