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How do you write a troubleshooting guide for multiple audiences or skill levels?

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A troubleshooting guide is a document that helps users solve problems with a product, service, or system. It can save time, money, and frustration for both the users and the support staff. However, writing a troubleshooting guide can be challenging, especially if you need to address multiple audiences or skill levels. How do you make sure your guide is clear, concise, and helpful for everyone? Here are some tips to help you write a troubleshooting guide for multiple audiences or skill levels.

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Tejas Thorat

Sr. TRAX(Troubleshooting Assistant) Engineer | Technical Support Engineer | Experienced Air Compressor Professional |…
Shikha Singh

Global Head | Content & Technical Documentation | B2B SaaS | ERP

1 Know your audiences

Before you start writing, you need to identify who your audiences are and what their needs and expectations are. For example, are they beginners or experts, customers or employees, technical or non-technical? How familiar are they with the product, service, or system? What are their goals and pain points? How do they prefer to learn and communicate? Knowing your audiences will help you tailor your content, tone, and format to suit them.

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Tejas Thorat

Sr. TRAX(Troubleshooting Assistant) Engineer | Technical Support Engineer | Experienced Air Compressor Professional | CRM Expert | 9+ Years in Air Compressor Industry | Continuous Improvement Enthusiast
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Creating troubleshooting guidelines is a holistic experience. - Understanding the exact problem statement is the very important first step to start working on the guidelines. - The way the user is going to see the problem statement is also important. Hence using user-friendly words and plain, simple English helps us to build profound guidelines. - Being in the shoes of the actual problem solver, analyzing and creating the practical and logical flow of the guidelines always helps the user.

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Christine F.
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You can label each troubleshooting topic according to the skill level required such as "Novice", "Intermediate", or "Advanced."

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2 Use plain language

One of the most important principles of technical writing is to use plain language. Plain language is clear, simple, and direct. It avoids jargon, slang, acronyms, and unnecessary words. It also uses active voice, short sentences, and common words. Plain language makes your troubleshooting guide easier to read, understand, and follow for everyone. It also reduces the risk of confusion, errors, and frustration.

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3 Organize your content

A troubleshooting guide should have a logical and consistent structure that guides the users through the problem-solving process. A common way to organize a troubleshooting guide is to use a question-and-answer format, where each question represents a possible problem and each answer provides a solution or a series of steps. You can also group related problems into categories or sections, and use subheadings, tables, or diagrams to make your content more scannable and accessible.

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Shikha Singh

Global Head | Content & Technical Documentation | B2B SaaS | ERP
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Reverse engineering is a great method. Design the guide to be task-based and not user-based. You can document a task, and once completed, analyse it to determine what skill level the user may need to perform that task. Once you know that, write it down as a skills required / prerequisite for each task.

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4 Provide multiple options

Sometimes, there is more than one way to solve a problem, or different users may prefer different methods. In such cases, you can provide multiple options for the users to choose from, depending on their situation, preference, or skill level. For example, you can offer a quick fix, a detailed explanation, or a link to more resources. You can also use different formats, such as text, images, videos, or audio, to cater to different learning styles and preferences.

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5 Test your guide

Before you publish your troubleshooting guide, you should test it to make sure it works as intended. You can test it yourself, or ask someone else to test it, preferably someone who represents your target audience or skill level. You should check for accuracy, clarity, completeness, usability, and relevance. You should also solicit feedback from your users and incorporate it into your guide to improve it over time.

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6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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Sean Smeltzer

Senior Principal Engineer Systems
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When creating a troubleshooting guide, sometimes it is best to provide a flow chart so that any skill level can understand the process of determining what to look for when troubleshooting with yes or no cases

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How do you write a troubleshooting guide for multiple audiences or skill levels?

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1 Know your audiences

2 Use plain language

3 Organize your content

4 Provide multiple options

5 Test your guide

6 Here’s what else to consider

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