During the fall and winter semesters, tech comm professors often ask students to interview professional technical writers to get a better sense of the field. Having answered a few student inquiries already, I decided to invite other professionals to respond to student questions, and then to copy me so that I could post their responses as a guest Q&A post on my site. The following are responses to student questions from Steve Goldberg,...
In another insightful post from Mark Baker, this one called The Tech Comm Paradox, Mark asks why there's no market pressure for good documentation even though bad documentation is a constant source of user complaints. Mark writes, This then is the tech comm paradox: documentation is a common source of consumer unhappiness and complaints, and yet there is no market pressure on products with bad docs, and therefore doc quality does not impr...
Today I received the following question about creating video tutorials: I've been asked to create a set of video tutorials for work. However, it has been difficult since I keep having to start over and re-record things whenever I make a mistake. In my search to improve the process, I came across your article "How I create Video Tutorials." I understand that it has been a while since you wrote the post, but I was hoping you could give me s...
I had a humbling experience last week in which I tried to make one small change in a program but had no success. The program had nothing to do with tech comm, but it got me thinking about how to change the world, because I run into the same challenges pretty much everywhere. Whether it's work, school, church, a non-profit organization, the government, or some other group, most likely there has been something that has stirred you to action...
As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm making my way through Peter Elbow's Vernacular Eloquence: What Speech Can Bring to Writing. Elbow's wants to infuse techniques from speech into writing to improve the quality of writing. I want to infuse elements of speech into video scripts so they sound more like natural speech. The book is a near perfect fit for this. In Part 1, chapter 4, Elbow identifies about nine qualities of speech that, if ...
One of the first tasks in creating video tutorials involves writing a script. In informal situations, you can simply use an outline or wing it, but corporate settings require higher professional standards. I absolutely hate it when project managers get too involved in the video scripts. I've been on projects where the project manager decides to pull in several other team members and all write the script together alongside the technical wr...
This is the same sentence said in different ways. One question I've often wondered is how technical writers can feel so comfortable stringing together words on paper but be completely inadequate when it comes to vocalizing the same text in a script, such as reading for a video tutorial. We talk often about voice and tone, and consider ourselves, as writers, experts in understanding how to communicate. We can adopt different styles in ou...
I'm currently listening to one of the best books I've come across in a long time: The Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson. This book is so popular it enjoys a four and a half star rating on Audible from more than 4,600 reviewers and costs 2 credits rather than 1 (even though it's only 17 hours). The book, in the genre of science, covers the history of the world to the present, beginning with the origins of the universe, the...
Quick reference guides 1.0 Quick Reference Guides: The Poetry of Technical Writing 1.1 Quick Reference Guide Formats -- Tips for Finding Attractive Layouts 1.2 STC Presentation this Thursday: "Quick Reference Guides: Short and Sweet Technical Documentation" ...
Recently a fellow tech writer tweeted the following: Just taught my first #Zumba class! If I were @tomjohnson, I'd find a creative way to tie this to #techcomm. Any good ideas? — Michelle Sander (@techwriterme) August 31, 2012 I realize that I sometimes come across as zealous about technical writing. This is how I've branded my online persona. And sure enough, although I don't participate in Zumba, after reading the tweet I couldn't help ...
After a week of not riding my bike to work, I resumed the regular riding routine. It felt so good to ride to work again. I'm convinced that the only way to ride a bike regularly and for enough time is to fit the ride into a commute to work. I don't commute all the way home, though I bet I could if I wanted. I drive to a nearby grocery story and park there. It cuts out 3.5 miles from the ride, which means I can make it in under 50 minutes rathe...
It may surprise you to find that the wikipedia entry for RTFM is a actually longer than the Wikipedia entry for technical communication. For the uninitiated, RTFM stands for "Read the F____ Manual." Substitute your favorite adjective there for F. Flipping, frickin, fantastic, fine, friendly, etc. The RTFM response captures the disconnect between technical writers and end-users. Presumably, technical writers include the information in the ...
Defining my role is not an easy task, and I see it continue to evolve as I get more experience as a technical writer. Recently I have added user support and user advocate to the list of roles I play. Although I often don't have time to play a support role, I've found that when I do engage in support activities, it provides me with a wealth of useful information. I recently added a "Submit Feedback" link in my documentation. Through this ...
Every so often I ask my site sponsors to send me a few paragraphs of a message they want to broadcast to readers. This message from the sponsors post contains a ton of information about a variety of products, programs, new releases, upcoming webinars, conferences, recorded presentations, tools, and other information for the technical communication community. From Southern Polytechnic State University (message from Laura Palmer and Carol B...
It's been way too long since I last wrote an entry on this blog. I hope to get back into a more regular rhythm. The summer has ended and the kids are returning to school. Callie will enter the second grade tomorrow; Avery is going into sixth grade, and Lucy is going into kindergarten. Mollie is about ready to turn two. The summer was a good one, with no major accidents or calamities. Lucy learned to ride a bicycle. Avery participated on swim t...
