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Jill Kenny is being asked <<... to write and assist in writing highly
technical documents for our software development center. These documents
include technical design docs, architectural overviews, application
roadmaps, and development
methodology descriptions. Do these types of documents fall under the
category of technical writing?>>
Yup. I don't usually feel the need to narrowly define what I do, since I
prefer to describe my job as "anything involving words or graphics". If
pressed, I tend to define technical writing as writing that focuses on
teaching people complex concepts, including "how to use something" concepts,
rather than writing to entertain. I also hastily add that there are enormous
grey areas in that definition. (I don't consider most marketing writing to
be technical for that reason: the goal is to sell, not explain or teach.)
<<And if not, any suggestions on how to gracefully bow out of these tasks.>>
Sounds to me like the real issue is not whether these are formally
techwhirling, and thus work that falls under your job description, but
rather whether you have the time and desire to add these additional duties
to your current workload. Am I on the right track here?
<<In my years of technical writing, I have always been involved in
developing user-end documentation, i.e., help files, user manuals, etc. So
this is completely new to me.>>
I've always looked on new types of writing as challenges and a way to break
out of the same old rut and try something new, while simultaneously making
myself more useful to my employer. The latter part's both ethical (giving
full value for the money you earned) and practical (the more roles you're
fulfilling, the harder it is for them to downsize you or give you a tiny
raise).
"Technical writing... requires understanding the audience, understanding
what activities the user wants to accomplish, and translating the often
idiosyncratic and unplanned design into something that appears to make
sense."--Donald Norman, The Invisible Computer
