An Overlooked Communication Skill - Writing Tutorials (Zz)

好文，不过我自己还没来得及自己看-----最近事情太多了

先放在这里吧，有空看看，或者备查也挺不错的

转自上次我提到的那个matlab的blog
http://www.blinkdagger.com/

An Overlooked Communication Skill - Writing Tutorials

This past week we have explored the topic of writing tutorials. This final installment will discuss why writing a good tutorial is an attractive skill to obtain. Before you exit this browser thinking you have never written a tutorial or never intend to write one, you need to realize some apparent facts.

1. You have come across a tutorial and know that you can do a better job
2. You have information that needs to be passed down
3. You have already made several tutorials without knowing

Purpose of Tutorials

The truth is that tutorials are closely intertwined with instructing, training, and teaching. A well written tutorial transfers knowledge and deliver information, making it effective communication. Still not seeing its worth? Consider these examples:

Example 1: A project manager recently recruited 4 new engineers on his team. He needs to bring them up to speed pronto. Project proposal, progress reports, and technical articles are given to them in hope for sponge-like absorption. But when it comes to day-to-day responsibilities the new engineers have no clue where to start. Each one of them bugs existing team members and project manager separately for guidance. Time and energy are wasted.

Example 2: You just shelled out lots of benjamins for a high end software. It is the perfect solution you are waiting for, however the learning curve is so steep. The manual is just a myriad of functions. The quick start guide only tells you how to open a file. Frustrations build up.

Example 3: You are on the phone with tech support. And they are laboriously baby-stepping you through methods you have already tried. You explained your efforts, but they insist on continuing. In the end they concluded on what you have determined prior to the call and transfer you to a higher level tech support.

A tutorial could have been an easy solution for the above examples. Ideally, you would like a personnel training you through each step, but resources are not always available. With tutorials it is relatively inexpensive to make one and saves important people's time and energy. Invest the time and effort in a good tutorial, it will pay off.

Ideas for Tutorials

For Managers: When senior employees leave, are knowledge passed down and retained? Are there essential information that is delivered to every new member? What things do you find yourself repeating all the time?

For Engineers: Your product is intuitive to you only because you spent a long time on it. Each product should have meaningful, descriptive, and graphical tutorials. Do market survey to ensure information is reached.

For Trainers/Instructors/Teachers: Save 1-on-1 time for giving in-depth advice. Hand holding through introductory stuff can presented through a tutorial. The learning process is more effective if they following a tutorial and have you correct them on any errors.

For Programmers: Attach code with working examples. A tutorial referencing to an example usually works better than one which talks only about the features. Code should be commented, but that is a given.

For Bloggers: Visit 10 reasons Why Bloggers should write Tutorials

For Cash and Fame: Good tutorials are hot commodities. People access these through search engines and paid subscriptions. Sites like Psdtuts pay authors $125 for a Photoshop tutorial, Pixel2life drives traffic to your featured software tutorial, and Revver who will pay for your awesome video tutorial. Consider making your tutorial an e-book or pdf for distribution.

Things to Keep in Mind

Software wizards, Where to Start, Things to do before, etc… are all different derivatives of a tutorial. But remember that each of these should be developed with the audience in mind. This is obviously easier said than done. Consider the simple game of tappers and listeners mentioned in the book Made to Stick. Tappers are given a well known song to tap out the rhythm to a listener. The Listener must guess the song. What seems very obvious for the tapper, sounded like Morse Code for the listener. Your audience does not have your knowledge. Don't write your tutorial like a tapper!

Lastly, include a FAQ and update your tutorial base upon feedback. New versions are necessary to keep the tutorial applicable.

I hope you realize the importance of tutorials and the relevance it has in our lives. Here are the links to previous posts regarding tutorials

11 Essential Tips to Writing the Ultimate Tutorial Quan's guest post at DailyBlogTips
Video Tutorials versus Traditional Tutorials

If you have written a tutorial, please share the link in the comment section so we can all learn from you!