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Duration: 32 min.

Deborah (Shapiro) Hemstreet

In this podcast, I talk with Deborah (Shapiro) Hemstreet about the personalities of technical communicators, based on research she conducted as part of her masters degree. I got the idea of interviewing Deborah from on a discussion on the Techwr-L listserv about a movie called The Technical Writer. In the discussion, Deborah wrote,

I read the reviews… And it sounds to me (without having watched) that it is a caricature of the stereotypical idea of a technical writer (introverted, neurotic and a geek)… But just the reviews are enough to turn me off to the movie.

Having said that, it made me think of my own research a few years back when I was doing my MA in technical communication… My thesis was on the personality characteristics of technical communicators. It surveyed over 220 technical communicators from around the world. I used a validated personality test based on the five-factor model of personality along with a questionnaire about each person’s professional practice, and a demographics section.

I mention this, because of the whole issue of the stereotypical introverted technical writer. My findings were the exact opposite of what we would expect to see. The majority of writers were extroverted. When I correlated professional practice to the personality characteristics, it appeared that effectiveness improved with extroversion, with managers being the most extroverted. The majority of introverts were editors (made sense to me), and only a few rated negatively with regards to what the five-factor model called neuroticism. Interestingly, those few writers ranked low in professional practice.

I find the topic of personalities extremely relevant in our field. At times, technical writers spend much of their day isolated in their cubes writing documentation. They have little interaction with others. Other days, technical writers are constantly interacting with project managers, designers, and other subject matter experts (SMEs). Technical writers are almost investigative journalists, tracking down reluctant SMEs to extract information, influencing product design change, training groups of users on new releases, and voicing opinion during conference-room-packed meetings.

I’m fascinated by Deborah’s conclusion about extroversion (which she defines as being open, friendly, and outgoing). Those who are more extroverted tend to be more effective in their careers. In this podcast, we talk about how she measure effectiveness, as well as strategies for personality change. We also discuss neuroticism, and how tendencies toward perfectionism can be detrimental to one’s success.

Additional Resources from Deborah

The following links are additional resources from Deborah.

Center for Applied Cognitive Studies

The above link provides information for practical applications of the Five Factor Model of personality. They redefine the OCEAN scores into terminology that is a lot easier to follow and more applicable to technical communicators.

Five Factor Personality Test

This is a link to the original site where she discovered the test. Anyone can take this test and get their score immediately. The answers will be used for ongoing research. The author of this test gave me permission to use it and felt it would meet my research purposes. I could not provide self-testing with scores, however, as I did not have the use of the scripts that this website provides.

Introversion Turned Inside Out (.ppt)

This is the presentation that she gave with a colleague at the STC Conference two years ago. It provides more information about introversion versus extraversion.

The Secrets of Effective Technical Communicators

Other investigators are now finding support for Deborah’s findings.

Contacting Deborah

People are welcome to correspond with Deborah at deborah.hemstreet@gmail.com and to visit her site (currently under development) at www.tech-challenged.com.

Audio Note

I was hoping the audio would be crisper and clearer, but Skype gave me a little trouble. I amplified and balanced the audio as best I could.

I’ve listed Ten Technical Writing Stereotypes — tell me if the stereotypes hold generally true for you or not. You can take the survey here: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/70615/stereotypes. Additionally, you can respond in the comments below this post.

Update: You can view the Survey Results here.

1. Technical writing is boring.

Technical writing is a generally boring activity, involving repetitive, structured writing that requires the same types of sentences over and over (click this, select that, choose this, press that). You spend a good part of your day yawning, editing the same lifeless instructional material while looking out your window and yearning for something more. True or False?

2. Technical writing stifles your creativity.

Because you spend all day immersed in writing instructional text, your own sense of creativity declines. You feel fewer flashes of inspiration and generally have less creative drive and desire. You even find yourself adopting the same techniques of writing short, clear, dry, humorless sentences in your email and journal. True or False?

3. You do a lot of writing as a technical writer.

Although your day is punctuated by a meeting here and there, you spend the majority of your day in writing mode — writing how to use a particular product, or editing what you’ve written. After a full day at work, your fingerpads are often sore from so much typing! True or False?

4. You need a job in technical communication to get a job in technical communication.

Breaking into the field of technical communication is a Catch 22: You need a job in technical communication to get a job in technical communication. Sometimes a degree, certificate, or internship in technical writing can make up for a lack of job experience, but generally breaking into technical communication requires job experience in the same field, making it nearly impossible to get in. True or False?

5. Technical writers are second-class citizens in IT departments.

As a technical writer, you’re generally treated poorly in IT departments — ignored in meetings, put in your place when you speak up, avoided by subject matter experts, excluded from decision-making processes, and sometimes given demeaning secretarial tasks. True or False?

6. Technical writers feel as if they’ve sold out.

You once aspired to write a novel or go into publishing, but due to financial obstacles, you had to embrace technical writing to meet your monthly bills. You often feel as if you’re expending your talents in the wrong direction. You’ve given up on your literary publishing dreams and have resorted to manual-writing as almost your exclusive writing activity. As a writer who once turned heads with your creative prose, you now feel as if you’ve sold out. True or False?

7. You can easily support a family with other writing careers outside of technical writing.

You could pursue a variety of careers in writing to support your family in a comfortable way. Whether working as an editor in a publishing house, a journalist at a newspaper, a staff writer for a magazine, a proofreader for a journal, a writing teacher at a university or high school, you can make enough to be the sole breadwinner of your family. True or False?

8. You have to know a lot of tools to break into technical communication.

To be a competitive applicant for a technical communication job, you need to know a plethora of tools — RoboHelp, Flare, Framemaker, AuthorIt, InDesign, Visio, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, Camtasia, Captivate, Word, and a handful of others. You also often have to be familiar with various technologies — HTML, XML, DITA, Javascript, CSS, RSS, Java, and C++. The tool/technical knowledge for entry can be formidable. True or False?

9. Technical writers are introverted, isolated, boring geeks.

As a technical writer, you have a generally introverted personality. You keep to yourself most of the day, don’t enjoy large social gatherings, and spend half your day practically mute. You work in your cube or designated area, typing away solemnly at your computer while others interact around you. You tend to have a lot of arcane, geeky knowledge about things no one else cares about. True or False?

10. Because IT technologies change so frequently, you have to spend large amounts of your spare time just keeping up with what’s new.

Your workday ends at 5 p.m., but since the field of IT is moving so quickly, with new sites, applications, and technologies emerging almost daily, you have to spend a good chunk of your spare time at home just keeping up. At times you can feel as if you’re drowning in new knowledge, barely keeping your head above water. You have little time for anything else. True or False?

Note: This article was originally published in the Sept 2008 (Fall) issue of the TechCraft newsletter.