Technical Writing Process the Objectives

Technical Writing Process

The objectives of technical writing for this user manual are clarity, conciseness, accuracy, good organization and ethical and responsible behavior in content creation (Objectives in technical writing). This paper describes the three main processes in technical writing, planning, writing and delivery, and explains their purpose and sub-steps as well as how the processes apply to the new user manual.

The purpose of the planning phase is to understand and become properly prepared for the requirements of the user manual. Important sub-steps include extensive information gathering to understand project requirements. This information should be gathered from requirement specifications, functional descriptions, use cases, standards, contracts, interviews, etc. (The technical writing process). Using this information, the technical writer can execute other important sub-steps such as establishing the purpose of the user manual, assessing the audience, determining the scope and selecting the appropriate medium for delivery such as paper, CD or Web as well as distribution techniques (Introduction to technical writing/documentation). This phase also includes other sub-steps such as selection of desktop publishing software, help authoring tools, file structures and file-naming conventions (The technical writing process). Further, the technical writer will have to coordinate complimentary activities with the system architect such as documenting error messages, integrating documentation with the software (The technical writing process).

Next, is the actual writing process that is intended to ensure that the user manual conveys all the information users will need to operate the intended software application. The first sub-steps are to choose the appropriate organization scheme and to prepare an outline that provides a road map for the manual (Introduction to technical writing/documentation). The writer may want to start with a broad outline for how to purchase and use the application software and then break major categories into sub-categories and sub-sub-categories. The writer will then be ready to write a first draft where the outline is expanded into paragraphs (Introduction to technical writing/documentation) and a glossary of terms is created (The technical writing process). The writer will then revise the first draft, including checking for completeness and accuracy, checking that writing is clear and concise, proofreading with spelling and grammar checks, reviewing mechanics such as abbreviations, acronyms and initialisms expansion after their first usage (Introduction to technical writing/documentation) and making sure that the correct working is used for copyright notices of any third-party products (The technical writing process). A third-party proofreader is a good idea if someone is available for this task. The writer will also want to send the documentation to a subject-matter expert for a technical accuracy check and make the requested corrections (The technical writing process).