---
title: "The Name of Your Department Does Matter"
date: 2008-12-04
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# The Name of Your Department Does Matter

Although some feel the name of your tech writing department doesn't matter a whole lot (for example, [TexasWriter](https://twitter.com/texaswriter/statuses/1037057531) says "Find out what people now call it. Ask what they mean by it. If it's accurate, use it. You aren't marketing, don't make it up"), actually your department's name *does*have an impact on the role you're expected to play.

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."](https://idratherbewriting.com/2007/10/28/tech-writer-someone-who-writes-as-opposed-to-someone-who-rides-something/)