Write the Instruction Manual First, Then Design

If this happened, technical writers wouldn't have jobs. So maybe it's a good thing it's not happening, because I'd always like the option of having a job.

The best designed products won’t even need manuals.
By Don Norman (Thursday, January 25, 2007)

In 2001 Steven Heller interviewed usability expert Don Norman for Print Magazine.

SH: Do you believe, as I do, that the designers of instruction manuals make confounding guides? In other words are there built in handicaps for usability, and if so, why?

DN: Those who write instruction manuals know what it is like to be in hell. They are given unusable objects and told to write clear, intelligible instructions. And, of course, they must also heed the legal warnings. They have an impossible job.

Want to know what designers of manuals should do? They should design and write the manual before the product is designed. Make the manual simple and elegant. Then insist that the designers build it the way they have described it. Then we might actually get usable products. and simple manuals.

The best designed products won’t even need manuals.