Technical Documentation Joe walters Cit Spring 2014

Project Goals Create multiple forms of technical documentation for the Living Lab Understand process in creating technical documentation Determine audience as well as content covered in documentation Create complete and satisfactory documentation Store digital documentation in appropriate location

Do we even need this documentation? No purpose in creating documentation that no one will ever use or see There has to be a purpose to the documentation Understanding of a process need to be improved Legalities need to be covered New processes need explained to new or unfamiliar workers Updates need to be made to current documentation

What type of documentation do we need? Legal contract or document that needs signed to confirm compliance Step-by-step procedural document explaining a process Manual for a product operations Product details, compatibility requirements

What considerations need to be made? Again, why do we need this document? The process has to be understood completely by author(s) Legal advice and council has been addressed as needed The audience the documentation is written for has been considered The document addresses, explain and covers its intended purpose Document storage needs to be determined (paper, digital, private, public)

Details, details, details Explain steps completely and adequately Make sure user/reader understands everything required that has to be covered in the document No such thing as enough reviews Delicate balance between details and information Make it clean