Why Information Typing Matters

At the heart of Precision Content® is the principle of typing content by function. That means each chunk of information should answer a specific question for the user and lead to a specific response. This approach makes content easier to write, easier to read, and—critically—easier to reuse and automate.

• Process: Describes how things work
• Task: Describes how to do something

Process Information Type: How Systems and Actors Work Together

Definition: Process content explains the macro view—how parts, people, or systems interact in a series of stages to achieve an outcome. It provides understanding, not instruction.

Use it to answer:

• What happens?
• How does this work?
• Who does what?

Reader goal: Understand

Structure: Descriptive, narrative, or visual flow

Verb form: Gerunds or “How X works” (e.g., Registering new employees, How wireless networks work)

Examples:

• “Managing contract approvals” – A people-centered workflow involving legal, finance, and operations.
• “How jet engines work” – A system-centered explanation of turbine dynamics.

Primary block title: Summary

Primary block content: Describes actors, roles, and outcomes of the process.

Task Information Type: How to Achieve a Result

Definition: Task content provides clear, actionable, step-by-step instructions to help a user complete an action and achieve a defined result.

Use it to answer:

• What do I do?
• How do I do it?

Reader goal: Perform

Structure: Ordered steps, conditions, outcomes

Verb form: Imperative (e.g., Complete, Register, Log into)

Examples:

• Submit an invoice for approval
• Log into the pricing system

Primary block title: Purpose

Primary block content: Explains the goal or outcome of the task.

Are “Procedure” and “Task” the Same Thing?

Yes—and no.

In traditional documentation, a procedure is the common term for a set of instructions that help someone perform a task. In topic-based authoring (like DITA or Precision Content), we use the term task instead—but they refer to the same underlying information type.

Why use “task”? Because each task is a standalone topic, focused on a single action, reusable across many outputs. A procedure might be one long document, but in structured authoring, it’s broken into modular task topics.

Think of a procedure as a document, and a task as a topic.

This naming convention supports reuse, automation, and AI-readiness while aligning with industry standards.

Titling Standards: Writing with Purpose and Clarity

🪛 Task Titles: Command and Clarity

✅ Use: Imperative verbs and clear objects. 🚫 Avoid: “How to…”, gerunds, and vague labels.

⚙️ Process Titles: Describe the Flow

Key Differences at a Glance

AI and Automation: Why This Distinction Matters

Structured content isn’t just better for people—it’s essential for machines.

• AI can retrieve the right information based on user intent
• Content can be automatically surfaced in the right context (e.g., chatbot or training)
• Modular delivery becomes effortless and scalable

“If you engineer your content for AI, you don’t need to prompt as much—it already understands the context.” — Dr. Lance Cummings, AI Researcher and Rhetoric Professor

What Technical Writers Can Do Today

• Audit your content for mixed use of process and task elements.
• Retitle your topics using the correct grammatical and titling standards.
• Apply information typing consistently across your documentation sets.

We’ll review up to 10 pages to reveal where process and procedure blur—and how to fix it for better human and AI consumption. You’ll get a concise, executive-ready report.

• Clarity Analysis — understand if the content explains how things work or how to do things.
• Information Type Mapping — where to split or combine topics.
• Structure & Reuse Scorecard — measure your AI-readiness.
• Top Recommendations — prioritized fixes aligned to Precision Content® standards.

Limited offer for qualified organizations — no commitment required.