ESSENTIAL SKILLS OF A TECHNICAL WRITER

Technical Writers obtain and present specialized information within strict accuracy and format requirements and strong organizational skills. Technical Writers use the following skills, knowledge, and abilities to accomplish their daily tasks of technical documentation:

• Communication: Communication may be of following types:

• Written - Communicating effectively in the form of technical writing as dictated by the needs of the audience.
• Verbal - A technical writer must have the ability to interact well with SMEs and clients. This helps in getting relevant information from them in a professional and personable manner. Conducting in-depth interviews with subject matter experts helps in understanding the product or procedure. Excellent verbal communication helps technical writers to convey information by talking effectively.

• Active Listening - Listening actively to other people and asking appropriate questions.

• Analyzing- Capability to analyze the needs of the target audience.
• Strong Concentration-Technical Writing requires the ability to concentrate for long periods of time.
• Information Gathering Skills - Knowing various sources of information and identifying essential information.
• Strong Organization Skills- Organize multiple pieces of information, so that the need for further information is recognized and redundant or irrelevant information is discarded.
• Continuous Learning - Keeping abreast of new information, material, recent advances and technology.
• Technical Attitude – Interpreting complex technical material
• Giving and Taking Constructive Criticism: Technical writers should welcome useful criticism, which should be analyzed and taken forward for reworking their original ideas until the satisfaction of the customer or user.
• English Language – A good grasp of grammar, composition, structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words is essential for doing justice to the technical writing profession.

What is Technical Writing?

Technical Writing is everywhere around us, so much so that it doesn’t even get noticed. You get exposed to technical writing in everyday life when you try to operate your new washing machine, camera, microwave (or any other product) using the user’s manual. Do you know that the user manual has been written by a technical writer? Yes…it is the technical writer who has done this marvelous job of explaining all the steps required for operating the device in a logical procedure. The piece of technical writing also explains the parts of the product considering your level of understanding and your requirement of knowledge of the technicalities involved in the device.

So, we see that technical writing is a unique and diverse field of communication written for business, industry and customers. Technical Writing is writing on a particular subject for a defined purpose and is adapted to a specific audience which may range from experts to a layperson. It is a structured way of writing that presents technical information to readers (the audience) in such a way that it is adapted to their needs and understanding level. You write about a technical subject in such a manner that even a beginner can understand. The main purpose of technical writing is to communicate technical information, e.g. user manuals, online helps, training materials etc to the user. The technical content may be printed or electronic documentation.

In today’s customer-centric business model, an organization’s technical writing activities serve as a reflection of its customer-oriented attitude. For example, the main purpose of writing the user manuals of a company’s products or services, for instance application software, is to provide easy reference to readers for efficient usage of the software. In addition, the writing explains the functioning of each screen of the application along with its navigation to other screens. The reader’s purpose of reading the communication is to get an insight into the functionalities covered by the application software so that they can use the application efficiently and independently.

In addition to the above example of a user manual there is a vast array of different forms and types of technical writing existing in the work place. This includes memos, letters, proposals, reports, brochures, software requirement specifications, websites, online helps, technical descriptions and the list is endless. In each case, the common goal, which is achieved by technical writing, is to create clear, crisp and easily understandable written communication.

Principles of Technical Writing

Well written technical documentation serves valuable purposes in the workplace. Reviewing the basic principles of technical content writing can help you become successful technical writer to a great extent. The key principles of technical writing are as follows:

Audience Orientation: Focus on what need of the audience does the document aim to fulfill. Take into account the level of expertise of the audience. Consider how the document should be organized so that it fulfills the need of the user most conveniently.

Organization and Content: Convey ideas and analysis, not just raw data and statistics. Illustrate points made in the text using graphics, images and descriptive examples. Allow the reader to digest one block of information at a time by organizing the information into paragraphs and subheadings. Make it easy for the reader to find the main points; don’t bury them in text. Write observed facts from a neutral point of view so that communication is fair and unbiased. Use cross references in the text to clarify or elucidate points. The overall logical organization of the document must lead to the result stated.

Formatting: Document formatting drastically increases the user friendliness and readability of a document. Chapter and section titles must be descriptive and informative. Line spacing and paragraph indentation can give the document an open, easy look by introducing ample white space. Font sizes and styles should be chosen so that they are large enough to be legible, and yet look good. Page numbers and header-footer content make it easy to navigate through long documents.

Language: We must remember that technical writing seeks to convey information in a simple yet (if possible) interesting manner. Keeping this in view, use simple vocabulary and short sentences. Aviod redundant words e.g. “New innovative”. Delete words, sentences and phrases that do add to the meaning. Take special care of spellings, grammar and punctuation. Use active voice wherever possible, since sentences normally turn out to be shorter e.g.

Passive- “It is supposed that…”

Active- “Supposing…”

Avoid using “I” in formal reports. Use “I” in progress reports, memos, letters, sometimes proposals. Use past tense to describe your experimental work and results. Use present tense in most other writing. The document can be made interesting by using an active mix of simple and complex sentences of limited length.