There are many challenges and changes in the modern workplace, many of which can be addressed with the right communication plan. Here are a few issues t
Whether you’ve been a business professional for years or you’re just now getting started in the workforce, you can use the following five tips to help improve your documentation skills:
1. Minimize Passive Voice
Time for a quick grammar lesson:
The passive voice is, according to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, when “you make the object of an action into the subject of a sentence. That is, whoever or whatever is performing the action is not the grammatical subject of the sentence.”
The opposite of passive voice is active voice. Take a look at these two examples to understand the differences between them:
- Active Voice: Billy hit the ball.
- Passive Voice: The ball was hit by Billy.
Now that we have a shared understanding of what the passive voice is, we can say “DON’T USE IT WHEN DOCUMENTING!” Or, at the very least, minimize your use of it.
Why? Because passive voice reduces clarity, consistency, and efficiency in most document writing. If your documentation efforts aren’t easy to understand and reduce efficiency, what’s the point in having them at all? There really isn’t one.
Fortunately, fixing the passive voice is easy. Many word processors will tell you when something has been written in the passive voice. If yours doesn’t, you can always use a free program like Grammarly or the Hemingway App.
2. Use Catchy Headings and Bullet Points
People today are constantly inundated with content. They read and watch videos online, scroll through social media feeds on their phones, stream TV and movies at night, see thousands of advertisements anytime they walk down the street or enter a store… The list goes on.
All of this content has made us lazy. Most of us don’t read everything in front of us anymore. Instead, we quickly skim through it in search of the most important bits of information.
To create effective documentation materials, you need to keep this in mind and make sure that each of your documents have catchy headings and easy to consume bullet points.
This will ensure that the information you’ve worked so hard to document actually gets read and used by the folks it was created for. Always remember, the easier your documents are to consume, the better. Catchy headings and bullet points make things easier, plain and simple.
3. Reduce Buzzwords and Acronyms
Effective documentation will allow you to increase productivity levels, improve customer service, and boost company value, in large part, because it makes the consumption of important information easier. But you lose this advantage by using buzzwords and acronyms.
Imagine you’ve just started using product XYZ and you’re going through the company’s documentation regarding proper use of the tool. How frustrating would it be to find that every paragraph was littered with buzzwords and acronyms that you don’t yet understand? So frustrating! In fact, you might even decide to stop using the product because of it.
If you must use buzzwords and acronyms, at least define their meanings at the very beginning of the document. Better yet, speak in layman’s terms so that your documents are easily understood by all. That’s the whole point of documentation isn’t it? Easy understanding for all.
4. Invest in Visual Content
Visual content is another way that you can make your documents more engaging and easier to read. Are you sensing a trend here? You should be! Work related documents aren’t what we’d call “fun reads.” They’re designed to transfer knowledge, that’s it.
Remember, the easier you can make your documents to consume, the better.
So don’t be afraid to add visual content like pictures, videos, GIFs, charts, graphs, and the like to your company’s documentation.
There are plenty of ways to add visual content to your docs:
- Use Your Phone: Just about every one of us has a powerful camera in our pockets. Use it to snap pictures and videos and add them to company documents. You can even use free apps to spruce up the content you create and make it more effective.
- Find Free Templates: Graphs and charts do a wonderful job of illustrating information and making it easy to understand. Resources like Canva are available for free and allow just about anyone to assimilate company details into eye-catching graphs.
- Use the Right Tools: You can also invest in visual content applications such as CloudApp, that will allow you to record your computer screen, create GIFs, and annotate images in just a few clicks. We’ll talk more about CloudApp in a later section.
5. Organize Your Documents Appropriately
Finally, it’s imperative that you organize your documents appropriately. You can create the most effective documentation on the planet, but if no one can find it, it won’t benefit you or your company. Here are a few straightforward document organization ideas:
- Maintain a Central Database: All of your company’s like-minded documents should be located in one central database. For example, all internal docs should be stored together and all external training materials should be located on the same web page. This will ensure that anyone who needs access to a document knows where to find it.
- Separate Archived and Work in Progress Docs: Since you’ll be keeping all like-minded documents in one central location, organization is paramount. Make sure to segment archived docs from work in progress ones (internal documentation) and to separate your training materials by category (external documentation).
- Monitor Your Documents Closely: Lastly, keep a close eye on your documents. Make sure that everyone on your team treats your database with respect and files docs away where they need to go. If you keep private company information in your internal database, you’ll also want to restrict access and regularly check for data breaches.
