Primary user need: I want to learn.
A tutorial is a guided learning experience. The author determines the journey, selects what the user should do, and leads them towards a meaningful outcome.
That teaching relationship defines a tutorial more strongly than the experience level of the reader. Beginner status is not a requirement: a tutorial can teach an intermediate or advanced capability, so long as the author is still determining the learning path rather than answering a question the user has already formed.
Include
- A clear outcome
- A controlled sequence of practical actions
- Enough explanation for the learner to understand the important steps
- Visible or meaningful results
- A progression that supports learning
Do not let it become
- An exhaustive reference manual
- A collection of unrelated tasks
- A long conceptual essay
- The fastest possible instructions for someone who already knows their goal
The failure we see most often is a how-to guide called a tutorial. If the user chose the destination and only needs instructions for reaching it, it is a how-to guide.
Worked example
Tutorial: Configuring webhook retries
This tutorial explains how to change your webhook retry policy. Open Settings, select Webhooks, and set Retry attempts to your preferred value. Save.
How to change your webhook retry policy
The reader already knew what they wanted. Nothing is being taught, no journey is being designed, and the outcome was chosen by them. Retitled, refiled, and the word tutorial removed.
