Imagination could be used as a last-ditch effort in a desparate situation or something that would cause a major shockwave, otherwise it isn’t needed in technical communication. Taking a look at some major instances when imagination was used, on Apollo 13, a contraption was created to make a square scrubber fit in a round hole using scrap parts found on the SM and LM. It took imagination to fly commercial jet liners into a building to generate the publicity that it desired. It isn’t really needed to explain how to put something together or to do something. Technical communication is more about clearly describing an operating procedure. If imagination was needed, your basic household items could be declared hazardous because of misuse. That’s why there are so many warning labels on products for not doing the stupidest things. People’s imaginations will lead to more harm than is needed.

Otherwise, the procedure of doing something requires no imagination. You don’t need a wild imagination to know how to install a carburetor. Doing so will most likely cause damage to the engine. When people need to find out what something can do, they can turn to a fiction novel. Having all of the coulds-cans-mays about something listed along with the general directions of a process can increase the manuals from a few pages to large stacks of small print binders of technical language that will confuse the lay person.

Listing creative ways to do something isn’t all that bad. If it will save lives or improve lives rather than harm them, then it should be used and encouraged. Knowing that there is an alternative use for something like a cooler or a laundry basket is useful.