What is a technical writer anyway, and who uses one?
A suitably-qualified, formally-trained technical writer is a professional writer who undertakes technical writing to produce technical documentation to enable readers to understand and use a product or service effectively. A technical writer describes processes, procedures, products and technologies using clear, accurate and unambiguous text.
Professionals such as engineers and scientists, as well as academics and university students, might also produce technical writing, then pass their work to a technical writer for editing and proofreading prior to publication.
So why use a professional technical writer? After all, wouldn’t it be better for a subject matter expert (SME) to write a technical document? Well… yes and no.
The thing is, SMEs are not necessarily the best professionals to use to produce documentation, especially for external dissemination, because they don’t have the specialist skills of a technical writer. Here’s why:
- a technical writer will look at the project from an outsider’s viewpoint – i.e. from the target audience’s viewpoint – because that’s who will be reading the document
- a technical writer will extract relevant information from SMEs, and then design the document with respect to the reader’s – i.e. the user’s – viewpoint
- a technical writer will explain all concepts, processes, and procedures to the user from – you’ve guessed it – the customer’s viewpoint.
If you want your customers to use your product at its full potential, you need to ensure that the information you publish is easily understandable from their point of view.
When you engage EasyWriter to handle your technical documentation, we’ll provide all the writing, editing, and proofreading that’s necessary so that everyone understands your product.