Should Tech Writers be Writers?

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Mar 21, 2024

Back in the mists of time when I first joined a technical publications department after graduating college it was because I wanted a career where I could blend my engineering degree with my love of the written word. Since the age of seven I always wanted to be a writer, but my natural tendency towards the mechanical drove my education path in another direction.

In the near thirty years since as a tech author, editor, heading publications shops, consultant, and working for software vendors selling into the tech pubs market I’ve always heard the same story – heck I even heard it this week.

Why don’t people respect technical publications?

Maybe part of the problem is that the vast majority of us are Writers. We love the written word. Maybe we love it a little too much?

We need to ask ourselves is the written word the best thing for Technical Publications?

Perhaps the reason we don’t get the respect we feel we deserve is that what we produce on the whole is not doing its job as well as it should?

On the wall of my home office is a certificate I was issued with by the Technical Publications industry organization, the STC, many years ago. I’ve been a member of the ISTC and STC for most of my time in this industry, Take a look at the name of our industry group. The STC – The Society for Technical Communication – its not the STW. That last word is important. We are Communicators.

The old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words has resonance for a reason.

Two of the most successful tech doc projects I ever worked on were driven by graphics. One was a touch screen graphical navigation system for mechanics maintaining underground trains. They navigated to the area of the problem by literally touching on pictures of the area of the train with the problem. The other was an entirely pictorial breakdown procedure for a boat manufacturer, the only text was the part numbers.

If anyone has seen me run a training course, I no longer use a training manual. I use screen shots, practical demos and a white board. I draw and I talk.

Several years back I wrote a white paper on using graphics as a universal language in technical communication. Over the course of the next few years I was asked to present that paper over and over again, it even won a couple of awards. No other paper I have ever written on any aspect of technical documentation has drawn (no pun intended) that sort of response. I’m still presenting it on a regular basis, in fact just a few weeks ago one of my current consulting clients asked me about presenting it to their staff.

Examples of effective communication using more graphics than words are all around us. I spent several years in the aerospace industry, and what’s the most effective and widely viewed piece of documentation in that industry? The safety card placed in every seat back pocket. Next time you fly, pull it out and take a look at it. It communicates across language barriers by use of simple clear illustrations and internationally understood symbols. It’s easy to look at, and you can assimilate the messages and procedures at a glance.

Aviation Safety Cards - Airline and Passenger Safety Briefing Cards

Just one more example, the biggest lesson I ever learned about communicating was spending a day listening to graphics design guru Edward Tufte , if you can, go listen to him talk.

Another great resource on communicating with words and pictures is Scott McLoud’s, Understanding Comics. Yes comics – think about it, man has been combining words and pictures to tell stories and pass on information for centuries.

Before anyone thinks I’m anti-writer, I’m not. When people ask me what I do, I tell them I’m a Writer. I write books, magazine articles, blogs, websites – and yes, comic books.

I’m proud to be a writer. But I leave being a pure writer to the evenings and weekends. When I’m in the office I try to be a Communicator, and use whatever techniques that work best for my end user.

I still use words, but I also try to use graphics, video, animation, audio and anything else that will do the job of communicating in the most effective manner.

Alan

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This week I’d also like to give a shout out to the folks at Data Conversion Labs for inviting me to contribute to their blog with my article on why your Customer Data Platform might not be working the way you think it is.

Weekly #CX Thought

As customers we want to find answers, be entertained, and conduct business transactions as easily as possible at the place, at the time, and on the device of our choosing. That’s the reality of the customer experience today.

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