For example, our current department’s name is “User Education.” Because of this, every time a user has a how-to question about the application, they send the user to me to be educated. It would not be so, I believe, if our department name were different.

Lately I’ve been having conversations with a QA guy as I carpool to work. We’ve been talking about roles. Because I am a “technical writer,” he wonders why I feel I should comment on software prototypes, or interact with users. “You’re a W-R-I-T-E-R,” he says. “You shouldn’t be interfacing with the customer. That would be overlapping other people’s jobs. You should be writing help material. That’s what writers do.”

People make decisions all the time based on connotations of job titles and department names. For example:

• A user needs help with the application. Who should he call? “User Education” or “Information Design”?
• You’re setting up a meeting to evaluate prototypes. Who should be included? “User Information Development” or “Technical Publications”?
• You need to develop some e-learning materials for training. Who should you call? “Learning Support” or “Strategic Communications and Media”?

In each case, I bet you leaned toward the first option. Your department’s name does affect how others perceive the role of your department. I guarantee you will be asked to provide more user training and support with a name like “User Assistance” than “Communication Strategy and Design.”

Given the importance of choosing a department name, here are some options. Many of these were sent to me by tech writers over Twitter. Others I pulled from the archives of the Techwr-l listserv.

• Information Design
• Information Development
• Learning Support
• Technical Publications
• Technical Publications Office
• Technical Communications
• Training and Publications
• Design and Development
• User Information Development
• Technical Information Development
• Technical Documentation
• Documentation
• IT Documentation
• The Knowledge Group
• Knowledge Transfer
• Strategic Communications & Media Group
• Customer Focused Communications
• Global Content and Training Products
• Customer Communications
• User Success Group
• Corporate Publishing
• User Knowledge Center
• User Assistance
• User Help Department
• Help Design
• Documentation Analysis
• Information Architect and Strategist
• Communication Strategies
• Customer Focused Communication Design
• Communication Strategies and Design
• User Assistance Strategies and Design
• Information Strategies and Design

And a few silly names:

• Fellowship Renowned for Excellent Documentation (FRED)
• Masters of All Spatial Order, Chronological Hierarchies and Interesting Sorts of Trivial Stuff
• The tellers of how stuff works and what is
• Department of User Intelligence (DUI)

None of the department names jumps out at me as “the one.” In the end, I’m convinced that a slightly vague name is better than a limiting name. I’d rather be “Information Development” than “IT Documentation.” In the former, you might contribute to prototype design; in the latter, you would more likely just describe the design.

I would rather be “Information Strategies” than “User Knowledge Center.” In the former, I might make high-level analytical decisions about branding, user awareness, and task efficiency. In the latter, someone would assign me to assemble a knowledge base.

I would rather people said, “Communication Strategies and Analysis – what the heck is that? Rather than “Learning Support? Oh, good, I have a group of new users that needs a Webex.”

Have you ever had a department name that you worked against you? What department name do you prefer?

Additional Reading

• Tech Writer: “Someone who writes as opposed to someone who rides something.”

1. Technical writing is boring.

Generally True: 7%
Sometimes True, Sometimes False: 46%
Generally False: 47%

2. Technical writing stifles your creativity.

Generally True: 10%
Sometimes True, Sometimes False: 32%
Generally False: 58%

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

Generally True: 12%
Sometimes True, Sometimes False: 47%
Generally False: 41%

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

Generally True: 23%
Sometimes True, Sometimes False: 41%
Generally False: 36%

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

Generally True: 28%
Sometimes True, Sometimes False: 47%
Generally False: 25%

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

Generally True: 6%
Sometimes True, Sometimes False: 23%
Generally False: 71%

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

Generally True: 17%
Sometimes True, Sometimes False: 41%
Generally False: 42%

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

Generally True: 26%
Sometimes True, Sometimes False: 43%
Generally False: 31%

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

Generally True: 7%
Sometimes True, Sometimes False: 38%
Generally False: 55%

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

Generally True: 16%
Sometimes True, Sometimes False: 35%
Generally False: 48%

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.