What is Technical Writing?

When I started searching for my first technical writing role, I focused on laying a solid foundation. I aimed to build a theoretical framework that would guide me as I developed my skills and explored my interests in the field.

I desired answers to all these questions:

• What is technical writing?
• Why is it technical?
• What do technical writers do?
• Which industries employ technical writers?
• What skills do technical writers need?
• What are the qualities of successful technical writing?

This blog post answers these questions broadly—not just for the technical writer who interprets code.

Before I define technical writing and writers, let’s unveil common pieces of technical writing. (Hint: They’re everywhere.)

Examples of Technical Writing

When you walk into a grocery store, every product, especially if processed, contains a nutrition label. This is an extremely common form of technical writing. In fact, this post I recently wrote is a form of technical writing.

Below are other common forms of technical writing:

• FAQs
• Legal disclaimers
• Product release notes
• Employee handbooks
• Medical case studies
• Service Level Agreements (SLA)
• Standard operating procedures (SOP)
• White papers
• Scientific papers
• Training materials
• Policies and procedures
• Knowledge bases
• Marketing requirements document (MRD)
• Application programming interface (API) guides
• Product manuals, brochures, descriptions, and specifications
• Instruction and user manuals for software and electronic devices
• Online help guides for websites or software programs
• Software user documentation

What is Technical Writing?

Textbook answer:

Technical writing is a form of technical communication that provides explanations or instructions about a complex subject, such as using a product or software.

My answer:

Technical writing explains complex information in simple, clear, and easy-to-understand language. If a romance novel is a form of entertainment, a technical document is a form of education. It’s your teacher. It’s instructional, explanatory, and expository. In fact, it’s basically your answer key.

You’ll likely find definitions, step-by-step directions, procedures, processes, and guidelines in technical documents (also known as technical documentation).

But why is it technical? Typically, the content contains practical skills and methods needed to perform a precise activity. That’s why technical writing is commonly associated with technology: Operating software applications and machinery require accurate and precise instructions, especially if you have no idea what you’re doing (hi, Grandma!). And that knowledge is usually specialized and complex. It’s not something you find on the shelf at Barnes and Noble.

People learning skills and methods to complete an activity usually do so for a specific reason. Most people do not open technical documentation and read it from top to bottom. They’re searching for a specific sliver of information: trying to solve a problem, accomplish a task, or learn about something. And how that person locates, navigates, and interprets that information is manifested via the art of explaining information. That’s why the role and skill of a technical writer are crucial.

Who are Technical Writers?

Textbook answer:

A technical writer evaluates and analyzes complex, technical information and translates it into clear and easily digestible, user-friendly content that accomplishes the needs of the target audience.

My answer:

A technical writer simplifies the complex. They demystify the magic of engineers, doctors, and chemists by educating users through clear, precise, direct, and orderly language. And they do so all without undermining the complexity of the technical subject matter. They want to educate their audience and provide them with the tools and knowledge necessary to effectively and easily apply whatever specific skills or methods are required for performing precise activities.

Technical writers are supreme advocates for their target audience. They get paid to make their audience’s lives easier. They are the informational bridge between technology and users.

The irony is that technical writing tries to be the opposite of technical. (You probably realized that by now). Technical writers decipher the sophisticated, labyrinthine, convoluted jargon of engineers and software developers into language even novices can understand. And, in actuality, the level of translation depends on the needs of the audience. For example, internal documentation for a team of engineers isn’t written for customers, but it still needs to be understandable by both the senior and junior engineers.

Learning and applying skills and methods to perform precise activities usually requires clarification and guidance, even if you have some knowledge of the activity or technology. Microsoft Excel, for example, is an underestimated software, and few take complete advantage of its range of capabilities.

Let’s take another example:

When you purchase a new software application, it very likely arrives with technical documentation, whether it’s a printed manual or a digital help section. (All professional and trustworthy technology packages do.) It answers three essential questions about the software: What is it? Why would I use it? How do I use it? Often, the answers to when and where questions are answered within the what, why, and how parts of the documentation, such as where to find a feature and when to use it.

Maybe you’ll only use some of the software’s features, and another person will use another set of features. You might even encounter problems while using it (you will; it’s technology). The help documentation that comes with the software is there to help. As my manager says, help documentation is the single source of truth. It is comprehensive, for it should cover all the features and functionalities of a product.

Technical writers take great care in answering these questions (why, what, how) in clear and effective ways. They also ensure that information is organized and presented in a consistent, convenient, and logical manner; they are language conductors, orchestrating the presentation and organization of information. People reading technical documentation usually need to quickly locate, learn, and apply information. So, information architecture is essential (especially because we live in an age of information inundation and instant gratification).

The content and organization of technical writing are always guided by the needs of the audience. As an advocate for their audience, technical writers ask questions on behalf of them: How much do they already know? What do they need to know? What is too much information? What is too little information? What’s their motivation for reading the documentation? Under what circumstances will they use it? How much time will they have? (This is an essential part of documentation planning and audience analysis.)

So, what are the typical skills of a technical writer? We’ve already mentioned a few: documentation planning, audience analysis, and information architecture.

Where are the Technical Writers?

Technical writing is a broad field, and here’s why:

A writer is typically a writing professional who communicates ideas via a type of publication for an audience. But there are many kinds of professional writers, such as copywriters, screenwriters, and novelists. Copywriters generally find themselves in the advertising industry, screenwriters in the film industry, and novelists in the publishing industry. Each role has subfields—a copywriter might work in social media copywriting or SEO copywriting.

This breakdown is similar for technical writers, but’s there an added layer of breadth; you can find them in both private and public sectors across dozens of industries: finance, engineering, software, healthcare, education, medicine, aerospace, manufacturing, military, publishing, scientific research, and even marketing—just to name a few.

We typically think of technical writers as specializing in instruction manuals and user guides. But they may also specialize in creating grant proposals, press releases, or case studies. As an example, I am a technical writer in the healthcare industry, specializing in end-user documentation; I create eLearning content, and online help guides for medical, academic, and administrative professionals to help them understand and use various workforce development software applications.

Skills of Technical Writers

Depending on the industry, education, and years of experience, the specific skills of technical writers will vary. However, the skills listed below are generally in demand for technical writers. (Hint: it’s a blend of technical and writing skills—surprise!) No technical writer is an expert in all things technical writing, some start with more technical skills, while others start with more writing and communication skills.

I personally think of technical writing as a blend of education, technology, and writing: educating users on technology through writing. So, many of the skills center around those three broad categories of skill/knowledge.

Technical writers should have the knowledge of, familiarity with, proficiency in, or experience with the following:

Critical Thinking Skills

• Attention to detail
• Planning, organizing, and managing forms of documentation
• Analyzing, evaluating, and interpreting complex and technical knowledge

Communication Skills

• Active listening
• Working with stakeholders on documentation
• Technical vocabulary (specific to an industry or subject)
• Interviewing and collaborating with subject matter experts (SMEs)

Writing Skills

• General writing process
• The English language (grammar, punctuation, and usage)
• Documentation lifecycle: planning, creation, publication, maintenance
• Style guides (both published ones and internal, company-specific ones)
• Writing strategies (e.g., parallelism, active voice, and simple sentence structures)
• Writing clearly and concisely, using diction and syntax appropriate for their target audience

Editing Skills

• Adhering to company voice, tone, and style
• Revising and organizing written and visual content
• Quality compliance and assurance of documentation
• Editing processes: developmental, structural, line, copyediting, proofreading

Research Skills

• Audience Analysis
• Synthesizing information into logical conclusions
• Gathering, analyzing, and verifying data and sources

Design Skills

• Typography
• Information design
• Information architecture
• Designing tables, figures, and graphics
• Foundational understanding of graphics and design

Technical Skills

• Usability testing
• Project management
• User experience (UX) design
• Industry-specific technology or products
• Technical documentation/help authoring software
  • e.g., Adobe FrameMaker and MadCap Flare
• Programming languages
  • e.g., HTML and XML

Qualities of Successful Technical Writing

Despite the many forms of technical writing you may encounter, most adhere to a similar set of principles. I created my own list, mainly because I felt others were limited. I gathered this list based on my experience, research, and education as a technical writer. In fact, this is my personal cheat sheet for ensuring my technical documentation is successful. (I create end-user software documentation.)

Below each set of adjectives and short phrases is a brief explanation.

General Characteristics

Consistent: This is the golden rule. Consistent structuring and formatting of information make the writing and reading processes easier. It yields successes of eminent proportions.

Accessible: Your audience is already looking for answers, so don’t make it harder than necessary to locate, acquire, open, and search the documentation.

Accurate: Your audience will stop using your documentation the moment they learn it’s inaccurate, and you’ll lose their trust. They need accurate information to learn and apply information correctly.

Complete: Documentation is the single source of truth. It needs to contain all the knowledge of a piece of technology or dutifully serve the purpose it directly states in the title and introduction.

Ethical: Be respectful and inclusive. Avoid exclusive and biased language. And don’t plagiarize or lie.

Professional: Professional appearance generates credibility and trust. No one wants to read something that is oddly formatted and replete with spelling errors. Additionally, using industry-standard authoring software increases the chances of professional-looking documentation.

Readable: Nobody wants complicated information that is already communicated in bombastic academic jargon. They want simplicity. Create documentation that’s easy to read.

Relevant: Your audience wants and needs information that is applicable to them. What product developers know isn’t always necessary for your audience. Don’t include unnecessary information.  Stick with the need-to-know info and stay on topic.

Usable: Technological evolution is faster than biological evolution. So, documentation needs to be up to date; otherwise, its value rapidly diminishes.

Language Characteristics

Clear: Clear is kind (source: my boss). Clarity prevents confusion and generates reliability. Avoid complex sentence structures and the embedding of clauses and phrases. Instead, use the active voice and be specific and concrete with your words. It makes a whole lot of everything easier to understand.

Precise: Precise words and phrases eliminate ambiguity. Don’t let your audience feel ambivalent about what you’ve said. Don’t use general, vague, or abstract language. Be exact in your explanations, descriptions, and instructions.

Directness: Be explicit. Be straightforward. Don’t digress or meander. Get to the point. Save the denouements for cinematic masterpieces. Superfluous or nonessential information is stressful and burdensome when you’re searching for an answer.

Concise: Use the fewest words possible to express an idea without sacrificing essential information. Concise language is deliberate. Obliterate wordy phrasing, weak verbs, and adverbs. Redeem your writing by keeping subjects and verbs close together and using strong, active verbs.

Orderly: Structure your writing. Give it a blueprint, a floor plan, and a map by which the words can flow intentionally and systematically. Technical writing is replete with instructions and explanations. So, order instructions accurately and organize information in a consistent, coherent, and logical manner (e.g., pyramid structure or parallelism).

Correct Grammar, Punctuation, and Usage: Use the standardized or officially recognized variety of writing recognized by your country or culture.  For American English, this means Edited American English, which includes the prescriptive rules of grammar, punctuation, and usage.

Appropriate Diction, Succinct Phrasing, Simple Sentence Structure: Use diction (i.e., vocabulary and phraseology) that meets your audience’s needs and background. Phrasing should be short in length and simple in grammatical structure. Stick with simple sentence constructions (i.e., subject + verb + [object]), and avoid stringing multiple independent clauses together, embedding several dependent clauses, or using particularly complex prepositional, infinitival, participial, or gerund phrases. Generally, adjectives and adverbs can be avoided altogether; nouns and verbs are your best friends in documentation.

Cumulative Characteristics

Easily Digestible, Conveniently Navigable, Visually Effective: Generally, if your documentation meets the general and language characteristics, your audience will be able to locate, understand, and apply the information they need easily, quickly, and accurately. And, by visually effective, I mean not only graphics and tables that are appealing and legible but also the white space, margins, and placement of words, lists, and headings. Create a reading experience that’s easy on the eyes.

Accomplishes the Needs of the Audience: If all other characteristics are met, your audience is likely satisfied with your documentation. But it’s crucial to keep your audience in mind at every stage of the writing process—because that’s what it’s all about: bridging the gap between technical knowledge and your audience.

Cogency: Successful technical writing is clear, coherent, logical, fluid, incisive, and valid. It’s a rigorous sort of writing because, though it explains complex information in simple terms, the process of reaching that result demands technical skill, a blended art of grammar, rhetoric, and logic for the purpose of engaging, informing, and empowering its audience.