Originally posted Monday, December 27th, 2004 11:46 pm
This instruction manual brought to you by the letters B, U, L, S, H, *, and T!
I’m a rather home-grown technical writer. I’ve only recently begun taking courses and classes specifically attuned to my current profession; I got here by sheer luck and timing, it seems. Some skill, but a skill that needs honing and refinement.
But my main drive in pursuing this path (aside from the security of a steady check and the comfort of working in the shade) has always been design, functionality, and usability.
Some things chap my hide. The remote control for the Tivo, for example. It’s got a button on there that looks more like your standard logo branding – there is no label, no symbol, no information that would lead me, a Tivo newbie, to think that it was a button, not a logo. But I ran out of buttons to push, and it turned out to be the key button to work the entire Tivo system.
Bad user manuals also annoy me; enough to put me in re-write mode – I wouldn’t be where I am today without the corpses of bad manuals to feast upon and regurgitate into usable documents.
But bad design and bad instructions more often than not go hand in hand (I’m reserving my judgment on the Tivo manuals – have yet to read them). As I stood in line reading one of the bad manuals for an electronic item in my basket, I had a bad feeling about the purchase. But the line moved quickly, and the box said all the right things, so I purchased the item, misgivings ignored.
Terrible idea. I headed home and busied myself with the usual evening chores, resolving to get back to my purchase and read the rest of the documentation later. As the night wore on, I kept finding more things to do than read the instructions. I finally tore open the box (mistake number two) and read the second instruction booklet. Wait. This is a pretty crappy electronic device. And it’s not rated for the guidelines it hinted at on the box – and what did that first manual say? It said what? No, no no, you might as well tell users of condoms to fill condoms with water to check for leaks before use. Misinformation about the use of medical devices is not good. I don’t care how many disclaimers you put on them to cover your assets: Misinformation about the use of medical devices is not good. Whomever you tasked with fitting ‘basic’ use information on that 4″ x 6″ sheet of paper in 6 point type should be fired, or at the very least forced to use the medical device in the fashion they claimed it should be used.
Of course, you also have to consider that anyone using a medical device to treat a condition that they are only vaguely aware of, soley by reading the 4″ X 6″ sheet of instructions deserves all the trouble they have brought upon themselves. It’s called a library, people. And the internet. Books aren’t written to bore you – and there are plenty of random strangers out there who know more about specific medical devices and conditions than the writer of this “manual” ever bothered to learn.
The box is ripped, I don’t know if I have the receipt – either way, I’m photocopying the “manuals” and the manufacturer is getting a letter from me. And I’ll go to a real store and buy the right device specifically designed for the job – not a multi-purpose device that is bundled with alternate instructions to allow the store to charge a higher price for a standard item.