How To Do the How To

Instructions seem simple.

If you think about it for a second or two, you’ll probably guess that if something is described as seeming to be something, then it probably is anything but that something; instructions aren’t any different in that regard. They’re among the most common (and often most important) types of professional/technical documents but they’re also among the most difficult to write. There might not be any other kind of professional document that usually requires as many revisions as a set of instructions.

Creating an effective, accurate, and usable set of instructions is asking a lot of any writer and it’s not just about being good with words. Instructions are just as much about what goes on off the page as what you put on it.

Clear and Precise and Simple

Any writer in any genre should recognize the value of clarity. Without it, whatever message they’re trying to get across will get lost and that defeats the entire point. That’s true to an entirely different level when it comes to writing instructions. When you’re explaining how to do something, any sense of ambiguity or confusion can lead the entire process to collapse. (See: the PB & J video in the previous chapter.)

Avoiding that confusion is why instructions need to also be precise. If someone using a dangerous piece of machinery needs to flip a switch on the left hand side to engage the safety mechanisms, it’s the job of the writer to be specific and not just instruct the user to ‘flip the switch’. The steps need to be as specific as possible: ‘flip the red switch located on the left hand side into the ‘on’ position.’

Understand the Procedure

Creative writing teachers have been telling students for decades to ‘write what you know’. That’s great advice for someone writing a novel but it’s the perfect advice for someone writing a set of instructions. If you don’t understand the procedure that you’re trying to instruct someone about, how can you be sure you’re doing it right? I would be confident giving someone instructions on how to format an argumentative essay, but if I was asked to give instructions on how to properly find the standard deviation of a data set, I’d be lost.

Even if I used AI to help, I’d still be lost.

Obviously, there might be times when you’re asked to create instructions for something you might not be totally familiar with – bosses ask employees to do things like that all the time. That’s where the next step comes in…

Try Them Out

Whenever possible, the writer should test the instructions. OK, I think we all recognize that there might be times when that’s not possible (testing the instructions for a portable defibrillator might be tricky, for example) but if there’s a way, testing should be done.

Testing the instructions isn’t just a good way to make sure they work. It’s also a really good way to develop them in the first place. Think back to the PB & J video. If either of the kids had tested their instructions before having dad try them, they might have caught the issues. As they followed each step, they’d have been able to edit/revise to add in specifics and steps they might have missed or, if they weren’t sure of the steps, trying the procedure and writing down steps as they went along would have saved them at least a couple of trips back to the drawing board.

And truly trying out the instructions requires one more thing from the writer…

Be The Audience

Instructions are often written by an expert for an inexpert audience. Think of something that you’re really good at, whether that’s playing a sport or a musical instrument, cooking, or something else entirely. The first time you did that thing – whatever it is – were you as good at it as you are now? I would be willing to bet that you weren’t and that you needed someone to show you the ropes, to try and teach you what to do, to, you know, give you instructions.

When you’re writing up a set of instructions, you’re in the shoes of that person who once helped you and your audience is frequently the unsure, inexperienced, easily confused you. What now seems simple to you is still going to seem complex to them, the steps you take for granted and do without thinking are what they need to learn. In order to put together a set of useful and effective instructions, you need to think the way your audience might and not the way someone who has done the procedure a thousand times would.

Those are all the things that a writer needs to consider about writing instructions beyond just the words on the page. In the next chapter, we’ll dig into the ways writers put instructions together.