Author: James Hunt

The technical writing process consists of four main phases. These are planning, writing, delivery, archiving. These phases are not necessarily set in stone and some variations do exist. Every writer is different and they each have their own way of writing that is distinct. For those who are just beginning to do some technical writing however would be well advised to use these phases as a way of organizing their writing.

The planning stage of technical writing consists of gathering information. In this stage of the technical writing process you will determine which documents and other information that you will use for your writing. This is also where you will determine how the documentation will be delivered to the customer. In this stage you can also create any templates that are needed.

The writing phase in technical writing is where you write your documents. This is where you should also make a list of glossary of terms as you write. This can be left to the end but it always easier to do this as you go along. When the writing is complete you should always take the time to read over your material and correct any mistakes that you can detect. The most common mistakes are spelling errors. Someone else could find the harder to detect grammatical errors that you let read your writing. This of course is a good idea. You should always have someone else read your writing to pick up on any mistakes that you may overlook.

The third stage of the technical writing process is called the delivery phase. This is the method by which you will present your writing to others. This may be done through text form. Today, with the increasing use of computers people are deciding to save their writing on CD or floppy disk and sell the writing in this format. Today people are just as will to buy a CD than they are a book. Printed materials should always be presented well. This should be done in a binder or folder of some sort. The material should be organized and it is a good idea to use tabs to separate sections so that people will make it easier to read.

The fourth and final stage of the technical writing process is the archiving phase. This includes naming the document and putting the archive number on the document. If you work for a company then your company may have their own way of archiving documents and you could use this system. Once this is all complete you are done.

About the Author:
James Hunt has spent 15 years as a professional writer and researcher covering stories that cover a whole spectrum of interest.
Read more at www.technical-writing-central.info

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – The Process of Technical Writing

The other day, I managed finally to watch Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino with some friends of mine. One of the scenes reminded me of issues faced when writing documentation: What do you leave out?

To set the scene, Clint’s Eastwoord’s character, Walt Kowalski, is a gruff Korean War veteran and retired Ford autoworker still living in his older neighbourhood that is quickly being repopulated with Hmong immigrants and gangs. After a failed burglary and gang initiation, Walt’s teenaged next-door neighbour (Thao) comes to apologize, and to work for Walt as both punishment and compensation.

Walt is a very self-sufficient man, keeping his property and belongings well maintained, and generally sitting on his veranda drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon. As such, he has no work for Thao—until he surveys his neighbourhood a little more and sees the disrepair into which many of the houses have fallen. He gets Thao to repair the roof and eavestroughing of the house across the street.

At this point, one of my friends, an intelligent, well-educated nursing manager and operating room nurse, asked, “Why that house? Why is that house important?” And it wasn’t so much that the house was important, but the audience is expected to realize that Walt has become tired of sitting on his porch staring at his old neighbour’s house falling down across from him.

But could Eastwood (as the director) not have included a short scene where Walt and the new neighbour across the street have words about the state of the house? Or where Walt makes a specific comment about having to stare at that particular house as it falls down? Would it really have made a difference to the story, or most people’s understanding?

We make decisions like this every day. Whether it’s to include a word in a glossary or index, add an introduction or conclusion to a procedure, include a screenshot or even to write for a particular audience. There’s always a choice to be made that will either add to the understanding of a document or take away from it. These are especially important decisions when factoring in budget and time constraints:

• Do we have time to change the glossary or index?
• Can we afford to print more pages?
• Do we have time to write more introductions and conclusions, and get them reviewed?
• Is there time to get and properly edit the screenshot?
• Can we rewrite for a novice audience or do we continue writing for the expert audience?

While I’m certain we’d all love to write the perfect document every time, in the end, the original planning and analysis should have accounted for all of these issues. Something may have been missed, but it must become part of the post-project review, something to consider for the next time.

Movie-makers don’t get a second chance to make a movie, but much of our documentation can be revised later and having a solid review to work from is an excellent starting point.

How do you make sure you get all the right information into your documents?

Image courtesy Ian Britton | FreeFoto.com