Facttactic

Corporate and technical writers

Technical writing

benefits of online user guides

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If you’re writing a user guide or policy manual, or similar, and its target readership (staff or customers) is spread over different locations, I often recommend moving away from a printed document (such as Word/PDF).

Instead, I steer clients towards creating online (HTML or XML) documents.

That sounds like it’s introducing new complexities but, really, the learning curve is not steep, and the benefits strongly outweigh what is largely, and simply, concern of the unknown.

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the Auckland and all-over technical writer

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The great thing with the growth in web-based communications and tools is that a technical writer can very successfully work remotely with customers.

I do plenty of technical writing for customers in Auckland, for example, while based in the lower North Island.

In fact, between 2017 and 2019, I helped clients with technical writing or web writing in Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Zurich (yes, the time difference is a killer!), Singapore, and outside the main centres: in Paremata, Otaki and Levin.

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style guides galore revisited

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Here’s a useful list I made in 2011 of all sorts of style guides accessible online to help make your writing consistent and more easily understood.

I thought I would revisit it as a United States reader of this blog recently found a broken link to the NASA grammar and punctuation guide I had listed, and very kindly sent me a working link. Thanks, Liz!

That pushed me to check all the links and update them where needed. So … a very useful page and fresh links: Fill your boots!

the brand of technical communications

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Just back from the TCANZ 2012 conference in Auckland where it was good to have two overseas speakers pushing us to consider ‘technical communications’ as a brand, even if most of us are so deep in the trenches doing the work that we don’t get often a chance to consider how to market our ‘profession’.

But that was their main argument — that we can’t really call technical communications a profession just yet, as it lacks the infrastructure that professions require, especially the standards, independent certifications and professional development that established ‘professions’ (law, accounting, architecture, for example) have. And that having that type of infrastructure is the best base from which to build the brand.

TCANZ this year has started a process to see what steps could be taken to introduce such measures in NZ and Australia. And, with training fairly ad hoc for most practitioners in New Zealand, I am very supportive of this work. I think with measurable standards we will be more clearly able to articulate our value to employers and clients.

The working party has though decided that the sector may be too small to support a full-blown certification programme but it is continuing its work to see what would work in a market our size.

A mentoring programme is one initial suggestion — so senior practitioners would help newcomers to the sector; and that sounds a good start.