Basic Summary of What TW is

["Anton Coetzee" <CoetzAJ2 -at- telkom -dot- co -dot- za>]

Hi Guys,

Without going in "who is right" and "whom is right" - I have drawn up the following basic draft summary, of what I consider the role of a TW  - for the company I have been contracted to.  As they donot have a clue to what a TW should or could do apart from churning out documents. Thus the constant bickering, fighting and .... that is another story. Thanks to all on the list  - 

I have shown it to the CEO whom  after the first double take - read it from end to end. Saying at the end "at least I now know what you should be doing" following it up with "So why are you not ?"  

So I am including it for you guys - to view. Do with it what you want.


SOME POPULAR MISCONCEPTIONS REGARD TECHNICAL WRITING.


"I *DO* KNOW THAT THE UPPER POWERS THAT BE" - do think of Help / Technical Writing (and other forms of online publication) in terms of print, and that they might insist on such things as Title, Chapters, Headings, Fonts, Numbering, Tables, Styles, Appendixes, etc. to be constant and or similar. 

But - The architecture of Online Help, (PC or WebHelp - HTML Format), and Content does not, and cannot mirror the printed format so closely. 

As they are different - Each with a different format, apart from the different user base and different requirements, as they are on different Mediums, platforms (they are designed differently) i.e. Web, PC or Paper based."

Once this is recognized there are some Basic rules that should be applied to develop Help Documentation:

1.	What is it? 
2.	What does it do? 
3.	What is its purpose? 
4.	How does it work (or how does it do what it is supposed to do)? 
5.	Why is it relevant? 
6.	How do you use it? 
·	And more... 
·	Software - is there access to Developers and Designers? 
·	Hardware  - access to the Engineers and Designers? 
7.	Who is my audience? . 
8.	How much does my audience already know? 
9.	What more do they need to know? 

The above is just an example of what is required - in addition to the:

Most Important Question i.e.: Is it PC or Web Based? 
As a CBT Guide / User Manual or Online Help? 
Or is it a Paper Based Document? 
As a conventional Help / User / Product / Reference / Training guide or combination of these guides or documents.

Once these points have been finalized and all associated parties have agreed what is required can the Technical writer begin their task. With the necessary assistance and support of all sections of Business, from fellow collages to team lead, from Program Manager to Senior Management.  As Technical Writing is a Team Activity, as it cannot be done in isolation but needs regular feedback and reviews of the content. 



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