Great Technical Writing: The User Product Lifecycle – A Documentation Tool

OVERVIEW

The User Product Life Cycle (U-PLC) is a powerful tool for the user document writer. Use the U-PLC to generate the high-level topics for your user document.

THE USER-PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE (U-PLC)

Typically, when we think about the life cycle of a product, we think in terms of the development and production of the product itself. When writing user documentation, consider the U-PLC to help you generate all the necessary topics for a complete document. User documentation should help your users in all their interactions with the product.

The User-Product Life Cycle refers to the full range of interactions between the User and the Product itself. This is more than just “how to use the product”. As you will see below, “Use Product” is just one step in the U-PLC.

PRACTICES AT U-PLC

These are the steps IN the U-PLC (assuming that the User has purchased the Product):

— UP LC stage: transport of the product to your workplace

— UP LC stage: unpack the product

Product shipping and unpacking are listed here for completeness only. These are currently displayed on the packaging itself, usually in the form of images, and they do a good job.

— Stage UP LC: Global knowledge about the Product.

This is information that is presented to the User at the beginning of the User Documents.

Topics here include safety, legal, and product-related disclaimers.

The product description must indicate how the product can change the way the User currently does things. For example, an analog voice recorder will require the User to listen to all the stored items to find a particular one; a digital voice recorder will allow the user to quickly jump from one message to another.

— UP LC stage: configure or install the product

* environments

It is important for the writer to think about the various environments in which the product will exist. For example, how should a computer program be installed in a Windows, Mac, or Linux environment?

“Environments” includes other things that the product must work with. For example, how should a DVD player be installed in a system currently made up of a TV and a VCR? What about installation on a TV and VCR system where the TV has only one video input?

* User capabilities.

The capabilities required by the User to configure the product are also important. Since the assumptions related to the User for the configuration may be different from the assumptions about the User when using the product, the smart writer will present the skills (and perhaps the regulations) necessary to configure the product. A section titled “Can you configure this product?” will allow the User to make the decision to configure the product by himself or seek external help.

For example, let’s say the product is an electric light dimmer that is intended to replace the light switch in the User’s home. Using the product simply requires adjusting the single dimmer control to set the desired light level. Product installation requires experience with household electrical wiring. Does the user have these capabilities?

Sometimes the limitation may be legal. In some jurisdictions, for example Quebec, Canada, only qualified electricians can install or modify electrical circuits in the home. Therefore, in Quebec, the general user of the dimmer will not be able to (legally) install the light dimmer.

— UP LC stage: use the product

This component is the center of most of the user documentation. It must contain at least these three subtopics:

– Product start-up.

– Actual use of the product

For most products, “actual use” is the central focus of the user document.

Ideally, this should be divided into basic or common product features and advanced features. A good example is photo editing software. Most of the users want to crop, rotate and adjust the brightness and contrast of the image. These are basic functions. More advanced features could combine parts of one image with another.

– Turn off the product

Is there any maintenance to be done when turning off? Make a note of it here and in the “Maintain” section.

— UP LC stage: Keep the product

Consider breaking this down into time periods such as: after each use, weekly, monthly, yearly, as appropriate.

— UP LC stage: move the product

For a computer software program, how the User must move the program and its data to another computer; computer users often upgrade their computer hardware. Although it is often assumed that the user must reinstall the product on the new computer, there is always the question of how to move the data related to the product: where is it located and how should it be moved so that the newly installed program can recognize it? on the new computer?

For a physical product, are there any special considerations when moving the Product to another location?

— UP LC Stage: Discard the Product or its Byproducts

Here I would like to mention only the sale of the used product. It might be worth mentioning that keeping the User Manual will make it easier for the seller to sell and possibly get a higher price for the used product.

USING THE U-PLC IN YOUR WRITING

As you build the themes for your user document, be sure to keep the U-PLC in mind. Be sure to include topics in your user document outline to help your user through all phases of the U-PLC.

Great User Documents can help in the UP-LC section that I didn’t present here: product acquisition. Your marketing department can use your BIG User Document as part of their marketing campaign.

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