Product Documentation and Technical Training
Do you use product documentation when designing technical training? It can make your job A LOT easier.
Technical training has to be precise, and a lot of the decisions around terminology have already been made for you. For example, if you are trying to decide whether to refer to the product as a “platform” or “application”, check the product documentation.
Customers will look at your technical training for new software, changes, or updates, but when returning to familiar products they will refer to the documentation. Your language should match that documentation to lessen confusion. For example, if technical writers refer to a certain part of the screen as a “pane”, you shouldn’t call it an “area”. Use the word “pane”.
Technical writers are your friends. They’ve already written the processes you are going to highlight in your systems training. This writing can inform your course development.
Whenever I begin to write scripts, the first thing I do is look up the product documentation. It may even serve as an initial outline for the lessons you are developing.
You can even take your use of product documentation one step further and build it into your learning solution. Include references to the documentation and plan activities where learners have to seek out information in the existing manuals/guides. This fosters independence and autonomy, so that users know how to use their available resources.
Whether you have a knowledge management, documentation, or technical writing team at your organization, you should be connecting with that group as they can be a valuable resource.
