Tech Writer`s Skills in 2021
Being a technical writer, you are to keep up with everything new in this sphere as it is developing very quickly. And, every year, you need to upgrade your skills. A lot has already been said about what skills a successful technical writer must possess. I like these articles as they give a very informative description of them: ‘11 Skills of a Good Technical Writer’, ‘Unconventional Skills of Technical Writers’. But in this post, I`d like to figure out what particular skills tech writers need to develop in 2021.
Being Adaptable
I would say this is the basic skill today. In 2020 the world has changed drastically, and we all had an opportunity to feel that. Unfortunately, changes very often get us down at first. It takes time to get used to new things. This year, remote work became a new reality for so many people. That was a stressful time for everyone. Some people were not prepared for that. They had to start using new tools — SaaS products, cloud-based products, video conferencing, etc. Switching from one tool to another is always a challenge. And, when you work in a team, that might be difficult to save the workflow and stay productive at the same time. So, being adaptable is the key skill here. If learning a new tool or using new standards does not frighten you, that is great. We all should develop this skill to be able to work no matter what is changing.
Creating Valuable Content
In 2021, it is high time to change the way you create content if you have not done it yet. The content should be valuable to users. What does it mean? The content should provide users with the information they are looking for. If users see what they already know, it reduces the value of the content to the minimum. Technical writers must find out what problems users face when working with the product and describe how to solve them. It is vital to make users not only press the buttons but to think. Have a look at this post to learn more: ‘Best Tips to Create Valuable Software Documentation’.
Working with a Scrum Team
Scrum is a part of the Agile workflow, which is so popular today among software development teams. It presupposes a repetitive approach and continuous product improvement. The team organizes itself and determines the best ways to fulfill the tasks. So, all members of the team should be able to self-organize, and every team is cross-functional. Technical writing is different with Agile. It depends on development, and development with Agile is intense. Choosing the right tech writing software can help you. You should be able to update documentation quickly and easily.
These are the things that you are to pay attention to next year to be a successful tech writer. I hope this information is useful to you.
