The good-enough product manual

Why aren't they better? (hint: because they're hard to make)

It’s Monday! I’m sure you don’t need a guide to have a great week. Be well, and thanks for being here. ~JRC

---

Some light reading, anyone?

---

Ubiquitous. Impenetrable. Obsolete? The lowly equipment manual.

These instructional documents come with almost everything we buy and use. The more technical the tool, the more complicated the manual. Some of the most obtuse ones almost need an instruction manual - for the manual!

While these maligned documents go by various names - operating instructions, operator's manual, instruction guide, owner's manual - they all have one thing in common: they're mostly mediocre. And almost all are ignored as a result.

---

If we use them at all, it's to learn the basics. You know, like how to start up our new widget and how to not screw it up. But after that, most of us jump right into trial and error. Only when said experimentation comes up short, do we revert to the manual. And often, this pursuit is no less illuminating. Filled with technical jargon and even poor grammar, technical manuals are notoriously unhelpful. In frustration, most of us turn to online forums or "YouTube University" to get the answers we need.

Learning from this, some companies have started to forgo lengthy manuals. For example, almost any new computer these days will have a simple one-page start-up sheet - and that's it. I suspect there are still more lengthy old-school computer manuals online for these products. But I'm not sure - because I've never bothered to look. And I doubt you have either.

---

Recently, I purchased a fancy new soldering iron. It's tiny and yet powerful; all the big tech gurus are using this thing, so I had to give it a shot. And once I figured out how to use it, I was impressed. But boy, was it a learning curve - I had to basically go it alone because the documentation for the tool was some of the worst I've ever seen.

This thing is made in China by a Chinese company for the Chinese market. It feels like it entered western sales with little extra effort, with the manual being an afterthought - if that. What little came with the tool barely helped me turn it on. And navigating the software-controlled system via the two-button input is anything but intuitive. So I visited their website in hopes of more explanation, but to no avail. Eventually, I found several online discussions on the tool, which helped. These, plus a bit of experimentation, and I had it heated up and ready to melt solder.

---

As I said, it's a great soldering iron, so I can't fault the company too much. It's hard to write manuals, period. Let alone in a language that's not your native tongue. (I'd be hard-pressed to write a manual in Mandarin!)

But I did write one in English just last week. And I like to think I write pretty good...I mean well. So my attempt at crafting a manual should have gone much better than it did.