Aspirational procedures

In technical writing, the assumption is typically that a user reads a guide when trying to solve a problem.

While this is certainly an important case for a writer to accommodate, it is surely not the only way a reader experiences a guide.

I often read guides passively, without actively executing the instructions. Instead, I'm determining whether it's worthwhile to take the steps described, or I'm imagining the satisfaction of completing the entire sequence.

They are like aspirational procedures: things that I might like to do if they seem doable and worth doing.

This could be because:

• I'm not at a computer, so I can't use the software

• I want to assess how a task is done in the software without installing it

• I'm comparing the guide to others to learn about different ways to solve a problem

In any of these cases, an excellent guide is not merely accurate and functional, but also compelling: the guide makes me want to try the software. The software can't fulfill this role, because it can't anticipate itself.

A guide may exhibit the simplicity, beauty, or power of a sequence of actions so well, that I later install and start using the software without ever actively following the guide, and yet the guide has still been successful.