What is Technical Communication?

Technical Communication is new emerging field. Technical Communication means communicating information related to technology to intended audience and this task is done by technical writer. Technical writer is the person who writes information in easy to understand language for audience. Technical writer is language expert and technology savvy person. The writer must understand the new developed software or any kind of product that is developed by the product developer. Technical writer is mediator who works between technology or product and users. Technical writing is often associated with online help and user manuals. There are two types of communications, Online Communication and Print Communication. Online Communication is integrated with the product or Software where print communication goes with product in the form of Printed manuals or documents. Technical Communication field comprises following points-

Who is Technical Writer?
Technical Writer can be any person who has interest in writing. The person must have knowledge of the language in which the document is going to prepared and technical tools that are used to build the manual. Technical writer must be language expert because the task is completely related to writing. Writer is responsible to write in easy to understand way.

Simple language with brief description is always preferred while writing. Technical writer must have good understanding power to understand any critical product complexities and to put them in simple words. The writer needs to understand audience type. There are two types of audience group, General audience and Special audience. The manuals are always written according to the type of audience group. Therefore technical writer must have power to understand types of audience and their mentality.

What is the work of Technical Writer?
As we have seen in above paragraph that Technical Writer is concerned with writing user manuals, but is it the only task that technical writer performs? No, technical writer is responsible to create many deliverable. There are various tasks that are done by the writer, only it depends upon the organization for which he/she is working. Some of deliverable are explained below that are written by the Technical Writer-

White Paper- A White Paper is an authoritative report that explains the list or information of problems and how to solve them. White papers are used to educate people. They are used in politics and business. White papers used to help people to make their decision. They can also be used by government for outlining any policy.

User Guide- User guide is the information of the product or software that is written by the technical writer for intended audience. User guides can be of electronic goods or of hardware or software. This can be written by product developer or project manager or any other technical staff. User guides are always with screen shots and detail information of various parts of the products. The use of language is important as per the audience type. The length of the user guide may vary depending on the product.

Troubleshooting- troubleshooting is most often associate with system repair. It is the logical systematic search of the problem so that it can be solved. Troubleshooting is used in many fields such as system administration, electronics, and automotive repair. It is related with eliminating potential causes of problem. Troubleshooting problems are always imagined by the system person and the solutions are provided for them. These problems can be faced by any user in future.

Release Notes- Release notes are the documents that are distributed along with the product when the product is still in development stage or test stage (ie. In Beta version). For products the release notes are always sent to customer for the new enhancements and a bug is fixed. A release notes usually includes the following sections. Header, purpose, Issue Summary, Steps to produce, Notes, Disclaimer, Contacts, etc.

Business Proposals- Business Proposal is a written offer from a seller to a prospective buyer. These are written by technical writers for company that is working on sales of their products. A proposals puts buyer’s requirements in a context and states that how seller can satisfy the buyer’s needs. A successful proposal results in sale, where both parties get what they want.

Training Materials- many companies want to train their employees on various new upcoming products, software and information. The training material on various things is prepared by the technical writer. This is used to update the employees with new information. This material is also used to train new employee. Sometimes documents are prepared on clients standards and specifications that can be used as a reference material.

Some other types of documents can be enlisted as Business Guides, Installation Guides, Magazine Articles, Presentations, Reference Documents, Reports, Technical Papers, Tutorials, Specifications, Scientific Reports, Developer Guide, and Getting Started Guide etc.

Technical Writer is responsible to produce all kinds of documentation that is enlisted above. Therefore technical writer not only produce manuals but variety of work. As you can see, there is a lot of room to learn and grow in the profession of technical writing.