Human-factoring a military Quick Reference Guide (QRG)

Abstract

After receiving feedback that a specific military Quick Reference Guide (QRG) was not helping the target user group perform their job, a human factors effort was undertaken to improve the general usability of the document. In researching the best path forward for enacting usability improvements, the authors found no shortage of literature on the subject of website “help” sections or general instructional documentation, but discovered an unfortunate dearth of materials pertaining to the human factors of QRGs. A novel method was therefore established, consisting of three-steps: (1) physical structure assessment, (2) a re-organization of contents to better match user mental models, and (3) comparison against a tailored human factors checklist. While the human factors effort described in this paper is ongoing, preliminary changes have been well-received by the targeted user group, and future work has been identified.