A penny spent on a warning can save millions of dollars and avoid product liability claims.
Six Sigma Quality in Documentation
The term Six Sigma refers to deviations from an ideal level of operation, where a high sigma means fewer defects. Six Sigma equates to 3.4 defects per million. The MAXit Checker applies the same principles to technical documentation.
The MAXit Checker evaluates the number and type of errors in the text to the total word count. A report shows the Six Sigma and readability scores. A document with a low sigma score is identified by the computer as poor quality.
Errors in Documentation
When technical manuals have procedural errors, the quality of the product or service is reduced. Remember, the Internet makes manuals available to readers in 190 countries. In 2024, there were 100,000 avoidable, medical accident deaths in the United States. Most accidents can be prevented with Controlled English. Show this page to your Health and Safety Officers, Legal Counsel and Insurance Carriers.
Show this page to your insurance risk managers.
21 Common Mistakes in Documentation
• Foggy writing with industry jargon.
• Long sentences, more than 21 words.
• Information that is missing or omitted.
• Missing or wrong safety warnings.
• Wrong or non-existent page numbers.
• Readability levels above the US 8th Grade.
• Incorrect labels for instrumentation.
• Content is nice to know, not need to know.
• Wrong names for nomenclature.
• Texts written in "engineering-ese."
• Measurements that are vague or wrong.
• Use of ambiguous gerunds (-ing words).
• Wrong metric or dual conversions.
• Obsolete Tel., URLs, names, addresses.
• Wrong or missing illustrations.
• Invention of terminology by the writer.
• Multiple meanings for the same word.
• Creation of non-standard acronyms.
• Product names that are not known globally.
• Failure to edit texts for technical accuracy.
• Failure to provide translations.
Failure to Warn!
Many companies are exposed to excessive jury awards for two reasons: failure to add warnings and the use of vague language. For example, the conditional verbs of should, would, might and may do not convey danger. In legal theory, these errors are known as Failure to Warn.
Readability Scores and Symbols
The MAXit Checker has a Product Liability message that prompts technical writers 
to add warnings. For example, the word gasoline must warn of an explosive substance. Machinery manufacturers must add the crush symbol, shown here, to warn about heavy weights. The MAXit Checker marks the problem. The report shows a Six Sigma score and Traffic Light quality score.
The ideal report is Six Sigma with an 8th Grade readability score.
MAXit Six Sigma Report
