Technical Communication Today

Three Essentials of Freelance Technical Writing

Business technical writing is a growing field these days, because the Internet has made experts of anyone with a computer.  Complicated aspects of a product or service that could have been avoided in promotional material only a few years ago almost have to be explained now, because the competition is doing so.  

Freelance technical writers have to consider three aspects of a technical writing job.  As always, accurate audience evaluation is required to make proper use of the following thee considerations:

1. What the audience already knows - or thinks they know.  The latter is a very important distinction.
2. What the audience requires to comprehend the material or make a favorable decision.
3. The lowest reading and comprehension level of audience members.  This is sometimes known as the “lowest common denominator.”

Technical communication is everywhere today, but so much of it is substandard because the three above factors aren’t considered.  The most blatant examples include the documentation that comes with computer software and hardware.  An entire segment of publishing is dedicated to explaining software that developers never bothered to do well.  Help centers would likely cut their call volume by 30 percent or more if the computer manufacturer invested in professional technical writers.

To address what the audience already knows, a review of the Internet is a good place to start.  Data from call centers or other customer feedback is another good source for valid information.  Educational background is another important consideration.

I once wrote materials for the Congress of Neurological Surgeons with regard to the latest neurosurgical research.  When writing to the press, it was a considerably more difficult task than writing to other neurosurgeons.  In the case of the former audience, it was fair to assume the worst case was someone who didn’t know much about neurosurgery, but at least had some basic familiarity with medicine in general.  The worst case for the latter audience was likely a resident who may or may not have had some neurosurgery exposure, but knew enough about the Latin base of medical terms to decipher all but the most specialized terminology.

Assessing what the audience needs to know in order to understand the material or make a favorable decision is where a real professional makes a big difference.  Writing technical documentation requires that no element is left out or assumed as being understood.  Every step in the process or the underlying conceptual framework must be included. 

I’ve noted computer hardware documentation that began the explanation of a process with a sentence such as, “Boot the computer with the Windows OS disk.”  That sentence alone is probably responsible for at least a million help desk calls.  The word “boot” is not universally understood.  “Windows OS disk” was not the actual label on the disk.  The writer also didn’t consider that some people in the audience don’t know how to open the CD drive.  The sentence was a disaster and wasn’t written by a professional writer.  It probably cost the company millions of dollars.

The issue of the lowest common denominator determines both how detailed the writing must be and the complexity of the vocabulary.  Any three-syllable words should be reviewed carefully unless the audience is absolutely known to be particularly well educated.  Even words such as “ebony” should be avoided in most cases.  If it’s black, say it’s black unless you’re completely sure the word is understood.

Contract technical writers need not understand everything possible about a specific industry.  In fact, sometimes a highly refined knowledge of a topic or industry can work against a technical writing consultant, because it leads to assumptions.  The most important thing a professional technical writer has to understand is human nature.  The three writing considerations listed above will go a long way to keep the technical writer on track.