Quick-Start Guides Require a Minimalist Mindset
October 2nd, 2008I mentioned the other day that I was working on some quick-start guides that a stakeholder asked for in our training structure. When he described something that he had in mind, I said to myself, “Quick-start guide.” This deliverable takes a different mindset than help systems or other types of documentation. I’ve decided that quick-start guides and quick-reference sheets must be a minimalist’s dream.
The point of a quick-start guide is, as the name says, to help the users get on their feet as fast as possible. This requires the writer to ask, “What is the absolute minimum that someone needs in order to get started?” The next best question is “What is the user going to do the most often?”
This has been a switch for me, and I like the challenge of having to take a different tack on something and think a different way. I think it is beneficial to be writing these guides after I’ve done dozens of help topics and performed training sessions because I have this repository of knowledge now that I can strain through a sieve. If I were doing quick-start guides first, I’d probably have to gather a bunch of information and still try to decide what’s in and what’s out.
It’s a terrible thing to think that a quick-start guide may be all that someone ever looks at. But it’s better than looking at no documentation at all. And I’m sure that minimalists will insist that you’ll scare off users if you dump a pile of documentation on them. I tend to walk to the middle of the road, so I wouldn’t say to give users every minute detail about the system, but I do believe in providing more than the bare bones “just in case.”
However, I do agree that single sheet of information is nice and inviting, and the words “quick-start guide” tell a user that he can, in fact, get started quickly.
As an aside, I’m doing these guides in InDesign. I’m somewhere between a newbie and intermediate with this program. I discovered today that I can click and drag an image file from Windows Explorer into an open InDesign document, and it appears just as if I’d used File > Place and gone hunting for it. Sweet.
Related entries (auto-generated):
Various Languages in a Quick-Start Guide
Quick Reference Guide Presentation a Hit Overall
Try a Quick Reference Guide for Short-Term Documentation Needs
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October 15th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
[...] Quick-Start Guides Require a Minimalist Mindset Tom Johnson | October 15, 2008 | permalink Tags: minimalism, quickstart guides [...]
October 15th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Whenever I hear about minimalist writing, I’m reminded of this quotation by Blaise Pascal:
“I’m sorry this letter is so long, but I did not have time to make it shorter.”
I have a client who wants something short, and as simple as possible. Here’s the doc set: Quick Start guide, reference manual, and administration guide–all as short as possible.
I can’t tell yet if he means he doesn’t want to pay for the time required or if he just doesn’t realize how much time it takes to make writing concise.
Guess I’ll find out if he balks at the first invoice(!)
[Reply]
Ben Reply:
October 15th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
That’s a great point. I have been surprised at the amount of time it has taken to develop these guides so far, but the cause is just the one you mentioned—it takes some deliberate thought to write concisely.
[Reply]
November 21st, 2008 at 6:07 pm
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November 30th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
[...] Quick-Start Guides Require a Minimalist Mindset [...]
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Looks like I get to write my first Quick Start Guide because of a tight deadline.
Any suggestions for learning this craft/art under pressure?
[Reply]
January 22nd, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Since you’re under pressure, how about a reply during lunch? These are suggestions more for producing something good quickly rather than learning the art quickly, though.
The first suggestion is to borrow from any existing content you have, if any. You may have to trim things out or rephrase text to make it fit, but that will still be quicker than writing and editing from scratch.
Second, keep your eyes open for layouts that you like. Use the design principles from those layouts. With a tight schedule, you may have to go with a simple layout and color scheme (if not just black/white or grayscale). If you want color, use colors from the product you’re documenting so you don’t have to come up with things yourself. (I think that’s good practice anyway so that it looks like the guide goes with the product.)
I think the bottom line is to ask yourself, “If this is a quick-start guide, what does the user need in order to get started?” and work from there. Add the “nice-to-knows” if there is space and time.
Good luck!
[Reply]
April 12th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
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