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Developing Quality Technical Information: A Handbook for Writers and Editors, Third Edition
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Developing Quality Technical Information: A Handbook for Writers and Editors, Third Edition

by Michelle Carey, Moira McFadden Lanyi, Deirdre Longo, Eric Radzinski, Shannon Rouiller, Elizabeth Wilde
June 2014
Intermediate to advanced
624 pages
12h 29m
English
IBM Press
Content preview from Developing Quality Technical Information: A Handbook for Writers and Editors, Third Edition

Chapter 3. Task orientation

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Don’t tell me how it works; tell me how to use it.

—An IBM customer

Task orientation is a focus on users’ goals and the tasks that support those goals. You rarely help your users when you tell them only how a product works or how it is structured. Your users have a job to do, so they need practical information that helps them understand and complete their tasks.

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If your goal is to put your child’s bicycle together the night before his birthday, you don’t want to learn about how sturdy the tires are or what materials ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9780133119046Purchase book