this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2024
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Yes. Here: "1.You aren't writing an SOP for smart or even capable people., every. Single. Person. Needs their hand held all the way through every step regardless of technical skill. "
"2.if you didnt state it needed to be done in the SOP, it will not be done when the end user follows the SOP"
"3.MAKE someone else run through your SOP without you being involved. If they can successfully achieve what they needed using your SOP > congrats. If not > fix the errors that brought you to this mess."
"4. Everyone is fucking stupid, be clear, and verbose." We're talking about where the start menu is, clicking on the "OK" for prompts, how to spell and type things out.
Change my given values per SOP and what it's for. But those are my main tenants.
In elemental school we had to write instructions on how to make a pb&j sandwich. The teacher then acted out your instructions literally, without adding or removing a step. I don't think there was a single sandwich made that day.
They should make any developers who are required to write documentation go through this step. It'll be an interesting day and you'll actually learn something.. I hope.
The PB&J sandwich is a valuable lesson. It needs to be taught to young and old alike.
Beautiful lmao
Excellent notes. If I could add anything it would be on number 4 -- just. add. imagery. For the love of your chosen deity, learn the shortcut for a screenshot on your OS. Use it like it's astro glide and you're trying to get a Cadillac into a dog house.
The little red circles or arrows you add in your chosen editing software will do more to convey a point than writing a paragraph on how to get to the right menu.
I would also add that you need to explain out-of-home steps, too.
I'm not an idiot but I didn't go to school for compsci or similar and I don't do it as a job. So frequently the instructions will go
My sibling in Eris, most people dont know any of those words.
Absolutely! But I use markdown / Obsidian for my SOPs so images are kinda obnoxious to format. But yes!
I agree, but I don't think images should be relied on as the primary communicator. I have seen far too many forums/websites/docs with broken images because the host went down. That and archivers are more likely to fail at saving images. Explain it using text and give a reference image to further display the point.