The goal of technical writing is to synthesise a highly complex process or concept into simple and clear bits of information, for the reader’s interest, understanding, and perception. Its root can be traced back to the 20th century when Inventors and scientists used the tool to convey their ideas, observations, and instructions logically.
Today, technical writing has expanded into every aspect of the business. Corporations are more technical in their processes, and industries now require some specific registers, structure and particular sets of vocabulary to pass across their information. Graphs, tables, and charts have become commonplace in technical reports, in that they help the reader better comprehend what is being communicated.
Examples of some industries where technical writing is required include engineering, chemistry, aeronautics, robotics, finance, Insurance, Supply chain etc.
Of all the myriads of importance, I’ll give three why technical writing is important.
- To create relatable content
Technical writers oftentimes have to communicate highly technical information to a non-technical audience. They often work in multidisciplinary teams functioning as the mediator between the more technical staff and less technical reader.
Document design and audience analysis are an important part of technical writing. A poorly designed document will make it more difficult for the readers to understand. And to make readers understand a piece of writing, it needs to adopt their lingoes and the information must be designed in a well-received way. Good technical writing does make sure to employ these processes in other to produce a clear, relatable piece.
- The process eliminates Cognitive Bias:
Very often inventors and creators suffer from the curse of knowledge, which is a cognitive bias that an individual has when trying to explain something they already understand. As an expert, it is hard to put yourself in the shoes of the learner who is less experienced. The process involved in constructing a well technically written document can help eliminate this bias. Testing is part of technical writing, an example of a way to reduce this bias could be to have a third party read over the text/bits of information, get feedback and improve the piece of writing.
- Knowledge Management:
Knowledge management is the process of creating, sharing, using and managing the knowledge and information of an organisation. How to communicate it, how you know what needs to be changed, how to implement it, and how to find what you think you do not know, are needed by all of us in an organisation. And good Technical writing is so important in that it determines the quality of knowledge distribution in an organisation. This I believe can only be achieved by having a well-written documentation to support the flow of all this information.
To sum everything up, technical writing has a vast multitude of purpose. It dictates how to best use a product, ensures the continuity of knowledge, and could be useful for accreditations in some legal cases (depending on the industry).
Another way to look at Technical writing is to echo the old philosophical question; If an expert creates a product/service and there is no documentation to support it, is there really a product?
References:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_management
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentation
- https://www.instructionalsolutions.com/blog/what-is-technical-writing
- Knoco stories: The role of Technical Writing in Knowledge Management http://www.nickmilton.com/2016/01/the-role-of-technical-writing-in.html#ixzz5zU9mfAIJ
- https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0047281616641933
