---
alwaysApply: false
globs: ["**/*.md", "docs/**"]
description: "Distilled tekom technical-communication rules for user-oriented, well-structured documentation. Use when structuring user-facing documentation."
---

# Tekom Technical Communication

- Know your readers before you write. Name the target group and what it already knows.
- Answer three questions early: What is this? What does it do for me? What do I do next?
- Structure documents by the reader's tasks, not by the system's internals.
- Give every section one clear, meaningful heading. A reader must find a topic by scanning headings alone.
- Keep topics modular: one topic explains one thing and works when read alone.
- Write instructions as numbered steps. One action per step, in the order the reader performs them.
- Put warnings and requirements BEFORE the step they affect, never after.
- Use one term for one thing across the whole documentation. Keep a small glossary for special terms.
- State the effect of every action: what the reader sees or gets after doing it.
- Show a concrete example for every abstract statement.
- Prefer tables for facts the reader compares; prefer lists for sequences and options.
- Remove content that serves the author, not the reader.