The importance of effective technical

writing
It is nearly impossible to overstate the benefits of being able to write well.

In my experience it is more important to be able to write well than to speak well, at least
until you reach very senior levels of your organization or are interacting regularly with
the public directly as a representative of your company. Written communication has a
central role in the success of an organization and the ability to express your self only
adequately is simply not, well, adequate.

Your core products are ideas

Your core products as a scientist or engineer are ideas, and ideas have to be
communicated to have any value. The default mode of this communication will be
written products (email, white papers, proposals, etc. …). By far you’ll spend the lion’s
share of your efforts communicating ideas communicating them in writing. And this is
true in all fields of science, engineering, and technology.

First impressions are often written

With the importance of e-mail in all professions, but especially in technology professions,
writing has also become the foundation of that all-important interaction: the first
impression. Many times the first interaction—perhaps the first of several interactions you
have with a client, a peer, or a boss—will be via e-mail.

Writing well and clearly communicating your message will shape a positive first
impression of you and the kind of person you are, and also of your technical competence.
Creating a poor first impression in writing is something that you can recover from when
you actually meet the person, but you will have a hard time recovering from the poor
impression your e-mail recipient will form of your technical abilities.

They shouldn’t be related, but they are (this is because you are actually selling a service;
more about this when we talk about branding).

Poor writing skills will stall your career early

And if you cannot communicate well in writing you’re going to have a very tough time
making a successful career from your first job. Even if this handicap doesn’t inhibit you
in an entry-level position, you will run into a wall on your first promotion.

Team leaders have to maintain a variety of written documents, including project progress
reports and plans, which many people will review. If you cannot create these written
documents effectively, you will quickly stagnate. You might say to yourself, “Well, that’s
fine for those money-grubbing prep-school folks, but I want to be an engineer the rest of
my life. I don’t care about getting promoted, so my writing doesn’t matter.” Wrong!

Yes, even YOU care about writing well

If you want to spend your life head down in the trenches, it is probably because you care
passionately about what you are doing. In order for your designs and ideas to be
implemented you’re going to have to be able to communicate them to others in…guess
what?…writing!

One common belief in the global software industry is that, if a program is well
designed or well written, it won’t need any software documentation. But, as we
often se this belief has been proved to be nothing more than hot air. Technical
documentation is essential for the smooth functioning of a company. Technical
Documentation Services comprises of all activities, means and systems that
provide information on how to use a product. This information in turn enables the
user to understand the functioning of the product and to handle, maintain, repair
and dispose it correctly and safely. Also, in the absence of good and clear
documentation written, either by your own company or a technical writing service,
your IT staff will end up spending more time dealing with trying to solve technical
problems. And this in turn leads to more work and waste of a lot of time that
could have been better utilized. And all businesses, large or small, need well-
written technical documentation to operate efficiently. Therefore most companies
hire technical documentation writing services to make the whole process easier
for them.

However, if end-users feel that the technical documentation is too hard to learn,
not easy to use, or too cumbersome, then it will not be effective or useful. So, the
importance of good technical documentation writing services shouldn’t be
underestimated. A good technical writing service should make a product easy to
understand and use, resulting in greater user acceptance.

Different companies outsource technical writing services for different purposes.

Some companies that make products or software outsource technical writing
services to India for technical manuals and user guides that’ll explain the how to
properly use the product. For example, manuals for computer printers fax
machines, modems etc.

These are intended for both customers as well as internal use. Most of the time,
technical guides and manuals written by technical writing services include quick
reference guides that provide organized reference during the use of a hardware
or software, software user guides providing instructions on how to use a software
product, and hardware installation guides and repair guides that give information
on the various features and functions of a hardware product as well as how to
install, modify, maintain or repair the piece of hardware. Sometimes there are
even user guides that supply instructions on how to use a hardware product and
how to modify or program its hardware/software.

You can also use the technical documentation written by an offshore technical
writing service as a marketing tool, to share valuable information and strengthen
the lines of communication between IT and the end-users. However, effective
technical documentation written by any technical writing service will take some
time and effort, but in the long run, it’s worth it.