10-Step Guide for Great Technical Writing
Technical writing is a content writing discipline focused on strategy, facts, and technology. It involves communicating technical information to its users. It simplifies complex processes in understandable words. Technical documents include technical manuals, User guides, Standard Operation Procedures, etc., and provide advanced, factual information for easy usability.
A technical writer must have good writing skills and technical knowledge to convey complex information to the end users in simple and understandable words. Technical writers with specialized skills and expert technical know-how document the content from the user’s perspective to yield maximum user satisfaction.
Scope
The scope of technical writing is not just limited to technical manuals and user guides. Technical writing is a broad concept covering all forms of factual writing. This umbrella now covers all forms of formal writing, including Press Releases, Reports, Briefs, Business Proposals, Public Speeches, etc. Any form of writing that requires clear, factual, and concept-based delivery is a technical document.
A well-written technical document is crucial for any business, from store owners to big tech companies. Every business requires clear, precise communication within its organization and with its end users to achieve its business goals effectively. These documents define your brand image. A clear and coherent flow of information is required for the users to understand the products or services. An ill-structured technical document can affect your user’s understandability, hampering your business’s reputation.
10 Tips for great Technical Writing
Technical documentation requires comprehensive knowledge of the product. Here are a few tips to help you improve your user communication and develop an effective technical document.
- Audience Analysis: It is very crucial to know your target audience. Know your audience, from internal users to end users, to create an effective technical document. Conduct a thorough audience analysis to know who your end users might be. Plan out your document keeping in mind your audience specifications. When writing an SOP, t create a logical sequence of steps for the readers. While writing a business proposal to facilitate internal communication, including all the technical concepts and jargon will create an elaborate technical document.
- Research your Audience’s Existing Knowledge of the Product: It is always a good course of action to know about your user’s existing knowledge of the product. This comprehensive research will help you create a blueprint of the contents to be included in your document. A clear definition of user needs and knowledge will help you create a relevant technical document with the necessary information. The user just needs to know about the usefulness of the product. Include details and terminology according to your user’s knowledge and serve them the desired content.
- Know the Product you are Writing for. Know your product inside out. Having in-depth knowledge about the product, its specifications, user persona, unique features, etc., will help you devise a clear technical document in no time. A writer with extensive knowledge about the product can deliver the technical document in the simplest words. The goal is to simplify the product so indulge in some good research on your product to achieve this writing goal.
- Structuring your Document: After the research phase comes the executing or structuring phase. How you present, your information is just as important as what you present. Technical documents are usually considered monotonous content pieces. Present your document in a way that grabs the reader’s attention and hooks them up with your document. Give your text a meaningful flow from one concept to another to enhance the readability and understandability of your content. An excellent technical document will engage the readers and deliver the context in the simplest way possible.
- Document Flow: Use attractive layouts to navigate your document flow. Layouts that enhance readability and help in easy scanning. Make your text more appealing using bulleted or numbered lists, headers, footers, and document names. Make your transition from one text to another seamless with coherent document flow. Include examples in your text to keep the readers hooked to reality while keeping it practical.
- Using Visuals to Engage. Use imagery as and when possible. With shorter attention spans, modern readers prefer visuals over text. Visuals grab the reader’s attention more than written texts. The goal is to get your message across in fewer words. Use different illustrations like tables, flow charts, 3-D diagrams, and screenshots to break the monotony of boring texts. Visuals enhance the reader’s understandability of the text, improves document flow, and facilitate readability.
- Using Simplest Language Possible. You do not want to sound smart and confuse your readers with complex vocabulary. Technical documentation aims to get the message across. Stick to simple words, short sentences, and clear steps to guide your readers. Think from your reader’s perspective while writing the text and Simply the language wherever possible. Opt for more minor texts with numbered lists and the most straightforward language to enhance your document’s readability.
- Creating detailed TOC: Enhance your document’s searchability by preparing an elaborate Table of Contents. A table of contents is the index of your entire document and the first thing to interact with your readers. Make sure it is well-defined and comprehensive. Your readers should be able to find anything in the document easily. Create the TOC with simple language and the aim to provide a roadmap to the readers. Cross-reference the pages and numbers to avoid confusion among the readers.
- Preparing Glossary: A perfect technical document has an elaborate list of glossaries to enhance the reader’s understanding. A glossary is an alphabetical list of words relating to a specific term with an explanation. It is an effective strategy to tie words and phrases your readers might find challenging to understand. Simple words and phrases to explain complex terms will make your technical document effective and efficient.
- Proofread your Document and Refine: Edit and refine your technical document with every version update. Update your content regularly to keep it afresh and practical and maintain a competitive edge. Creating a technical document is a lengthy and cumbersome process. Take expert guidance from a subject matter expert to pinpoint the shortcomings in the text. Having a second set of eyes is always a good option in reviewing.
About the Author: Yogesh Sharma is the founder and CEO of Mindivik, which is a technical documentation company based out of Noida, India.
www.mindivik.in
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I’ve been a TW for over 20 years–mainly as a contractor. I’ve always found that #1 and #2 on your list are difficult to carry out. How does one unobtrusively analyze the specific needs and knowledge of the audience? As helpful as that information would be, I’ve generally just kept the content scoped to the product, starting with the how-to stuff and then adding in conceptual details, as appropriate. I then hope that some motivated users (or someone on the Support team) let me know about errors and omissions.
Talk to the product manager, product owners, and your client/customer services team. They will often have insight into what the customer audience will need to be included in technical documentation.