Manual improvement, template maintenance case study for increased engineering efficiency

 

Customer Requests

To improve the efficiency of engineers and reduce their workload, Yahoo! JAPAN has been implementing various initiatives. Recently, they reached out to us to improve the manual creation process, which accounts for a small portion of their tasks but is still significant.

Even for engineers with high skills, there was no opportunity to systematically learn how to create manuals, so measures were taken to consider the necessity first.

As a result, we conducted an evaluation analysis of the manuals we created ourselves, and then held seminars with the aim of establishing practicality, making sure to share quality standards in a step-by-step manner.

Human Science Solutions

We have always been conscious of making efforts towards improving the engineer's manual not as a temporary measure, but as a continuous effort.

Our company has adopted action learning as a service menu for in-house support, and has been able to create a learning environment in conjunction with actual manual creation projects.
In addition, efforts have been made to establish standard documents that can be used for other products, and discussions have been held on how to optimize them for easy operation, especially in terms of size.

At the end of the project, we conducted a review from the KPT perspective to prevent the problem of templates and rules being created but not utilized.

The high level of awareness was felt in the fact that they were also considering packaging the way the project is progressing and making it a general approach.

For more detailed information related to this case study, please see below.

Manual Creation and User Manual Creation

Manual Creation In-house Support Service

Manual Evaluation, Analysis, and Improvement Proposal Service

Customer Feedback

We received the following evaluation from engineers involved in manual creation.

• ・As the purpose was clearly defined, it was easier to determine the quality.


• ・I was able to write with a certain level of quality while putting myself in the reader's position.


• ・I realized the need to secure proper time and effort to write manuals.


• ・It was easy to write because I followed the guide.


• ・Consulting and understanding the table of contents structure (overall design) with multiple people helped organize information and broaden our understanding of the product.


• ・We were able to share and resolve issues during the mid-term review and retrospective meetings.


• ・Previously, we wrote the headings and content directly in the table of contents, but by being conscious of the table of contents creation flow, we are now able to properly categorize the content and categories.


• - When creating manuals, I used to do it intuitively, but now I want to be more conscious of the process.

From Human Science representative

We have worked on improving the manual using our in-house support service.

In a company, even if there is no dedicated person for manuals, it is a challenge to continuously work on improving the quality of documents and implementing the PDCA cycle.

When undertaking such an initiative, the first challenge is how to create standards for quality improvement.

Even if the quality is excessive, it often happens that the quality deteriorates due to insufficient adherence to standards when operating internally. Therefore, we believe it is important to optimize the quality standards to fit the company's operations. As a knowledgeable person, we have been involved in the project and have shared the criteria for judgment, the basis for such judgment, and reference cases from other companies as needed.

It is important to work as a team and consider documents from a workflow perspective, as corporate document management tends to become personalized.

Yahoo! JAPAN is an innovative company in various initiatives, and has utilized our action learning to work on improving the quality and efficiency of document creation in the consciousness of engineers.

At our company, we have our own unique method for applying technical communication, and we hope that it will continue to be useful in improving our business in the future.

Related Services

Manual Creation and User Manual Creation

Manual Creation In-house Support Service

Manual Evaluation, Analysis, and Improvement Proposal Service