RE: Step One. Done.

["Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com>]

Sarah Stegall wrote:
 
> I'm editing a user guide written by a subcontractor who is (clearly) not
> a technical writer. I am consistently finding "procedures" which consist
> of only one step, such as:
> 
> 
> 
> 1. Click Start>MenuOne>SubMenu to open the TargetApp window.
> 
> 
> 
> I was trained to never have a procedure consisting of only one step.
> This sort of thing is a new experience for me. I'd really rather not
> rewrite 50 or so procedures, but how weird would it look to leave all
> these one-step procedures in place? Would it seem weird to un-number the
> single-step procedures, and leave all the multi-step procedures as they
> are (correctly numbered)?

The purpose of a procedure is to complete some task that fulfills a goal. It seems weird to me to have 50 or so tasks on the order of opening a window. 

I suggest stepping back and considering whether these one-step procedures really help users complete a meaningful goal. My guess is they don't; they should be one step of many toward some higher-level task. Users' real goals aren't that granular and artificial. 

That said, my FM template has a dedicated pgf tag for a one-step procedure, using a pair of angle brackets in place of a number, so the procedure looks like this: 

To immanetize the eschaton: 

>> Blah blah blah 

It's used rarely. 


Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-903-6372
------




 
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