How do you explain the details of something technical to a non-technical audience?
When writing about technical topics it is often difficult to get across the complexity of a topic without getting "stuck in the weeds" and ultimately leaving the audience confused or disinterested. Particularly when the audience lacks the necessary background to explain the topic in it's own terms (e.g. explaining the usage of a certain type of cryptography to management or end-users).
What techniques can you use to help explain the important parts of a topic, and possibly introducing the relevant jargon, while keeping such an audience engaged?
While there are strategies such as the use of analogy and simplified language that can help somewhat, the real issue is …
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2 answers
While there are strategies such as the use of analogy and simplified language that can help somewhat, the real issue is that a non-technical audience is non-technical (for a given domain) because they are not interested in the details of that domain.
We are all technical in some domain or another, and none of us has the interest or the capacity to be interested in every domain of life. Our highly mechanized and organized society is based on hiding as much of the technical detail of every aspect of life from people as you possibly can. You don't want to see how the sausage is made, not just because it is icky, but because if you want affordable safe sausages, you should stick to what you do best and leave the sausage making to the experts.
So, unless you are writing learning material for people who actually want to become technical in a given area, you should be worrying less about how to convey the details and more focussing on hiding the details as much as you can.
The aim of technical communication is to give people the confidence to act correctly. Throwing a bunch of information at people that they only half understand and don't really care about is not a recipe for building their confidence. So ask yourself, how little do people actually have to know in order to act correctly and with confidence. The less you can tell them, the better.
Forcing people to be more technical in order to use your product or service simply means making that product or service harder to use. Don't focus on how to explain the details. Focus on how to conceal as many of the details as you possibly can while still allowing people to act correctly and with confidence. Every detail you add after that will reduce, not enhance, the effectiveness of your documentation.
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