Minimalism

Minimalism in Structured Writing or Topic-based Authoring is based on the ideas of John Carroll.

Like Bob Horn's work on Information Mapping™, John Carroll's principles of Minimalism were based in part on cognitive studies and learning research at Harvard and Columbia University, by Jerome Bruner, Jerome Kagan, B.F. Skinner, George Miller, and others.

Carroll argued that training materials should be constructed as short task-oriented chunks, not lengthy monolithic user manuals that explain everything in a long narrative fashion.

R. John Brockmann points out that Task Orientation had been enunciated as a principle a decade earlier at IBM by Fred Bethke and others.

Carroll observed that modern users are often already familiar with much of what is described in the typical long manual. What they need is the information to solve the particular task at hand. They should be encouraged to do them with a minimum of systematic instruction.

Minimalism is a large part of JoAnn Hackos' recent workshops and books.

DITA is built on Carroll's theories of Minimalism and Bob Horn's theories of Information Mapping™.

References:
IBM Publishing Guidelines (1981)
The Nurnberg Funnel: Designing Minimalist Instruction for Practical Computer Skill], by John Carroll, (1990)
Minimalism Beyond the Nurnberg Funnel, by John Carroll, (1998)
Writing Better Computer User Documentation, by R. John Brockmann, (Wiley, 1986)
From Millwrights to Shipwrights to the Twenty-First Century: Explorations in a History of Technical Communication in the United States, by R. John Brockmann, (Hampton, 1986)
Information Development: Managing Your Documentation Projects, Portfolio, and People, by JoAnn Hackos, (Wiley, 2006)

Up to Glossary of Terms