Trends In Technical Communication

Trends in Technical Communication Presented by / Bogo Vatovec Change Management / Knowledge Engineering / User Experience / Interaction Design / Process Engineering

A little survey How many of you have been in the field for less than two years? How many for more than five? How many have changed jobs in the past two years? How many of you are often bored at what you are doing? How many are worried about their job-security in the future? How many of you can tell me what is Technical Communication?

What I will (and will not ) do today? I will not: Give you a list of trends to take home shouting „Eureka, Eureka!“ Give you the latest tips and tricks on FrameMaker you should (or shouldn‘t) know. Instead, I will: Show you some trends and buzzwords and let you decide which ones are right for you. Try to show you a way to read and understand the trends. Encourage you to have a different opinion.

The good and the bad news We are in one of the most amazing professions that exist! But also in one extremely controversial.

Not so long ago First: The new economy boom provided amazing possibilities for everyone. A demand has been higher than supply. Quantity has been often more important than quality. And then: Companies massively laid-off people in cost-centres and were (are?) saving wherever possible . Now the seed is being separated from the weed.

A T echnical Communication field has been booming as well, but we focused on wrong things… Internal fight between specialists: Tool freaks Technical writers Usability experts Contemplating buzzwords that only enlightened technical communicators understand Single sourcing Task-orientation vs. Function descriptions Indexing Increasing attempts to (re)define the profession Technical writers? Information designers? Communicators? Knowledge engineers? Instructional designers? Information architects?

Meanwhile, the fun has been taken by others Knowledge management is done by strategic consulting groups and software companies and programmers. Usability and especially interface design is done by programmers and, when lucky, by usability specialists. Content Management is done by strategic consulting groups and software companies and programmers. Marketing communication and PR is done by marketing/PR departments. We didn’t increase our business value.

So why I paint everything black? Because it is black. We say that programmers are geeks. Technical writers are just as geeky as the programmers. We have not managed to understand the business context of our work and properly justify our existence. We have (as all geeks) stuck to our terminology and not look at where the business is going and where “the money is”. We didn’t learn to COMMUNICATE.

But wait, this is supposed to be a positive presentation… Consolidation on the market means focus on quality and services. Companies save money wherever possible, while still having to keep their business running. Large consulting and outsourcing projects have been stopped. The companies are looking for external specialists to help them with specific tasks. The market is recovering. Very quickly. Let ’s not miss the opportunity again!

You can use this great opportunity, if you only... Stop being a “technical writer”. Learn to sell your skills to everyone – regardless of where you work – think as an independent. Understand that “good enough” is the quality to deliver. Understand the paradox: The companies are looking for specialists. You should be a generalist. Start practicing the user-centred approach in daily life: understand your users, understand the business environment you work in, understand the trends. Focus on helping the company and not only fulfil your passion Start getting involved in product design rather than documenting the results.

Skills in Technical Communication

At the job interview: Skills everybody is going to ask you about Knowledge of Robohelp and ForeHelp. Knowledge of HTML and WinHelp. Knowledge of FrameMaker. Key message: OK, OK. So you know how to use a hammer.

At the job interview: Essential skills nobody is going to ask you about Writing: communicating information through words and visual images. Grammar and style. Knowledge of the language. Editing: anticipating readers´ comprehension and making sure the grammar, spelling and editorial style is followed. Information design: planning a communication product. Key message: OK, OK. So you know your handcraft.

At the job interview: Skills everybody should ask you about (but rarely do) Project management: planning and implementing a project. Business and industry experience, subject matter expertise Usability: Designing information products for the users and evaluating their ease of use. Marketing technical communication, quality metrics, etc. Key message: Aha, so you can actually do for me what I need!

Tools in Technical Communication

Tools? When hiring, many TC managers pay more attention in the proficiency with tools rather than actual information design. Many TCs judge their abilities themselves by their knowledge of tools. Yet the majority of tools can be learned very quickly. And change very often. Over focus on tools is dangerous: Well-produced manuals with bad content. Focus on tools scares away really good candidates. Once the tools are mastered, their use is a little more than a clerical skill. By focusing on the tools, you directly ignore focus on the business – and this is where the company’s value is and what the upper management understands.

What are the Trends? Which ones are in/out?  Knowledge management  Change Management  Usability and User interface design  Embedded help, Context sensitive help  Content Management  Marketing communication  XML and all kinds of MLs  Single sourcing  Task-oriented or modular documentation  FrameMaker, RoboHelp, MS Word

Issues in Technical Communication (1) Job skills and knowledge Audience analysis and understanding Designing new documentation processes Designing for visualization Information dissemination tools Collaboration and team-based, cross-functional projects Hardcopy and online evaluation and quality metrics

Issues in Technical Communication (2) Research Models for Technical Communication – how to bridge the gap between researcher and practitioners Certification among technical communicators. Certifications of technical or industry skills. The name of the profession – technical communication. Status of the profession.

Some References and Info on Trends mentioned

Whom to listen to? JoAnn Hackos Ginny Redish Paula Berger Saul Carliner Bill Gribbons Edmund Weiss

The Must-Read Publications Scholarly journals Technical Communication (published by the STC) IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (published by the IEEE PCS) Technical Communication Quarterly (published by ATTW) The Journal of Technical Writing and Editing (published by Baywood Publishing) The Journal of Business and Technical Communication (published by Sage Publications). Professional magazine Harvard Business Review Intercom (published by STC), Editorial Eye (published by Editorial Experts, Inc.) Writer’s Digest and The Writer (two general magazines for all types of writers) Wired

Knowledge management The single most important topic for technical communicators in the next years. Although KM is currently not a major buzzword anymore, it is a mandatory discipline inside almost every company. Chunking information, organizing it and designing ways of accessing it has always been a field of TC.

Usability and user interface design A topic every TC gets involved in at the very beginning. A common transition field for TCs that want to change and do something else. Usability, in particular usability testing and interface design offer a great possibility to get tightly involved with product development and add more value to the company.

Information plenum A concept developed by Edmund Weiss, triggered by the Internet. The opposite of vacuum. The space is full of information. For the users, search becomes more important than creation. Companies publish everything online.

Single sourcing A topic that can be effectively linked with Knowledge Management and Content Management for added business value. After years, the tools are finally ready. The problem is, we are not. Organizing of content in proper independent blocks has proven to be an information design challenge not many are coping with successfully.

Embedded help The latest help concept yet to be fully exploited. The help is not separated from the interface, but rather fully integrated. Since it is new, the tools are not really supporting it, thus requiring higher development effort.

Content Management Another lost opportunity for TCs taken by the strategy consultants and programmers. Related to Single Sourcing and Knowledge Management. Has a strong business and aspect related to it.

XML and other MLs Many technical communicators think that they must know XML and other related buzzwords to be successful in the industry. This is wrong. Understand the first two chapter of the book on XML. Understand object-oriented concepts and meta language concepts. Understand the complexity and importance of taxonomy and human search patterns. Leave the XMLing to programmers or those who want to become programmers. In one sentence : understand the concepts of good information design

Thanks! Bogo Vatovec Consulting Office Gabriel-Max-Str. 20 / 10245 Berlin T +49 30 20078666 / F +49 30 20078661 / M +49 174 1730406 / office@bovacon.com / www.bovacon.com © Bogo Vatovec Consulting

Trends In Technical Communication

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