Best Practices: Do It Now!

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Publishing Synopsis

I won a runner-up certificate of recognition for this article in the STC India Chapter 2014 Annual Competition. 

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Foreword

Last night, my eight-year old daughter asked me for a word that she could quiz to her class. I instinctively suggested her this one:

Funambulism (also called tightrope walking) is an art of walking along a thin wire or rope, usually at a great height. One or more artists perform it in front of an audience.

Source: Wikipedia

She was very happy with my suggestion and dozed off peacefully. It was a clear indication that the matter was closed with her. However, it was still wide open in my mind. It kept me wondering to myself, “What made me suggest her this peculiar word? I do not recollect reading or hearing about it recently!” After a little brainstorming, the only analogy that I could think of is, “Isn’t this feat similar to what we do as technical writers, almost every day?” Well, I admit that I could be exaggerating. But, let us face it. In the pursuit of balancing between exceeding our performance and interacting with the ever-busy experts, we indeed are no better than acrobats.
I should thank my daughter for asking me for that little help. That night, probing my thoughts deeper, I had a self-realization. In the recent years, this tightrope journey has become a little smooth (not as smooth as a cake walk though) for me. Definitely not because I am ageing off! But, certainly because of the best practices that I have been implementing and improvising day-by-day.
You are not convinced yet with my self-realized thoughts? Then, let me take the liberty to share with you the seven best practices that I have permanently registered in my mind during my journey as a technical writer. I have been practicing them religiously and since then I do not remember losing out on anything. If you follow them, your journey too is bound to be more exciting. Perhaps, someday you might also agree that technical writing is not a tightrope walking altogether but at least a ropeway journey then!

 

An Acrostic Poem for My Best Practices

My poetic mind resonates the acrostic poem, DO IT NOW for the seven best practices that I follow for my documentation projects:

Figure 1: The Seven Best Practices

I am summarizing each of these best practices as my advisory words. You can tweak them according to the role that you play at your organization. 

Document Personas

The top-most best practice that determines your skill as a technical writer is how well you know your audience. Develop your understanding about the users who refer to your documents. This analysis is called personas definitions. It is surely not an easy task. But, collaborate with your team members who are in involved in the implementation of your product or who are directly interfacing with the users. They could be people working as technical support, marketing experts, product managers, or onsite developers. When you know our audience well, you never write more nor write less. All you do is write the right. And yes, this best practice is the premise for implementing the principles of minimalist writing—the latest buzzword in technical writing.

Figure 2: Sample Personas

  

Organize Your Documentation Set

Identify the scope of your documentation project. Accordingly, delve into your list of documentation deliverables and finalize it with the stakeholders. It is very important to know the sequence in which one has to use the documentation. So, you could use this list to create a progressive documentation plan. 

Figure 3: Sample Documentation Set

Identify Roles and Responsibilities

Map the personas with your documentation deliverables and for each persona define the major roles and responsibilities. Are you noticing that your third best practice is shaping into a documentation map? A handy documentation map can help a novice user navigate easily through your documentation set. Moreover, it helps you get a fairly good idea about how much work you have at hand, especially if you are the sole writer on the project. Also, this broad classification helps you develop the table of contents and gives you an at-a-glance view of your documentation project. 

 

Figure 4: A Sample Documentation Map

Trigger Agile Documentation Methodologies

Give it your best shot to adopt and implement agile documentation strategies. Synchronize with your developers and testers and make sure that you complete the triad. Be a part of the story-point discussion and chip in your thoughts about the documentation impact. Make them understand that it is a three-legged race and not just two! The agile methodology helps you progress along with the rest of the team and does not keep you staggering till the end.

Nurture Complete Information

Strive hard to procure complete information from the subject matter experts. Participate in their discussions. Do not hesitate to raise your queries and sort them out as soon as possible. When you have the end-to-end information, you can decide about what is important and what is not. This practice can help you augment your profile as a domain expert.

Own Your Content

Now that you have the complete information, you can begin with content generation. But, remember it is not your exam paper that evaluates how much you know. So, be your own advocate and write only that is required. Also, leave some room for exploration. By practicing thoughtful writing, you can be the content owner.

Win Over With Your Words

Each time you generate content, review it word-by-word as if it has no time for another review. A thorough self-review reduces the rounds of technical, editorial, and peer reviews. Be confident that no one knows the content as best as you do. Use the magic of your words and win over your audience! 

Conclusion and References

The seven best practices that I have summarized in this article are based on the standards and processes that are set up at my organization for user documentation. However, this article reflects my original thoughts about these best practices and the benefits of implementing them. I hope these best practices are equally useful to you and help you succeed as a technical writer. So, what are you waiting for? Do it now!