By: R.D. Sharninghouse
Secretary
Orlando Central Florida Chapter, STC
rdsharninghouse@gmail.com
On Thursday, May 19th at the IHOP on University, the Orlando Central Florida chapter of the STC held its monthly meeting. The evening’s lecture was led by our chapter President, Debra Johnson. Debra is currently the manager of Technical Communication/Documentation for SunGard Public Sector, an FIS company.
The presentation was about “Standardized and Documented instructions.”
A portion of the evening was spent showing an example of how differently people do things and just how differently people can take/give instructions. A demonstration of making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich made a great point. Different instructions were given on how to make the sandwich. One said “to put peanut butter on a slice of bread,” and the result was a full, unopened jar of peanut butter being placed directly onto the slice of bread.
We all have our own way of doing things and our own way of instructing how to do things. These variations can have an influence on processes/instructions in documentation. This activity proved the importance of providing detailed, specific, sequential information that is needed to carry out an action.