An Instruction Manual Must Cover More Than Just Product Usage
Contrary to what the name suggests, an instruction manual doesn’t just need to explain how to use the product. I’ll explain that point here.
Quite a few standards require or recommend that certain content be included in the manual. Look at the manual for any electronic device, and you’ll typically find two distinct sections: the part that actually explains how to use the product, colorful and nicely printed and easy to read, and a separate section of unreasonably long text in multiple languages, printed in black and white, small and hard to read. The latter is the regulatory documentation.
Most of this carries no legal force, but out of consideration for user safety and litigation risk, manufacturers insert a sheet with nearly identical boilerplate wording, as if copy-pasted from one another. Some of this content is legally required to appear either on the unit itself or in the manual, and for design-focused products where printing on the unit is difficult, all of it ends up in the manual instead.
The single word “standards” covers many different requirements: safety standards, the Radio Act, Bluetooth and WiFi if the product uses wireless communication, USB or HDMI if it has a standard connector, and so on. Have a specialist review these properly before releasing a product.
Setting up customer support is something teams often rush at the manual-writing stage. Most manuals list customer support contact information such as a phone number, email address, or URL. Depending on the product, users may not be very comfortable with digital tools, and in that case the contact information in the manual becomes the user’s real lifeline. Writing this information down matters, but building a proper support structure before releasing the product matters more.
Manuals have been trending toward simplification wherever possible in recent years. This brings major benefits: lower costs, better usability, and the flexibility to update content via the web. Even so, pursuing simplification shouldn’t come at the expense of the conservative work of identifying the minimum line below which omitting something creates risk.
The content of this post is part of (the original text of) the following book. If you’re interested, please get a copy.
The Shape of a Happy IoT Startup
The Shape of a Happy IoT Startup
Originally published in Japanese at https://clazytech.com/2022/08/1116/. Translated with LLM assistance and reviewed before publication.