Teaching how to use a manual

I might be way off base here, but do field engineers really need training on how to use a manual? In all my years as a technical training developer working with SMEs, I have never met an engineer who didn't know how to look up info in technical docs.

I would agree with Michael here, it may be simpler to give them all a cheat sheet when they start e.g

Chapter 1 =

Chapter 2 =

Which would be more useful out in the field

Interactive screenshots could work. They let you orient learners with a big-picture view of an application’s interface, then let them drill down into the details for a particular menu or panel. They’re easy to build, super versatile, and a solid alternative to screencasts or simulations.

Learn more in this article and this e-learning challenge.

I may be with Phil and Michael here. I think a little reference card or something they can use on the field would be significantly more helpful if the whole goal is so they know which section is which.

However, if the goal is speed, what may be more helpful is knowing when to go to each part of the manual. Perhaps some decision charts or something along those lines so when X situation is happening, they should refer to X section of the manual (I don't think the numbering matters here, as they hopefully have your reference card handy).

For example, while this may not be what your techs are doing, if a client has a screen flickering - a brand new tech may mistake that as being a software issue versus a hardware issue. Therefore, the interactivity would be "Your customer has a flickering screen. Where in the manual would you find resolutions to this issue?"

Before going down that path though, I would confirm what the "speed" issue actually is by talking to some of the field engineers. Perhaps the manual is just poorly designed, or maybe they just really do need to know the sections better (therefore a reference card slipped into the front of the manual), or some other issue entirely.