TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: This too is technical communication From:Troy Klukewich <tklukewich -at- sbcglobal -dot- net> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Wed, 30 May 2007 10:25:00 -0700 (PDT)
<quote>
While I agree with this on a large scale, I think it varies from position to position. I work in a small office and I am the only technical writer here.
</quote>
As contributors, we can wear many different hats, especially for smaller, growing companies. I think as long as the roles are clearly defined, no harm done. As companies grow, they sometimes forget to delineate those roles, each with their own expertise. They get mixed up and the technical writing role is weakened.
The offshoot is that most companies will find at some point that their organically grown documentation infrastructure does not scale, is extremely expensive to maintain, and does not localize well, costing hugely more than an entire documentation team to translate. That's where the field of technical writing itself with well established best practices needs to step in.
Ideally, even in a small company, the individual writer can provide documentation leadership, ensuring that deliverables are built on a solid foundation with the future in mind. It's not easy, though, when handling multiple disciplines at once. It's also hard to think about the future when the present is bearing down. That's why we should make the big bucks. :-)
The upside is the more global perspective from fulfilling multiple roles feeds into whatever one focuses on later. Plus, you can always move over into another discipline when things are slow.
When I worked for smaller companies, often fulfilling multiple roles and working with less than optimal documentation infrastructures, I still always did my best to write consistently, clearly, and with clearly defined documentation types. These three points alone go a long way to safeguarding the longevity of documentation in a growing company. These might seem basic, but most of the problems I've seen, especially the more expensive ones, are due to failures on these very points.
Working for larger companies now, I find that I still work with smaller companies through acquisitions, so the infrastructure issues I've seen are surprisingly common.
It goes back to individual writers defining and advocating for ongoing, maintainable, documentation quality.
Troy
----- Original Message ----
From: Melissa Nelson <melmis36 -at- hotmail -dot- com>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 9:29:03 AM
Subject: Re: This too is technical communication
"I do not believe that the best way to validate our profession is to show
where we can add value outside of formal technical writing projects, through
marketing, sales, and other kinds of writing."
While I agree with this on a large scale, I think it varies from position to
position. I work in a small office and I am the only technical writer here.
If I were to do technical writing alone, I would be part time at best. There
are a lot of times when I spend as little as five hours a week on technical
writing...others when I spend 50 hours a week on technical writing.
To be a full time employee at this company, I have had to be willing to do
other things such as proposal writing, marketing, QA, answer phones, you
name it! However, the technical writing is always the top priority and when
it needs to be done, anything else has to wait. I have a great boss in that
regard. He firmly believes that documentation is an essential part of the
software package and will always put that above anything else when it comes
to my time.
Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or
printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007
Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more. http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList
Now shipping: Help & Manual 4 with RoboHelp(r) import! New editor,
full Unicode support. Create help files, web-based help and PDF in up
to 106 languages with Help & Manual: http://www.helpandmanual.com
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
