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by Debbie Wiles
Technical writing = technical communication. True or false? It's a trick question. The statement is both true and false, isn't it? Technical writing is one function within technical communication. But technical writing is certainly not all there is to technical communication.
Nonetheless, most equate technical communication with technical writing. A close cousin to technical communication is training and development, which we know helps to improve the learner's performance in one way or another. Both technical communication and training and development are focused on the success of the end user. However, we still treat these two disciplines as separate units.
And while the training and development industry thrives by demonstrating clear value to the business, the "technical communication" industry wanes as businesses shift to e-content and sophisticated online information architectures.
During the closing session of STC's 50th Annual Conference in May 2003, Andrea Ames said technical communication is becoming a dinosaur. She encouraged us to reinvent ourselves before we become extinct. There were those who criticized Andrea for her bold statement that day. I applauded her. She made a courageous prophecy about the inevitable outcome of our directional decisions, or the lack thereof. And as with most prophecies, her message conveyed a sense of foreboding. We need to be afraid to see this happen. But her message also carried a promise – a hope – that we can prevent this from happening. We have the ability and the opportunity to steer our course differently. Will we take that opportunity?
I was gifted with a vivid illustration of this challenge three weeks later while attending Training Directors' Forum in Phoenix, Arizona. The sponsor showcase housed an array of learning services and technology companies, and having no budget at the time, I browsed the booths merely to pass the time between sessions one morning. What I found being offered by RWD Technologies was revolutionary. They offer a tool that writes software documentation. You launch it and while you actually perform a procedure in the application being documented, it captures everything you do and constructs the procedure for you. It automatically includes screen shots, buttons, decision tables, notes, you name it, in the content it produces. And get this – anyone, any SME, entry-level engineer, admin, or intern can use it. It does not require a technical writer. Obviously, a skilled technical writer would bring an editorial eye and a level of quality to the finished content. Nevertheless, how many companies do you think are going to be willing to do without that extra polish? Many!
I walked away from the sponsor showcase astonished… and again convinced that Andrea was right. The RWD demo was a premonition to me of the demise of technical communication – a clear example of formulaic documentation that posits our role as a mere commodity in the business place. Despite the obvious value this tool promises to the bottom line, I couldn't help but grieve over the inevitable impact awaiting the technical communication field that I love.
Yet this sort of grief is tied to nostalgia. Nostalgia is a luxury we cannot afford for long. Are we going to spend our remaining days basking in the narrow lane of our tradition? Or are we going to broaden our sights and chart a new journey that takes us where the business – our only true sponsor – is going? The business is going there with or without us.
It is time to redefine technical communication. It is time for a definition that encompasses any function that involves communicating technical or business information, whether it touches on writing that information or publishing it via any form of media. Is it technical in nature? Is it being communicated? Who is communicating it - designing it, managing it, writing it, editing it, illustrating it, coding it, indexing it, publishing it, posting it, validating it, evaluating it, archiving it? That person is a technical communicator, as is the person who strategically markets the value we bring to the organizations we serve. This strategic message will be the focus of my efforts during this program year. I hope you'll join me in redefining technical communication within our marketplace.