The Art of Technical Writing 2.0

Theory: A technical writer gives good directions.

Why?

A good technical writer needs a few skills to do the job well and while some of this can be something that one can be born with, one can also have developed it over the years. The skills I am talking about are described below.

Assimilation - The power to understand things quickly. To give good directions, one needs to know their way around. For being good at giving directions in particular, having a good visual memory helps. Making a mental note of things and putting it on a map in your head and marking it with specific landmarks is quite a droolable quality.

Good grasping power helps to understand what you are going to talk about. While this skill is not a rarity, it definitely is either inherent within a person or a person has to consciously develop it. It need not come with a particular type of education.

Simplification - There could be ten ways of reaching point B from point A. But the best way will be different for different people. As the crow flies, he might have a totally different take on the best route. ‘Simplification’ here would mean, avoid the short cuts if they are too confusing and state landmarks that are visible to the eye. Your aim is to get the person to the destination quickly and without him/her losing the way.

One can develop this skill, solving math problems in school. If one gets a hang of simplifying math problems, the skill can be applied almost anywhere else. And definitely in providing good directions or in technical writing.

Translation - ‘Translation’ here would mean actually telling what one assimilates and simplifies. This is not an easy task. One needs to be able to speak the language of the person who is receiving the directions. A good communicator will make the language appear as small a barrier as possible.

One could have grasped these skills while learning languages at school. A good hand at grammar would definitely be invaluable.

A good question to ask —

So if you meet a technical writer and want to hire him/her, ask for directions to a local book store and tell the writer that you don’t speak his/her language. A good tech writer should overcome the challenge.