Tech Writers and Tech Support

[Jennifer Jelinek <jlkraus -at- AMETEKWATER -dot- COM>]

 I would suggest doing a tour of duty in the tech support department.
Ideally, spend a week sitting with the techs, listening to calls, picking
their brains. If you can't spare this kind of time (as most of us can't),
try a few hours a week to begin with, then take calls yourself maybe an
hour every week. Within a fairly short amount of time, you'll be able to
pick up patterns...common problems, frequently asked questions, user
profiles...that you could only guess at otherwise. And it will also give
you a much greater appreciation and understanding of the role of the
literature you produce. I've recently been "shifted" to the marketing
department, but when I was in the tech department, I was on the phones for
an hour every day, and whenever call volumes increased and they needed
extra help. It was frustrating at times, but it provided me with an
understanding of our user base that I would have been unable to develop any
other way. In addition, I found that working in that department fostered a
mutual respect between the technicians and myself: they help me with ways
to improve my manuals and product literature, and those improvements will
help reduce the number of calls coming into the tech department.

Jennifer Jelinek
Marketing services manager
Plymouth Products, Inc.
Sheboygan, WI
jlkraus -at- ametekwater -dot- com


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