“Anyone Can Write”:
Emerging Roles for
Technical Writers
Missouri State University
Technical Writing Conference
April 23-24, 2010
Tom Johnson
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idratherbewriting.com
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@tomjohnson
“Anyone can write.”
QA Engineer
Business Analyst
Intern
Secretary
Your cousin
Hybrid Roles
Project Manager
Is it true?
A Literacy Revolution
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“I think we're in the midst of a literacy revolution the likes of which we
haven't seen since Greek civilization.” — Andrea Lunsford
Must do something more…
“Doing what you're told to do and what
you're expected to do is nowadays simply
not enough anymore. You always have to
do something more than what you're
basically supposed to be doing."
—Bogo Vatovec
Become a Hybrid
“To be successful over the next 10-15
years, tech comm people are going to have
to become hyphenated. You can't just be a
technical writer. You have to be a technical
writer-usability expert. Or a technical
writer-accessibility expert. Or a technical
writer-project manager.”
—Jack Molisani
Hybrid Possibilities
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Usability
Quality assurance
Audiovisual
Marketing
Web design
Instructional design
Training / e-learning
Business analysis
Social media, such as
blogging or podcasting
Corporate communications
Information architecture
Content management
Graphic design
Content strategy
Not just a tech writer
Doc Guy and his XML class
Knowledge Domain
Expertise
“I started my
accounting Master's
degree in January
2008, having never had
an accounting class
before but having had
work experience in
accounting, and I have
found that I really
enjoy the classes. I will
finish up in June 2009
and then take review
classes and then sit for
the CPA exam.”
Tech Writer to Project Manager
“I'd say the thing that got me the
PM job was my heavy commenting
on functional specs.”
ROLE: WIKI MANAGER
Project manager
Technical writer
I can help you with both
“It's up to the technical communicator to market
him or herself to the other individuals, the project
managers, the appropriate departments within
the company, saying hey, wait a minute, why do
we have this separate entity of business analyst
and technical communicator. I can help you with
both. And we can provide deliverables that are
faster, better, cheaper. And here's why. And then
you go on to explain to them what you can bring
to the table.”
—Mark Hanigan
UML Diagrams
Image 3
This UI is really bad
"I was doing the technical writing.... I had been telling
these guys, this UI is really bad. I don't even know how
you could have thought of this. Of course I said it nicer
than that. Like, this is a good first attempt, but if you
really want to do it well this is how you can do it. So
when they wanted to go prolog with requirements and
usability, they didn't have anybody to do it, and I will do
it. Because that's something I’m interested in. And since
it was a small team, they said that's great. And I got
along with everybody. So that's how I started doing the
usability stuff. Started designing the UI and writing the
specs for it. And then also doing the technical writing at
the end.” —Theresa Putkey
I stepped out of my
role many times
“My chance came prior to an annual
software industry conference….I designed
an auto-running PowerPoint presentation…
The presentation was a hit. After that time, I
became their primary source for marketing
copy and was included in marketing strategy
meetings. …They found that my in-depth
understanding of the software helped me
write more convincingly than the
consultant.”
—Wendy Cunningham
Keypointe.ca
Content Strategy
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Not “just a writer”
Technical “writer”
It turns out we
really did need
that technical
writer
The 90 Percent Rule
Understanding
requirements
Meeting with
users
Testing the app
Studying the specs
Time you
actually
spend
writing
Exploring the
application
Attending your writer
meetings
Tracking down
SMEs for review
Attending
prototype
reviews
Attending project
meetings
Writing
A Twitter model
for videos
“Most [users] don’t have
the tools or narrative
capabilities to hold the
attention of an audience
for any real span of time.
This is especially true in
the screencasting realm
which is why I’d like to
propose the notion of
TweetCasts–120 seconds
or less of webcam or
screen video. That’s all
the time you get to make
your point. If you need
more time, break your
content into chunks, give
viewers a rest between
segments and try
engaging them through a
different medium. —
Brooks Andrus
The Traditional Process
Write a script
or outline
Project manager wants
changes
Review and
approve the script
Voiceover talent
records audio
AV specialist
produces it
Focus on Technique, Not Tools
Contact Information
Tom Johnson
Idratherbewriting.com
tom@idratherbewriting.com
@tomjohnson (Twitter)
Image Sources
image 1
http://www.flickr.com/photos/_lovenothing/3772984885/sizes/l/ by zwezome
image 2
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skywhisperer/2462141919/sizes/m/ by skywisperer
image 3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Modeling_Language from wikipedia
image 4
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7819129@N07/4029599309/sizes/o/ by Richard Ingram
image 4
http://www.flickr.com/photos/baggis/225007470/sizes/l/ by travis s.
image 5
http://mashstream.com/mashups/the-docmashup/ by mike hiatt
image 6
http://www.flickr.com/photos/loopsta/2083172764/sizes/o/ by loopsta