Guidelines for Developing Instructions

Anyone involved in writing a set of instructions or procedures should find this a useful guidance document. It is applicable for assembly procedures, operational procedures, how-to manuals, user manuals, shop manuals and repair manuals.

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Confusing, inadequate instructions for setting up and using consumer products are not only unhelpful, but potentially dangerous. They may contain wrong information, poor warnings, and no pictures or illustrations. Standards are either non-existent or little known, even though the U.S. government has developed and tested standards for the past thirty years. This book presents a set of guidelines written by The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society that have been tested by human factor specialists. This expert advice is applicable to writing assembly procedures, operational procedures, and user, shop, and repair manuals.