What is editing? It’s a cryptic question in some ways. It’s an abstract concept that can mean many things in different contexts. Often, it’s a term that’s qualified by using other words to describe the process more accurately, such as copy editing, content editing, and others. At its essence, however, it refers to a process […]

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Have you ever had the following experience? You buy some new gadget – a TV set, a blender, a microwave oven – and you open up the box, fish around for the documentation, pull it out of its plastic protective sleeve that’s usually fallen to the bottom of the huge, brown cardboard box, and flip […]

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I’m not one for emotional outbursts – just ask anyone I know – but if I ever see the words ‘presentment’ and ‘enablement’ in print again, I may scream. I know, I know, they’re just words. Why get upset about words used commonly in technical and marketing copy? The answer is more involved than one […]

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Stories are everywhere. Children thrive on them. Young children in particular love fairy tales where handsome princes marry beautiful maidens. To a developing mind, they’re simple ways of conveying moral notions of good and evil, right and wrong. Stories are also a vital part of an adult’s life, but instead of simple tales of derring […]

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In a recent article, I made the case for formal training by saying that ‘manuals aren’t training.’ I argued that the purpose of training is ‘a systematic presentation of a product or set of products.’ A former colleague agreed with my thesis, but added the reverse is equally ineffective. There was nothing worse, in her […]

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Let’s consider a scenario. You’ve just begun a new job at a tech firm. You’ve got many years of experience, but the job is a step up for you, both technically and intellectually. During the arduous interviews that went on for weeks, you asked what kind of training would be provided. The answer was that […]

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A few years ago, a manager asked me to provide an estimate for a short user guide project. I started by going to the project sponsor to get a feeling for the length of the guide and the intended audience. I then put together a detailed estimate, including all the important elements of a technical […]

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Can we talk about a painful subject? Yes, it’s painful, but if we want to get past the pain and the discomfort, we have to discuss it. It’s pictures. And not just any pictures, but the ones technical writers put in user guides to make them more vivid, and to help illustrate the points they’re […]

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‘Who is your audience?’ That is the oft-repeated question asked of fiction and speech writers. But is it asked of technical writers? Rarely. It ought to be, though, because without knowing who the audience of technical manuals, guides, and curriculum is, the material often gets the content completely wrong. Let me illustrate by telling a […]

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