How to write a systematic user manual?

Many product teams often overlook the importance of user manuals or lack systematization and pertinence when writing. This article will delve into the core values, main contents, writing methods and management dimensions of the user manual to help the product team create a high-quality user manual to better meet user needs and enhance the market competitiveness of the product.

1. What is a user manual? What is the purpose?

The user manual, also known as the user instruction manual, is the bridge between the product and the user, and the core purpose is to guide the user to use the product;

Excellent products do not need a manual, so that users can use the product immersively, which is the best state;

For B-end products, especially delivery products, it is necessary to provide customers with manuals, because the business structure of B-end products is complex, usually accompanied by the expression of the whole business process and the internal management specification system, for the circulation of business data and characteristic business fields need to have unified execution standards and operating specifications, so in the actual B-end product landing process, necessary product training needs to be provided;

Product training can only solve temporary problems, for B-end users in the daily use process, it is inevitable that there will be forgetfulness or do not know how to change the expression, and even when encountering problems in the process of use, they do not know how to solve them, so there are two functions of the user manual: operation guide, operation and maintenance guide;

Therefore, the main purpose of using the manual is as follows:

1. Provides users with a comprehensive guide to the operation of the system
2. Provide users with solutions to potential problems
3. Provide users with best practices for product usage

2. What is the value of the user manual?

The user manual of many B-end products is a collection of functions or a description of functional modules, and is also written according to a certain routine and format template, but the production process of the user manual is generally after the product is completed, which leads to the value of the user manual instantly becoming an accessory to the product, and also loses its unique value;

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Regarding the value analysis of the user manual, we use the commonly used 5why analysis method:

1. Why do you need a user manual? — Users need manuals to guide them through the product
2. Why do you need to guide users through the product? — The product has a certain complexity
3. Why is the product complex? — Business complexity
4. Although the business is complex, users understand the business best, so why don’t they use the product? — Product functions are scattered, users do not know the entrance, and do not know how to map with the business, even if they know how to use it, they do not know how to be efficient
5. The product is the expression of the business, which should be closest to the business and can solve the efficiency problem of the user’s daily work. (including entrance, business mapping, best practices) — The business is ever-changing, and the product cannot be expressed according to each business requirement, but needs to be abstracted, relying on the abstracted modules, functions, etc. to assemble to meet the needs of users; Moreover, each business is different, and the business expression is also different, which requires users to understand the mapping between product implementation and business;
6. Why can’t we provide a unified solution to your business needs? — Then it is necessary to formulate industry standards and promote user standardization
7. What is the main reason for the difficulty? — First of all, the industry is different, even in the same industry, the business processes and standards implemented by each customer are different, so it is necessary to do project-based delivery to customers on the basic product version
8. Project-based delivery is customized according to customer requirements, what functions are the most clear to customers, and what is the use of providing manuals? — Only the person who makes the request understands the function, and other customer employees do not know how to operate it, and the scope of operation is also different with different permissions, there will be faults, such as A does not know what B has done, what should C do in the follow-up link? Wait a minute
9. Is it only necessary to write the function clearly according to the role? — Not only functional operations, but also common problems should be clearly written

From the above questions, we can clearly know that the essence of the user manual is the commercial expression of user needs, which is what we often call user stories.

From the user’s point of view, including business processes, business operations, etc., from the perspective of the generator, including function lists, product specifications, etc.;

For product producers, products can be quickly delivered to users and quickly implemented; In the actual operation process, if there are corresponding user manuals for different industries and users, and the function list and specification list of the project can be managed through the user manual, then in the process of iteration of the user’s later requirements, the function iteration and project delivery can be quickly completed through the list, and the delivery efficiency can be quickly improved.

For product users, through the manual, they can quickly know the process and operation steps of a certain business, guide users to carry out functional isolation, avoid the loss of personnel authority control, and through process execution, let business participants clearly know the upstream and downstream collaboration, which can effectively improve internal operational efficiency;

Therefore, the main value of the user manual:

1) For producers: improve delivery efficiency, reduce delivery costs, and reduce internal management and maintenance costs

2) For users: reduce training costs, reduce operational accidents, and improve operational efficiency

3. What are the forms of the user manual?

In the early days when the Internet was not very developed, the user manual was more in the form of graphics/books, delivered with the product, and the readability was relatively poor.

With the popularization of 4G, the efficiency of data dissemination has been greatly improved, and the video method has gradually become popular, so that users no longer have to read pictures and texts, and can learn extremely quickly; However, video expression also has limitations, the essence of video is a visual expression of a logical script, so the video is usually the use of a whole paragraph of function/operation, so it is particularly lengthy, and the solution of specific problems is obviously weak; In this case, generally B-end products will provide text manuals at the same time to facilitate user reference;

After the gradual popularity of short videos, the user manual can add a form of expression, the characteristics of short videos are “short”, so it is especially suitable for fragmented function introduction and user operation guidance in specific scenarios;

In 2024, we are fortunate to enter the era of AI, when using AI, we do not have to let users find answers within a fixed framework, but according to the user’s description, the computing power is comprehensively calculated, giving users the final analysis results, which is more user-friendly, but we have not yet seen a B-end product to provide customers with AI solutions, the main reason is that the current cost of AI is too high;

No matter what form is adopted, in fact, the underlying content is still the early graphics and texts, but now there is a more efficient way of expression, so there is still a mentality of bricklaying for B-end products;

4. The main content of the user manual?

1. Business capability areas

A complete B-end product will inevitably involve more connections between internal and external systems in order to complete business collusion, and for users, what department is executed between each system? What are the specific contents? How does core data flow between them? etc., questions like this need to be clearly known to every user; In this way, each user can bring their own characters into the world of the product, know their plate and position, and the connection between upstream and downstream;

Business capability areas should include the main content and purpose:

2. Function list

The function list refers to the collection of product functions in the product field, including function descriptions, usage scenarios, etc., which is convenient for product manufacturers to maintain product functions and users to check product functions. The function list should sort out the tree structure function list according to the complete structure of the product, and introduce in detail all the functions and function descriptions that users can see;

The infrastructure of the feature manifest is as follows:

In terms of functional operations and interactions, B-end products have a large number of operations with the same meaning and operations that belong to a certain object/business in different subsystems/modules; The consistency of the product is very important, so that users can not get lost in the operation of the same meaning, and can also have a clear understanding of the personalized function, when using it, they can quickly find the function entrance and ensure the consistency of use;

For functions: consistency includes consistency of functions and interactions (that is, the entire product front-end must ensure consistent descriptions), to give a few common examples:

1. For example, some pages are newly created XX, and some are newly created/added; This is a lack of consistency, either called new, or new, format is either new, or XX is added;
2. For example, for the same type of functional operation, it should be consistent with the interaction, consistent prompt, and consistent format, so that for the user, it is the most friendly, the interaction itself is also a cognitive understanding, the intensity cannot be clearly told to the user, and it is a secondary confirmation for the user.
3. For example, forms, some are drawers, some are forms, which is also a manifestation of inconsistency;

Digression: For interaction, function is the source, interaction is the appearance; Functions of the same class should maintain consistent interactions; For example, the drawer is used for new/modification, and pop-ups are used to modify user levels and add tags. (You can think about it: modifying and modifying user levels are modifications, what is the difference between their functions?) ）

3. Specification list

Everyone who makes products should know that software products are the embodiment of the business in the real world, and when software products express the content of the real world, they are mainly expressed through attributes and stored in the database table fields; Among them, attributes and fields have a unique source, and the meaning they represent should also be unique, so that based on the way of resource specification management, there will be a clear and consistent understanding in both maintenance management and actual use.

In the user manuals of many products, the operation and attributes are mixed together; Although this method is convenient for users to quickly know how to fill in each attribute/field, it does not actually distinguish the difference between functions and specifications;

For example, the username (user_name) is a key attribute of the user, whether it is used on a form, a list, or anywhere, it represents the username, and the user’s name is expressed; The only source of the username is the user, and the only meaning of the representative is the username, as for others such as: length, the first character cannot be entered with special matches, etc., are the verification rules of the username;

That is, any object/resource has its own properties, and the properties have their own constraints, which are called specifications; The specification list is the list of object/resource attribute descriptions in the entire product;

The purpose of the specification list is to facilitate users to clearly know the meaning of each attribute and its use constraints when using the corresponding function, so that users can understand the business meaning of each attribute by consulting the specification list when using the function, and clearly know the scope of restrictions and usage specifications during use;

4. User stories

For user manuals, users are more concerned: How can I [user role] implement what function or solve any problem?

Imagine if we were using a B-end product, would we pay attention to what was on the menu on the left? At least I don’t care much about it, in the process of using the system, I am actually more concerned about how to solve problems when encountering problems?

If the computer is broken, how can I claim a computer? My boss asked me to do a launch campaign, how do I publish a campaign? I don’t have permission for XX function, how do I apply for permission? …

If you write a lot of user manuals in the order of the list of functions, the user will crash. Because if you want to release an event, at least it involves product management, event management, user management, internal organization management, message notification management, etc., which is a complete link and system of work, and because of different roles, the work and responsibilities undertaken are different, so the manual to teach users to use the product must not be built according to the function list structure;

The author believes that the real product user manual should mainly be carried out from the following dimensions: business domain, user story, role (position), such as event management

In the process of actual implementation of the manual, the user manual should be provided according to the business domain & user story, and by role (position).

User stories can also be managed in the form of parent stories and child stories. In this way, users can quickly query and search as needed;

5. Solutions to common problems

The solution to common problems is that in the process of using the product, the user can solve the problem due to external factors or the user’s own problems, which can allow the user to deal with the problem without relying on engineers/customer service;

For example, the system is unavailable due to hardware damage, the browser cache is too large and the system lags and lags, etc

Of course, the best condition of the product should not have common problems, but generally it is not possible, especially the configuration product function, that is, it is easy to cause system errors because of the user’s use, under normal circumstances, we can collect such problems in the operation and maintenance manual, and give it to the system administrator or delivery engineer for reference;

There are also some common issues that need to be given to users, such as account token expiration, network interruption, how to restore files, etc.

Therefore, the solution to common problems mainly faces two types of roles: operation and maintenance personnel – providing operation and maintenance manuals, product users – common problem QA;

6. Best practice examples

A B-end product, if it only sells software products, will have no long-term value; Returning to the essential needs of users of B-end products, the reason why customers spend a lot of money to buy software products is mostly inseparable from the three factors of compliance, standards, and digitalization;

Back to the beginning, can’t you do business without using the product? It is definitely possible to continue to do business, but the dependence of different industries is different;

For example, those who sell coal can continue to sell coal without software products, and can continue to do business without software products; If you are doing stocks, when there was no software in the 90s, you could still trade through ledger bookkeeping, but the efficiency was relatively low, but now it is not possible, compliance cannot pass, and you cannot continue the business;

Therefore, the demand for B-end products increases with the increase of dependence; The world is full of profit, strong demand and fierce competition, in the early years, you can enjoy the dividends of the times, and the further development will gradually fall into a white-hot bayonet state; Nowadays, most software development companies’ financial reports are loss-making, the root cause is that the competition is too fierce, I have seen with my own eyes, the general quotation of about 600W of the project was won by a quotation of 300W; Don’t blame the market, especially for B-end software products, because the marginal cost of code is gradually reduced, so the software market will have a first-mover advantage.

Starting from the mobile phones we use every day, a mobile phone is worthless, only with cameras, music, games and other software, this mobile phone is valuable, I hate that some brands pile up hardware parameters every day, and lose the value that should really be explored, that is, the innovation of human-computer interaction, such as how to achieve more real communication through mobile phones? If we install a few more of our flashlights, we can form a three-dimensional projection, and we can realize virtual three-dimensional characters and direct dialogue? (This is imagination, because I don’t understand these technologies, but it doesn’t mean that I can’t do it technically), if this function is realized, wouldn’t it be more productive than running 50,000 points in the evaluation? , and it must be through the function of the camera, so there is no need for WeChat indirectly! Killing WeChat is not a dream!

Compared to B-end software products, selling a product is equivalent to selling a mobile phone, only talking about what modules and functional points the product has, which is not nutritious! I want to talk about how to play with my products! This is the best practice, it is easy to use, it is effective! At the same time, these best practices are based on their own products, others want to imitate may not be able to imitate, because of the lack of soft assets, this piece of each has its own advantages, here only talk about the role of best practice examples, as for how to present it, it depends on the needs of customers;

5. The management dimension of the user manual?

B-end products and customers are naturally 1-to-N relationships, and with the continuous iteration of products, products will also derive many versions, gradually forming a N-to-N relationship between products and customers, how to manage these manuals, has become a problem;

However, for similar problems, there are already mature solutions in code management, that is, the management system of method references and git repositories, and the manual can also be used as a reference; So the manual can be managed in two dimensions

• Product level and engineering level: the product level realizes the basic capabilities, and the engineering level adopts the reference product level + engineering customization points for management;
• Version management: The same product will continue to iterate on the version, so the corresponding manual can also be managed according to the version branch;

6. To sum up, summarize the key points

1. The manual production stage should run through the entire product life cycle and should not be placed before product delivery;

2. The manual should include: business capability areas, function lists, specification lists, user stories, and best practices;

3. Manual management dimensions: product-level, engineering-level, version management;