Understanding your audience is key for all types of publications, but particularly for technical writing. Very different texts may be required, depending on the end user. For example, a computer manual may be written for any or all of the following:

• a tentative beginner who has never owned a computer and is unsure how to start
• a confident subject-matter expert who wants every detail of how the computer operates
• a new user of this particular brand who is struggling with troubleshooting
• an existing user who is trying to upgrade.

The same text might need to cater to everyone, so keep this in mind when writing. However, in some cases, it may be better to write tailored documents for different users.

Put yourself in the user’s shoes. As you write, think about the user’s experience in following your instructions to use a product or go through each step of a process. Make sure you provide the information necessary to complete each step. For example, if various materials will be needed throughout the process, instruct the user to gather them before starting.

Guide your reader with context and clues that they are on the right track – for example, ‘The glue will have dried slightly but will still be tacky. You can now paint the wood’.

Test your instructions on actual users to find what could be clearer and where you may have missed something, made a mistake, or failed to explicitly state an assumption.

See Understand your audience for more information on audiences.