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MINIMALIST WRITING
Indumathi Sandirane
November 30, 2012
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• What is minimalist writing?
• Why minimalism?
• How to apply minimalism in technical
documentation?
• Examples
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MINIMALISM
Minimalism is the art of presenting precise information to accomplish
user goals without eliminating essential content.
Minimalism is the conjunction of brevity and clarity.
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WHAT IS MINIMALIST WRITING?
• Write what is required
• Remove non-essential information
• Concentrate and accomplish user goals, not the product features
• Help user do a task or solve an issue
• Provide the right information at the right place
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MINIMALISM DOES NOT MEAN
• Writing simplified technical language
• Writing few words
• Using bulleted or numbered lists
• Removing deadwood phrases
• Deleting random content or pages
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PRINCIPLES OF MINIMALIST WRITING
• Emphasize doing rather than knowing
• Provide a context for the information that relates to the users’ working
environment
• Focus on troubleshooting and problem solving
• Ensure that information is easily and quickly accessible
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WHY MINIMALISM?
• Technical document is neither a book nor a novel
• Information overload
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Quick access to right information
•
Easy to understand
• Users want to get their job done than knowing the system
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How to do something
•
Solve a problem
• Increase in translation cost
• Maintenance of huge documentation sets
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BENEFITS OF MINIMALIST WRITING
AUTHORS and REVIEWERS
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•
•
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Content management and sustenance
Maintain consistency
Faster migration to structured writing
Consumes less time to review
READERS
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•
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Usability
Readability
Accuracy
Quick information
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BENEFITS OF MINIMALIST WRITING
COMPANY
• Low cost – > Better resource utilization
Development and maintenance
Localization (cost per word/page)
• Quick resolution –> Fewer helpline calls
• Customer delight –> Repeat business
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HOW TO APPLY MINIMALISM?
1. Analyze user goals
2. Design information to support user
3. Write simple and transparent
4. Edit and review
5. Test
6. Repeat
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1. ANALYZE THE USER GOALS
• Understand user knowledge
• Understand why the user uses the product
• Understand user perspective
• Get assistance
• Marketing team
• Customer support team
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2. DESIGN INFORMATION TO SUPPORT USER
• Structure the information
Explain tasks not features:
• × The File menu, About the File menu
• √ Create a new file, Save a file
• Organize the content
• Easy to navigate
• Quick search
• Write overviews that users really need
• Procedures in task order
• Use flow charts, images, videos
• Define content standards and template
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STRUCTURE: TASKS-BASED INFORMATION WORKFLOW
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ORGANIZE CONTENT
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WORKFLOWS
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DOCUMENT TEMPLATE DESIGN: BEFORE
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DOCUMENT TEMPLATE DESIGN: AFTER
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3. WRITE SIMPLE AND TRANSPARENT
• Write simple that can be read once and understood
• Avoid ambiguity
• General rules:
• Avoid adjectives
• Avoid paraphrases and deadwood phrases
• Use active voice
• Avoid adverbs
• Maintain brevity
• Explain one way to do a task
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EXAMPLE: BEFORE AND AFTER
The AnyDial plug-in recognizes phone numbers or SIP URIs on the
Internet Explorer web pages and allows you to call that phone number or
SIP URI.
You can call the number by pointing your mouse cursor at the number or
URI and clicking to dial the number. You can also select the number and
right-click to select an action from the AnyDial plug-in menu.
The AnyDial plug-in recognizes phone numbers or SIP URIs on Internet
Explorer and allows you to call that number or URI.
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EXAMPLE: ONE WAY TO DO A TASK
Uninstall AnyDial Plugin
The AnyDial plug-in can be uninstalled using Microsoft Add/Remove
Programs. It can also be uninstalled using the uninstall menu from the
Windows start menu.
Uninstall AnyDial Plugin
Uninstall the AnyDial Plugin from Add/Remove Programs on a Windows
computer.
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EXAMPLE: USING TABLES
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USERS GENERALLY SKIP
• Notes
• Stem sentences
• Before you begin
• Prerequisites
• Overview, About sections
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STEM SENTENCE: BEFORE AND AFTER
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4. EDIT AND REVIEW
Self and peer review
• Do you know the user’s objective?
• Can you understand in the first reading?
• Can you write simpler?
• Can you navigate easily?
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5. TEST USABILITY
• Test like a user
• Test the content accuracy
• Perform the procedure
• Study errors and correct the procedure
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6. REPEAT
Because:
• It takes a longer effort to write less
• Each time you read, you can improvise
• The focus is quality, not quantity
“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is
nothing left to take away.”
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
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QUIZ!
Who is the first technical writer ever known?
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QUIZ!
1. Select the most appropriate instruction for technical documentation.
 By typing run, you can run the process.
 Type run.
 Enter the run command.
 Invoke the command run.
 To run the process, type run.
 Type run.
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QUIZ!
2. Select the phrase that is a best practice in technical writing.
 The integer values should match exactly in order to complete the operation.
 The integer values must match.
 The integer values must have an accurate match.
 Making the integer values match exactly is a mandatory operation.
 The integer values must match.
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QUIZ!
3. Which of these will make a meaningful and succinct topic title?
 Introduction to the Change Logs feature in Communications Manager.
 Using the Change Logs feature
 Change Logs
 About the Change Logs feature in Communications Manager
 Change Logs
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QUIZ!
4. Select the most appropriate instruction for technical documentation.
 The text can be modified by you.
 Modify the text.
 The text can be modified in String field.
 In the required manner, modify the text.
 Modify the text in the String field.
 Modify the text in the String field.
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Thank you!
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