Results of the Scroll Survey (long)

[Walter Crockett <BrufusD -at- AOL -dot- COM>]

In December I conducted a survey on TECHWR-L for the "The Scroll" the student
newsletter of the Software Technical Writing Program at Middlesex Community
college in Bedford, MA. We asked six questions on tools, goals, advice, etc.

Here's the summary article. It's long as hell, so flame away if you must. But
the answers were very valuable. Thank you for your participation.

Walter Crockett

FrameMaker is the tool of choice, command of grammar is the skill of
necessity, disrespectful managers are the chief frustration, good pay and love
of the challenge are the leading lures, and "Learn, learn, learn!" is the
resounding mantra in the world of technical writers.

Those are among the findings of The Scroll's recent survey of technical
writers who subscribe to the Internet's TECHWR-L listserv. We posted six
questions on the list and received 62 responses, all of them thoughtful, many
of them cautionary, most of them upbeat.

While some of our respondents are not ecstatic about their corporate
environments, the great majority of them seem quite happy with the career of
technical writer.

Their advice for would-be tech writers ranged all the way from, "It's a great
career - have fun!" to "Don't do it. You are constantly working in an
environment where you are considered a parasite or not needed." But the
positive advice far outweighed the negative. Here are the questions and a
summary of the answers. For a rough copy of the "hard data," email Walter
Crockett at BrufusD -at- aol -dot- com -dot- 

1. Which two or three tools have you found most valuable in your technical
writing career (e.g. Framemaker, RoboHelp, command of grammar, diplomacy)?
We meant "tools" in its second or third dictionary definition sense, "means to
an end," but several respondents were quick to point out that "tools and
skills" would have been a better choice of words. And the responses did
include a wide range of tools and skills.

FrameMaker, with 24 mentions, was the most frequently cited software tool,
followed by RoboHelp and Microsoft Word with 15 each. HTML received five
mentions. Other applications getting at least a nod were RoboHTML, ForeHelp,
VI, FullShot, PageMill, Doc2Help, SnagIt, PageMaker, QuarkXpress, Macromedia
Freehand, Paint Shop Pro, Notepad and Adobe's PDF distiller tools.
One Luddite mentioned a pencil and a notebook. A hardware writer said his
briefcase always holds a hammer, a screwdriver, pliers, and a tape measure.

Half a dozen respondents ventured that the mastery of any particular tool was
not nearly as important as the ability to learn whatever you need to learn.
And while the responding technical writers listed only 24 specific software or
hardware tools, they offered more than 60 "most valuable" skills.

Of these skills, the most commonly cited was the command of language and
grammar. Diplomatic skill, which included thick skin and the ability to get
along with others, ran a close second. Also high on the list was the
combination of analytical and communication skills that enables the writer to
learn complex things quickly and communicate them clearly. One writer valued
"the ability to translate geek into English." Many respondents said they had
profited from their willingness to learn anything thrown at them, and from
their ability to see things from the user's point of view.

Flexibility and a sense of humor also ranked high, as did programming skills,
research skills and organization skills. Among the more colorful responses
were "a  tendency to mess around with software and get in trouble," "the
ability to tolerate chaos," "the ability to make brownies," and "the art of
bribery."

2. What do you most want, or need to learn next?
Learning seems to be the highest priority for technical writers and taking
their skills online seems to be their most immediate need. Most of our 62
respondents had more than one thing they wanted to learn. The list ran to 60
different items, most of them involving online tools and skills.

Mastery of the various markup languages and their offshoots finished first,
with HTML, SGML, XML, and DHTML running as a team. Online help also came in
strong, represented by RoboHelp, RoboHTML, HTML help (with the "help" in
lowercase), and JavaHelp. The tech writers aspired to a range of computer
languages that included Visual Basic, Java, Java/OOP, Perl, C++ and Delphi.
They also showed a strong interest in Web development and publishing tools,
graphics applications and multimedia programs.

Only five people expressed a desire to learn more about writing. Several
stalwarts said they most wanted to learn whatever the next assignment
required.

3. What has been your biggest frustration in the field?

There was just no contest in this category: The overwhelming winner (or loser,
depending upon your orientation) was the frustration of working in a company
where managers and co-workers understood neither the importance of good
documentation nor the role of the technical writer. In addition to that
general response, several writers complained of being treated like glorified
secretaries. More than a few complained about working with people who think
technical writing takes no skill. "Lack of respect" got four dismal votes. The
ugly spectre of "non-writers (managers, engineers, programmers) who think they
can write and who control the product," as one respondent put it, seems to
haunt our less enlightened software companies.

Poor management accounted for a cauldron of frustration. The complaints
included "generic management stupidity,"  poorly designed products, tools that
don't work properly, unrealistic schedules and deadlines, bad project
management, lack of communication, and political gamesmanship. Dealing with
SMEs (subject matter experts - often programmers) was another nagging
headache. Ten respondents said not getting information and reviews on time
from SMEs was a major hassle. One complained about "reviewers who think that
their writing style is some law of nature."

Other technical writers took some whacks in this department too, among them
"pseudo writers," "writers who are not motivated by the needs and methods of
the user," "technical writers who don't write well," and "writers who know
nothing about technical communications."

From the positive side - which included but one adherent - came the opinion
that there were just "too many interesting technologies and not enough time."

4. What keeps you at it?

Don't let the answers to Question 3 lead you to conclude that technical
writers are a whiny bunch of malcontents, marinating in bile and pining for
the day their Megabucks number pays off.  We actually found the respondents to
be quite happy in their careers.

It is true that good pay was cited by 26 writers as one of the rewards that
keep them in the game. Pay, in fact, was the top vote-getter in any category.
But most of the writers who mentioned money also mentioned several more high-
minded reasons for remaining in the field. The most common of these were the
constant opportunity to learn new things; the challenge of explaining
difficult concepts clearly; the ability to work with intelligent, friendly
people; and the love of writing and communicating. "I love my job. It's fun,"
wrote one respondent. Her sentiments were echoed by many others.

The writers also enjoyed the variety of work, the chance to help others, the
opportunity to use cutting-edge technology and "cool software applications"
and the pleasure of "earning the respect of the geeks."

5. Do your career plans involve a move away from or beyond technical writing?
This is where we found out how happy technical writers really are. Only 11
people responded with a firm "yes." Most of them planned to move into related
fields, including technical editing, managing technical publications, and web
development. One of them expected to move into disaster planning, which may or
may not be a related field.

Eighteen respondents said maybe someday they'd try another career. Again, most
of the careers they mentioned were closely related to technical writing - for
example, indexing, contracting and designing user interfaces. Three said they
would like to become fiction writers someday. One of them wanted to write the
Great Canadian Novel. (Keep your eye out for a scintillating, easy-to-follow
first novel with side-heads, bullets and lots of white space, eh?)

6. What brief advice would you offer entry-level technical writers?

Brief? Surely you jest. What we got was an exhaustive list of extraordinarily
helpful, occasionally contradictory advice. The advice can be broken down into
the broad categories of learning, networking, organizing, surviving, working
and writing.

"Cultivate the ability to learn quickly, explain clearly, and to move on to
the next thing easily and flexibly," was one piece of advice that summed up
many responses.

Never stop learning. Learn how to learn. Learn to learn quickly. Learn to
listen and ask questions. "Don't sneer at anything you can learn." Learn to
accept criticism, to like change, to organize and chunk information, to work
well with others. Learn software, programming, project management, the
printing process, tools in each major category. Take classes in writing,
typing, technical writing, editing, graphic design, information design.

As one writer put it, using the capital letters that are the italics of the
Internet, "NEVER, NEVER, NEVER refuse to learn ANYTHING."

In the networking category, the prime advice was to join the Society for
Technical Communication (STC) and participate in chapter activities. Also,
join local writers groups, professional societies and Internet forums on
technical writing (just make sure to set your listserv to "digest" if you
don't want to be up half the night deleting your mail). And, in the words of
one respondent,

"Share your brain with others in your profession."
The organizing tips read like a technical writing textbook: Read everything
relevant to your work, play with the software as much as you can, try to see
the product in action at a customer site, talk to the user, know the user,
think like the user, check your work, and include an index. This area also
yielded the survey's only recommendation for a specific book, Managing Your
Documentation Projects by JoAnn T. Hackos.

The advice on surviving produced some invigorating tips that were not specific
to the tech writing field, tips like, "Do your best," "Work like hell," "Give
110 percent from Day 1," "Stiffen your backbone," "Always be curious," "Take
risks," "Stay current," and "Don't sell yourself short." Several people
advised young writers to not stay at any one job for more than several years,
and to always be on the lookout for interesting projects.

Respondents also emphasized the importance of building a strong resume and a
good portfolio, even if you have to make up projects for the portfolio. "Read
BAD books and manuals," one person wrote, "Determine what is BAD and DON'T DO
IT." The advice of one man to "avoid MS Word like the plague," was offset by
the testimony of another, who said he outputs 1,000-page documents in Word.

The survival advice returned several times to a common theme that ran through
the survey:  "Tools change, systems change. Clear writing remains the only
constant." Or, put in other words, "Knowledge of the tools or technology you
are writing about is not as important as an eagerness to learn, an ability to
organize information and time, and people skills."

Much of the advice on working and the workplace was also text-book perfect.
Find a mentor. Develop strong relationships with your SMEs. Listen to
everyone. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Be part of the team. One
successful technical writing contractor recommended, "under- promise and over-
deliver." And harkening back to the biggest source of tech writer frustration,
one woman advised, "Conduct yourself as a professional and THINK OF YOURSELF
as a professional, not a glorified administrative assistant."

In the writing category, the advice was concise: Read. Write. Be brief. Be
thorough. Use the active voice. Focus on the basics. Rewrite. Know your
grammar. Spell-check. Format for easy readability. Write for the user. "Don't
ever forget all the lousy instructions you've read." And finally, "Index,
index, and index some more."

We are tempted to sum up the entire survey, and the entire career, in two
short words, repeated ad infinitum:

Learn. Write. Learn. Write. Learn. Write...

Throw in a good paycheck and who could ask for more?


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