Enhancing Procedure Writing: Clarity, Structure, and Strategic Planning

Procedures - It's not always easy to write a procedure that is both easy to read and understand.

We all know that to maximize knowledge management processes in an organization, we cannot ignore the world of documents.

The employees around us are usually not too happy with procedures, and they have good reasons for that: procedures are often written in a lengthy and cumbersome manner, and they are not easy to read and understand.

Don't turn your head the other way! It's our responsibility, as knowledge managers, to improve this.

The content is so important, representing both what needs to be done (law and regulation) and what we've learned in the organization is best to do (good practices).

Today, in KMGN's Advanced Knowledge Management Methodologies course, we discussed a methodology whose main points are:

Better procedure planning will ensure that the procedure includes only what is required (hint: a strategic thinking process for each procedure).

Using a map that is an extension of the conventional mind map can improve the organization of the written content.

The map helps the writer better plan and organize the written content. It also helps the reader navigate the content, understand it better, and, when uncertain about an issue, find what's needed in a focused manner.

I led the meeting and felt that although this might be a technical subject, many participants understood its importance and the potential to simplify usage and understanding.

For the benefit of procedures, guidelines, and many other documents found in every organization.

---

Want to learn more about document & content?

Here are some articles you might find interesting:

• The Next generation of personalization

• Has content become a secondary component of websites?

• What is the relationship between content reading and the user experience?