Technical Documentation

1. Technical Documentation Joe walters Cit 48500 Spring 2014

2. Project Goals • Create multiple forms of technical documentation for the Living Lab • Understand process in creating technical documentation • Determine audience as well as content covered in documentation • Create complete and satisfactory documentation • Store digital documentation in appropriate location

3. Do we even need this documentation? • No purpose in creating documentation that no one will ever use or see • There has to be a purpose to the documentation • Understanding of a process need to be improved • Legalities need to be covered • New processes need explained to new or unfamiliar workers • Updates need to be made to current documentation

4. What type of documentation do we need? • Legal contract or document that needs signed to confirm compliance • Step-by-step procedural document explaining a process • Manual for a product operations • Product details, compatibility requirements

5. What considerations need to be made? • Again, why do we need this document? • The process has to be understood completely by author(s) • Legal advice and council has been addressed as needed • The audience the documentation is written for has been considered • The document addresses, explain and covers its intended purpose • Document storage needs to be determined (paper, digital, private, public)

6. Details, details, details • Explain steps completely and adequately • Make sure user/reader understands everything required that has to be covered in the document • No such thing as enough reviews • Delicate balance between details and information • Make it clean