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Focus on decisions, not tasks

(technicalwriting.dev)
293 points kaycebasques | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.202s | source
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nicbou ◴[] No.41886247[source]
I write about German bureaucracy, and I wholeheartedly agree with your approach.

Most of my guides start with: what this is, who needs to do this, why you need to do this. If you don’t confirm that people are on the right page doing the right thing for the right reasons, they can go really far in the wrong direction.

Most government websites don’t explain any of this. They just tell you what they want from you to complete the part of the task that concerns them. They don’t bother to treat the task as part of a bigger decision. They just assume that you are here because you know what you are doing.

replies(3): >>41887953 #>>41888655 #>>41888966 #
1. gtirloni ◴[] No.41888655[source]
This is a really good approach I wish more technical docs had. My mind is always questioning why things are done a certain way, which leads me to side quests that slow me down.