diff --git a/npm-shrinkwrap.readme.md b/npm-shrinkwrap.readme.md
index 505b160dc6..69b209f80d 100644
--- a/npm-shrinkwrap.readme.md
+++ b/npm-shrinkwrap.readme.md
@@ -14,29 +14,34 @@ See https://github.com/npm/npm/issues/3581 for related npm issue. A common sympt
 
 To add a new dependency do the following:
 
-1. add a new dependency via `npm install -D <packagename>`
-2. update npm-shrinkwrap.json with `npm shrinkwrap --dev`
-3. run `./tools/npm/clean-shrinkwrap.js`
-4. these steps should change 3 files: `package.json`, `npm-shrinkwrap.json` and `npm-shrinkwrap.clean.json`
-5. commit changes to these three files and you are done
+1. if you are on linux or windows, then use MacOS or ask someone with MacOS to perform the installation. This is due to an optional `fsevents` dependency that is really required on MacOS to get good performance from file watching.
+2. make sure you are in sync with `upstream/master`
+3. ensure that your `node_modules` directory is not stale or poisoned by doing a clean install with `rm -rf node_modules && npm install`
+4. add a new dependency via `npm install -D <packagename>`
+5. update npm-shrinkwrap.json with `npm shrinkwrap --dev` (see note below about the `minichain` issue)
+6. run `./tools/npm/clean-shrinkwrap.js`
+7. these steps should change 3 files: `package.json`, `npm-shrinkwrap.json` and `npm-shrinkwrap.clean.json`
+8. commit changes to these three files and you are done
 
 
 To update existing dependency do the following:
 
-1. run `npm install -D <packagename>@<version|latest>` or `npm update <packagename>` to update to the latest version that matches version constraint in `package.json`
-2. relock the dependencies with `npm shrinkwrap --dev`
-3. clean up the shrinkwrap file for review with `./tools/npm/clean-shrinkwrap.js`
-4. these steps should change 2 files: `npm-shrinkwrap.json` and `npm-shrinkwrap.clean.json`. Optionally if you used `npm install ...` in the first step, `package.json` might be modified as well
-5. commit changes to these three files and you are done
+1. if you are on linux or windows, then use MacOS or ask someone with MacOS to perform the installation. This is due to an optional `fsevents` dependency that is really required on MacOS to get good performance from file watching.
+2. make sure you are in sync with `upstream/master`: `git fetch upstream && git rebase upstream/master`
+3. ensure that your `node_modules` directory is not stale or poisoned by doing a clean install with `rm -rf node_modules && npm install`
+4. run `npm install -D <packagename>@<version|latest>` or `npm update <packagename>` to update to the latest version that matches version constraint in `package.json`
+5. relock the dependencies with `npm shrinkwrap --dev` (see note below about the `minichain` issue)
+6. clean up the shrinkwrap file for review with `./tools/npm/clean-shrinkwrap.js`
+7. these steps should change 2 files: `npm-shrinkwrap.json` and `npm-shrinkwrap.clean.json`. Optionally if you used `npm install ...` in the first step, `package.json` might be modified as well
+8. commit changes to these three files and you are done
 
 
-If updating the `tsd` project a special steps need to be taken due to
-https://github.com/Bartvds/minitable/issues/2:
 
-Update `tsd` by following the steps above but before you run `npm shrinkwrap --dev`, you'll have to
-manually patch `node_modules/ts2dart/node_modules/tsd/node_modules/minitable/package.json` and
-`node_modules/tsd/node_modules/minitable/package.json` and remove the `minichain` from
-the `peerDependencies` section.
+=== Note about `minichain` dependency ===
+
+Due to https://github.com/Bartvds/minitable/issues/2, we need to do extra dance to `tsd` and its transitive dependency `minitable` whenever we update our shrinkwrap file.
+
+1. Manually patch `node_modules/tsd/node_modules/minitable/package.json` and remove the `minichain` from the `peerDependencies` section.
 
 before:
 
@@ -56,4 +61,6 @@ after:
   },
 ```
 
-Then resume the shrinkwrap update and cleaning steps.
+2. Then delete the `minichain` directory: `rm -rf tsd/node_modules/minichain`.
+
+Afterwards resume the shrinkwrap update and cleaning steps.