Aspirational procedures

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

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

I often read guides passively. I don't actively follow the instructions. Instead, I'm determining whether I will follow the guide, or I'm imagining following the guide.

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 correct, but also compelling: the guide makes me want to try the software. The software can't fulfill this role: it can't anticipate itself.

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