Manual labour, why books are so important.

Why we should stop shipping paper manuals & why a well written manual is worth it´s weight in gold

There was a time when manuals looked more like telephone directories and it was a daunting task to get through it all, the reason for the amount of paper was because they often contained a lot of technical information, this has mostly gone as we do not or cannot repair things like before (a subject for another day). I have manuals saved on cloud devices, external hard discs and even some originals in paper form, for me they are useful, usually around Christmas there is a spring clean at work, the first thing I jump in to save and move to a new hiding place is my large collection of sun yellowed and discoloured manuals.

Written proof

Few people have time to dedicate to reading manuals, the number of old manuals I have found on boats, soaking wet and the ink running is a shameful waste. A manual is important, it is not like an internet post, a lot of written technical prose requires proof reading and approval before print, whereas a post in a forum can be completely misleading and incorrect. I am not an expert in these matters, but I gather there are laws and rules in place about writing things online that are deliberately misleading.

Environmental unfriendly

I am actually surprised that paper manuals are still bundled. For the most part the print is so small they are practically useless, I suspect there is some sort of law in existence still that requires paper documentation. Is it not about time we abolished this?

I cannot see the need for actual paper to be used any more for a lot of things, a QR code on the box should be enough to download the manual, this has the added benefit of being able to use a keyword search feature. Perhaps companies could usurp laws by offering printed media as a cost option? *

* I did ask the question of someone very high up indeed in a major nautical company, I was informed in certain parts of the world it is still a requirement to ship paper manuals, irrespective of whether they will ever see the light of day.

Laser focus

I get asked a lot to give explanations, write crib notes and compress a lot of information. Mostly it´s for clients who need a sheet or two at most with the most important things to remember or locations of certain things like fuses or breakers and what switch does what.

Reducing a large quantity of information to a few words or triggers means you are effectively performing education for a lot of people;

• Busy people

• Forgetful people (yours truly)

• Those with a short attention span (read, the social media generation)

• Newbies or those with little experience (I will help these people however I can)

• Lazy people

Why does this make you smarter?

Challenge. Brining together large quantities of information and reducing it can be a daunting task, even more so when you are given a finite amount of space to reduce it to.

Self educating. No matter how much you know about a subject, there is always something new or, something to revise, doing this exercise of reduction improves your mastery of a subject. I remember being told that if you could not explain something complicated to a layperson then you have not mastered the subject.

Simplicity is the hallmark of genius

“Not everyone talks tech “ (read nerd), I get that a lot. The points have to be clear, concise, devoid of tech language as much as possible. It does occur to me sometimes that all this dumbing down and redaction is not good. After all you would not want say a pilot or surgeon to not know the full vocabulary and their meanings? Why should my chosen career be any different? Why should anybody's?

I am a member of a few forums, they offer free advice to people, sometimes good and sometimes not so much, however well intended. An original manual or text book, digital or paper form, when it is well written, for me will always be better and more accurate, they don´t need an internet connection or a battery, just your reading glasses and a little time and patience, long live the manual!

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