The method starts here, because every decision after this one depends on it.
Software documentation does not have one single purpose. It has four distinct functions, each oriented towards a different user need:
- Tutorials help users learn through a guided experience.
- How-to guides help users achieve a specific goal.
- Reference lets users look up accurate information about the system.
- Explanation helps users understand concepts, reasons and trade-offs.
The distinction matters because the four forms place different demands on both the writer and the reader. Each has one main job, and documentation becomes harder to use and to maintain when those purposes collapse into one another. A page that tries to teach, instruct, list and justify all at once does none of them well, and it is the most common thing we find in a library that grew without a method.
