Technical Writing Challenges
Technical writing is a great occupation for those who are ready to research a lot, explain things, and communicate. The range of technical documents is wide, and tech writers work on different ones every day. It may seem that technical writing is a low-stress occupation, but, unfortunately, it is not always like that. In this post, we are going to discuss the typical challenges that a tech writer may face and how to cope with them.
Last-Minute Updates
Last-minute updates are a real nightmare for all technical writers. Technical documentation cannot be prepared overnight. Researching and writing take time. When everything is ready, and you know that tomorrow or in a couple of days a new release will take place, it is so terrible to learn that developers decided to add a new feature to the product, and you’ll have to rewrite the docs. How to cope with that? First of all, you should stand the idea that your documentation is never done. Anyway, you’ll have to update it. If you think that you are done with a manual, it means that you are done only for today. Tomorrow you might have to update it. And keep track of what is happening to the product, how it changes, what the developers are working on. In this case, it won’t be a surprise that you need to change something.
Unsuitable Tools
It is highly important to choose the right help authoring tool. At the moment, there are so many tools, platforms, and services. They have different sets of features and solve different problems. If the tool that you use doesn’t solve your tech writing problems and doesn’t facilitate your writing routine, you must find another one. For example, some tech writers need to create online user guides, some need to manage the translation process, some need to create a knowledge base, etc. Test different tools to make the best choice.
Keeping in Touch with SMEs
Obviously, SME’s are the main source of information for a technical writer. And, as a rule, not all of them are ready to answer your questions right away as they have a lot of work. You are to create a plan to make your communication as efficient as possible. Think of the questions beforehand. Set the goals. Record the interview if needed. Some SMEs prefer emails to interviews. That works well.
Read this post to learn more — How to Hold an Interview with SMEs.
Creating a Strategy for Existing Documentation
A real challenge is when you come to a company where there has never been a technical writing department, they have some kind of documentation, but it needs updating and creating a new strategy. It is easier to start everything from scratch rather than to set in order the existing docs. But if you face a problem like that, first check what documentation you already have, then create a new strategy and figure out what docs need to be updated and what docs are to be written. In the future, you are to stick to your strategy day by day.
So, technical writing can be very challenging but, at the same time, exciting. It may require a lot of effort and self-discipline to solve the problems you face, but all that makes you a real expert.
