For example, I recently changed banks, and I received an email telling me that to find a recent transaction, I should go to the “History” section from the home screen. The thing is the word “History” appears NOWHERE on the home screen. And the only drop down menu that has the word in it does not bring you to the type of transaction I was looking for. I complained to the website about this, and they sent back the same instructions! After fiddling around, I discovered that if you click on your BALANCE, you get brought to the history screen. Now, why couldn’t they just tell me to click on my balance? Why are they telling me to click on “History” when the word does not appear there (not even when you mouse over the balance)? WTH kind of instructions are these?
I have similar feelings about my “manual” for my new cell phone. First, I should tell you, no manual came with the cell phone, and the workings are only somewhat intuitive. I had to use Google in order to download a manual, and I have mixed feelings on that. On the one hand, I think that a product ought to come with a decent set of instructions on how to use it (and the pared down instructions with my phone were rather lacking), and on the other hand, I applaud that they saved paper (and money for printing, which savings one hopes they passed on to the consumer, but who knows?) by not printing it. However, this manual tends to skip steps. It tells you “navigate to ______ and go to the settings” but does not tell you how to get to settings on that part of the phone. Turns out there is a button that will bring up the “settings” option, but if you don’t know what that button’s for, you aren’t going to know that’s what you need to press. Sure, it might tell you elsewhere in the manual, but with a 100+ page manual, you aren’t reading cover to cover—you’re searching for your topic.
Granted, I know that instruction manuals are difficult to write. I wrote one for one of my jobs and helped update the one at another job. Frequently as I was trying to use the first draft (or second or third), I found that the instructions skipped a step. Once I realized this, I would, of course, go to the manual and update it. But I rather doubt most companies take the time to actually try to use their manuals before publishing. Perhaps the makers of products need to start employing “manual” testers who can help them make sure EVERYONE can understand, not just the people who were involved in developing the item in question.
