Tech-writing can sometimes be tricky. There?s not much support around because it?s not a very high profile industry. Follow these 10 quick tips, and you?ll be well on your way to a satisfying tech-writing career.
Make sure that you follow a sensible career path. Starting in a team is good idea. You should stay long enough Don?t forget to manage yourself. Manage a team Try to go contracting, depending on the market.
Learn the politics of your company because your lifeblood is knowledge. Do you know who know what? You need to find someone who give you timely, technical, reliable, and accurate answers regularly and when you do, get their name tattooed on your shoulder. There is at least one in each company. It?s likely that their roles are not in either the project manager, customer, programmer, or product manager. These are the people who have generally dealt with real world customers and they have used the product in the real world.
Communicate WITH, not AT. Enough power to get away with communicating with at is something tech-writers don?t have.
You need to track stuff by taking spreadsheet printout and writing it up on the board.
Good product and domain knowledge should be developed and the better off you?ll be and the more respect you?ll get from the techies if you can figure out more for yourself.
You need to find out certain things such as who your users are, what they are trying to do, and what they are having trouble doing as well as how they would want to be helped. This assistance should be provided. Help the user do what they are trying to do. Don?t just tell them what the product can do? a help system is only helpful if it addresses the users? needs.
Treating everyone as a customer is a must. Then manage their expectations and your commitments. It?s essential that they know what you are doing. Tell them when you?ll be finished. Meeting your deadline is your priority so pull out all the stops.
Provide a surrogate user testing mechanism for the development team ? providing usability feedback.
In order to get satisfaction out of the work that you need, you need to work as hard as required to get good quality doco finished on time and to budget.
Have fun with it.
Avoid becoming cynical and jaded by the harsh, high-tech, and uncaring IT world. Use your smarts, and make the most of the resources provided. Work satisfaction should be your number 1 goal and this is the most important thing of all. It?s the best way to stay happy and get ahead.
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Source: http://articles-maniac.tk/what-are-the-top-10-tips-every-tech-writer-should-know/writing-speaking/
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