Technical Writer

I would enjoy telling people what I do for I living – Technical Writing. It is a combination of a technical profession and an editing profession. So, who is a technical writer, and what does one do?

A Technical Writer is a person who writes technical documents with a wide range of extensions, including user manual, project document, white paper, case study, and report. Most of the time, people rarely see a technical writer unless they want to build documentation. Surprisingly, fewer meetings can be an indication that a technical writer is doing his job well because it hints that the readers won’t have to ask for anything else since the document provides enough information for them. When the question “who wrote this document” arise, it might mean that some information is missing. So, as a technical writer, I do not only sticks with strict rule and write dry-and-straightforward words, but also listen to feedback and review to grow the words better. I create a journey for the audience to explore the technical detail. I can choose the style for my document, it can be something in the middle between super-entertaining and super-dry, depending on the context of the information. It can be both accurate and memorable at once. The rule of thumb is the right content for the right audience.

There are three concepts that help to sum up the duties of a technical writer:

• Investigation
• Communication
• Readability

I describe these using examples of what I do on a typical day.

Investigation

The investigation works occur in these ways:

• Gather information, including facts and evidence
• Organize the information into specific form, e.g. story, outlines
• Make sure the information is accurate

Information emerges from the facts which make itself a source of credible information. In order to write down the information, the technical writer should get to the concrete facts. That is where the investigation skill is needed, to find out the facts. How to do the investigation? We can go for the most basic method: asking the question. Asking good questions to receive good answers (with accurate information). Asking for information is the most basic tactic of technical writers. It should work in almost any situation because the information is vital for any operation that people will want to provide for themselves.

Communication

The task of a technical writer is to transfer information (knowledge) between two or more parties. Knowledge is important, and the “how-to” to deliver knowledge, is important too. We can see that communication is always there as a way to achieve the goal. As a technical writer, I improve the communication further and further, to the point I can produce clear and explicit information out of the conversations.

Readability

The last thing technical writers care about is the polishing of documentation - the readability. I want to make sure that the audience reads and consumes the information well from my documents. I can accomplish readability by doing the following:

• Lead the audience to the story
• Make all content and document consistent
• Create a complete picture from words and diagrams, providing both broad and detailed information

This part blends creativity and consistency. The technical writer delivers attractive content in a consistent way, for both technical and non-technical readers.