What good instruction goes bad

My wife can make something hard, so easy. For example, she opened a fashion boutique and was able to negotiate a lease, renovate, and open in less than 45 days. But yesterday I was trying to help her, and something that was so easy, quickly became hard.

The reason?

Bad instructions.

I like most, don't like reading technical documentation. No one does. Thats how I've learned to deal with less than stellar and non-existent documentation to reverse engineer software in order to write technical documentation that non-technical people can understand.

But that's also the reason why I am an advocate for documentation that is easy for (almost) anyone to understand.

But here's how something that actually takes 5 minutes, can take 5 hours.

Software, like the weather, changes constantly.

My kids, like millions of others, have been playing Roblox for years. And like most other parents, I've spent more money than I'd care to admit for digital products like hats, shirts, pants, shoes, and who knows what else?

I'll admit that the simplicity of Roblox in intriguing (and more intrigued by the sickos who make the MA rated/borderline terrorist content that is posted on Youtube and TikTok, but I'll save that for another time). But when the kids are spending my money to buy things to make their digital image look the way they want, I want to know how this is done.

So when I read the instructions on how to upload clothing, I thought this should be quick:

But when 45 minutes, became the rest of last night, I had to give it a rest. And since my kids are no interest in helping me learn how to use the system, I'm on my own. So I gave it a rest and started again in the morning.

Now I'm sure that these instructions make sense to someone, but without context, it's anyone's guess.

So after watching at least 3 YouTube videos, I was finally able to upload a shirt.

First, the instructions assume that the user is looking at the Edit Avatar page.

Next, the user has to navigate to Clothing to make a selection

That's when I saw it

The Create button that I was looking for.

Maybe at one point the instructions made sense, but now they don't. To some, they make sense, but for everyone else, context, is key.