Comments

Can I nominate IKEA as a company that seem to put a lot of effort into their "manuals".

We have a lot of IKEA bookcases (more than 20, fewer than 30) around the house, mostly of the Billy design.

We've been, therefore, buying Billy bookcases for over 10 years. Every few years, they tweak the design of the product - not how it looks, which has stayed constant, but how easy it is to put together, which has genuinely got better and better.

Not only that, but each subtly new design comes with a wonderful piece of paper that uses NO WORDS apart from the company name, but simple, clear pictures to show what to do. Even the "If in trouble, phone IKEA", is (from memory) something like a three-frame cartoon:

1: person with question mark bubble over head
2: person with phone held, inset of IKEA shop in what would be a "speech bubble" for the phone
3: person with happy face, and correctly assembled bookcase.

Net result, I've bought, as I said, lots of them... and I'm recommending them to everyone from personal booky friends to Tom Peters!

Mark in West Sussex, England

Posted by Mark Harrison at August 8, 2008 6:36 AM

I'd echo Mark's comments about IKEA's bookcases - two Billy's, four Flarke bookcases, a Flarke television stand, a Malm chest of drawers and a couple of IKEA tables adorn my flat and given my reknowned clumsiness when it comes to DIY, each one is in perfect condition and is as solid as a rock.

Compare this to having to switch from a paper based to a computer based payroll system recently. What used to take ten minutes now takes twenty to thirty depending on what needs to be entered. The hierarchy structure doesn't help when your supervisor's company supplied password doesn't work and your area manager's been on the sick for the last month!

Thank goodness then for the computer that I use at home for my other job as a writer here in the UK - an Apple iBook G4. I can write, email, proof read and work on photos from wherever I am in the UK, providing of course that I can get a wi-fi hotspot or that there's network coverage for my mobile internet gizmo - the best £5 worth of subscription that I pay out every month. The instructions on the gizmo were pretty bad, but twenty minutes on 3 Network's helpline soon sorted things out.

Posted by Keith Rickaby at August 8, 2008 8:16 AM

My wife supported Apple notebook development in Taiwan many years ago, she still gushes that Apple was incredibly meticulous and clear in all their communications(emails, specs, schedules, etc.).

As a former IT tech and marketing writer to a global audience (from Taiwan), I was turned on to "Simplified English." I think Apple applies similar thinking when developing their user guides. Takes a lot of work to do this well. Clean/simple = Hard as hell/well planned and thought out

http://www.userlab.com/SE.html

or Google "Simplified English"

Posted by JJ in Taiwan at August 8, 2008 8:28 AM

Not so much an instruction manual, but London’s Hoxton Hotel takes an original approach to guest signage. One sign on the back of the door that I snapped is entitled ‘Boring Sign No 5’ and reads ‘We spent £445 installing a safe in your wardrobe to protect your valuables. Please use it’. It is signed ‘Mr A.L.Ock Head Of Security’.
See the sign here
http://scrambledup.blogspot.com/2007/08/another-stay-at-hoxton-hotel.html

The signs and guest messages are direct, full of personality and bulls**t free. Which is what their brand is all about..

Posted by Ian Sanders at August 8, 2008 10:53 AM

I totally agree with testing your internal (hopefully not confidential) manuals with strangers (people from diverse backgrounds). However, this can be only at a very generic / high-level. I believe, it’s very important for a document reviewer to know the business, systems, processes, people, culture etc of the organization to be in an enhanced position to qualitatively comment and (hopefully) add value to the document being reviewed. Last but not the least, there MUST be an IMPLEMENTATION TASK FORCE / TEAM to monitor execution and observe & report on non-compliances (deviations), if any through an audit process. Eventually, you are rated not by the scores of manuals you house BUT by the way you execute tasks to excellence. Again, I repeat (TP style) – EXCELLENCE!

Posted by K.Sriram at August 8, 2008 11:45 PM

Sigh.

I hate to say this - I really do - but I think Tom will understand and appreciate it. In fact, I probably learned it from him.

Here goes: Tom, what are you thinking? What's with the (admittedly slightly tongue in cheek) prescriptions for more bureaucratic layers of Senior Compliance Monitors? I'm a bit afraid you're not being as tongue-in-cheek as you need to be. It almost seems like you mean it. And sincere or not, surely you can think of a more insightful and useful prescription than one more VP (or a hundred more VP's)?

I realize you're trying to make a point that the senior types need to care about this stuff. Fair enough. The list of recommended additions to the Hospital Org Chart was actually pretty funny. But I think the suggestion that various aspects of design & customer interaction require senior VPs is evidence of lazy thinking (sorry!). It risks isolating the specific practices (i.e. making instructions user friendly, etc) and defining them as the property/responsibility of senior managers... which lets the ordinary joe off the hook. And I know that's not what you intended.

If there's a senior VP in charge of making instructions readable, isn't that a prescription for apathy among instruction writers? Wouldn't that lead to the opposite of passion and personal investment & responsibility in the job?

Sure, I like irony as much as the next guy... but if you're trying to make a point about the importance of design, don't do it by taking design responsibility and shifting it up the org chart.

Posted by The Dan Ward at August 10, 2008 12:52 PM

I apologize if this has been mentioned on TP before. But speaking of VPs, and design responsibility, although it is an extreme example, just read anything about Jonathon Ive at Apple. I think it is people (VPs) like this Tom is talking about (he did mention Apple).

Ive is a testing (usability) fanatic, wonder how many test models of ipods they made? Hundreds, thousands? I bet Ive had more than a little to say about user guides as well. Interestingly, Ive came to Apple because of his user experience using Apple computers (he apparently was not good with computers before he got an Apple).

Ive's (or someone else at this VP level) main design job is to probably also reject a bunch of ideas and designs. I do not think this kills motivation or morale for people lower down. The design teams are probably "wrong" most of the time. But learn in the process. But when they hit a home run, they hit a big home run! This is key. Sounds like Ive likes to be wrong, so he can learn. (now this definitely sounds like TP to me!)

Read the link at the bottom of page

..excerpt from the link below....about Ive

"His design process revolves around intense iteration — making and remaking models to visualize new concepts. “One of the hallmarks of the team I think is this sense of looking to be wrong,” said Ive at Radical Craft. “It’s the inquisitiveness, the sense of exploration. It’s about being excited to be wrong because then you’ve discovered something new.”

"They work closely and intensely with engineers, marketers, and even outside manufacturing contractors in Asia who actually build the products. Rather than being simple stylists, they’re leading innovators in the use of new materials and production processes. The design group was able to figure out how to put a layer of clear plastic over the white or black core of an iPod, giving it a tremendous depth of texture, and still be able to build each unit in just seconds.

All very interesting. I like Ive because he is so low key, and a great designer (and VP).

Great link below:

http://www.37signals.com/svn/archives2/the_man_behind_apples_design_magic.php

Posted by JJ in Taiwan at August 12, 2008 5:56 AM

Keith,

Your comment about the new system is too close to home. Budget instead of Payroll, but too complex to be of much use. Might have a great description of each choice on a given screen, but what order do you process from screen to screen, from nothing to finished?

Posted by MikeC at August 12, 2008 11:22 AM