Lately I’ve been thinking about how to keep up with the field of technical communication. I’ve seen I’m not alone in this: Earlier this week Larry Kunz wrote insightfully about the five tools of a star technical communicator and Tom Johnson provided a great post on how important it is for technical writers to have a working knowledge of web design principles. Keeping up with technology and assorted soft skills is certainly vital to being a productive technical communicator, but it begs a few questions regarding the “what” and “how” to make it happen.
Two years ago I sat in my advisor-to-be’s office at NC State University and told him the reason I was interested in the M.S. in Technical Communication program was because I wanted to “catch up with the field of technical communication.” In hindsight earning a master’s degree may not have been the best way to catch up with the latest and greatest tools and tricks of the field, though it’s certainly given me a broader perspective and increased my ability to be an effective technical communicator in other, sometimes more subtle, ways.
An assignment in a publications management class last semester addressed the issue of keeping up with the field of technical communication and forced me to think about it in a structured way. The assignment was to put together a training plan for yourself for two years, assuming you’re a tech comm manager in a software development environment. The plan had to cover six areas:
- General Management Skills
- Tech Comm-Specific Management Skills
- General Technical Skills
- Tech Comm-Specific Technical Skills
- Industry- or Discipline-Specific Skills
In order to get a good grade I put together an admittedly overly-ambitious plan that included things like attending the annual STC Summit and reading more technology, trade, and financial journals than I have time for now, let alone when I’m working full-time. As a student, I’ve augmented my master’s degree by reading blogs by technical communicators and joining and attending meetings for groups such as the STC Carolina Chapter and the RTP-DITA user’s group, and I feel I’ve done a pretty good job overall of accomplishing my goal of “catching up” with the field of technical communication—for now. But as is often the case, the more I learn the more questions I have, and when it comes to being “caught up” it’s hard to know what is enough.
- Since no one can be an expert on everything, what topics do you find it most important to stay caught up on—developments specifically related to tech comm (such as DITA, for example), or is it more important to stay on top of advancements in the technology you’re documenting? Or management principles if you’re a manager?
- How do you go about keeping up? Is there a point where enough is enough?
It depends.
The pillars of tech comm are writing ability, domain expertise, and tools. Which one you need to focus on depends on the specific job. Writing about semiconductors or biochemical equipment? Domain expertise is probably more important. Writing for consumer products in a highly competitive industry? Could be writing ability. Do you have tools support? If not, you need to understand your tools “well enough.” Are you responsible for changing tools and technologies? Might want to spend some time in that area.
My approach to keeping up with the field is “watchful waiting.” It takes time to figure out whether the latest hot topic is a fad or a trend. It’s important to know the “why” behind new technology, and whether it’s relevant to my company and my industry. What are the benefits? What would it cost to implement? If there’s a huge disconnect between the two, I probably don’t need to spend a lot of time learning the new technology, since I’m probably not going to use it in the foreseeable future.
Tools and technologies come and go. If you get caught up in the hype, you can waste a lot of time. Figure out what’s here to stay, and learn about that. (Maybe that’s why I focus so much on soft skills. Human nature is a constant.)
You’re right; you can’t possibly keep up with all of it – so dive deep into what ignites your passion, but not to the exclusion of all else. Let your curiosity drag you into odd corners. Even if inspiration’s your only guide, you’ll end up with a valuable and unique skill set that some employer will want desperately.
I don’t know DITA, and I don’t know the latest shiny things for making specific sorts of output. But I know how to keep different kinds of information (tasks, concepts, etc.) separate. Somehow I have gotten good at defining the structure of documents and sets of documents; making indexes; managing my projects; and cleaning up big sprawly manuals and help systems – and that’s what I sell. Andrea’s right; tools come and go. But knowing how to work with information is one of those things that’s here to stay.
I think that the best way to keep up is to find out who the thought and practical leaders are in the field and keep tabs on them. Those folks will broaden your views in terms of the field itself and what the latest direction is in terms of writing concepts and publishing. You should also keep in touch with those who have proven management knowledge because as you advance in the field you might be put in the position of being in charge of others, either as a manager or a team lead.
As Sarah said (spelled it right this time), domain knowledge becomes more critical depending on the field, but I find that when it comes to networking, engineering, and medical getting that knowledge comes from having a base knowledge, interviewing subject matter experts, and good researching skills. You cannot obtain this sort of knowledge if the knowledge in your base field is lacking because you’ll be spending even more time trying to get up to speed in 2 directions at once.
Bottom line: I think you’ve started in the right way. Keep on pushing.
I agree with Sarah that on the key skills are: writing ability, domain expertise and tools.
I’d add one more: time management. In other words, being able to deliver on time.
Unfortunately, our field’s “thought leaders” tend to be self-defined, highly self-promoted, and mostly consultants who endeavor to sell (labor-saving) technology to the large corporate employers of technical writers.
I wonder how many years behind today’s tech writing “state of the art” are most graduate TW degree programs?
I suggest that domain knowledge is key to having a secure TW position, with tools knowledge being less important (though TW Help Wanted ads would not lead one to believe this). So this would mean that a student who leans towards a TW career should major in a subject matter other than TW but also take writing, TW, and information design coursework as supplements.
Academia always tends to lag somewhat, so I think that I wouldn’t be surprised with a 5 to 10 year disconnect.
As for the thought leaders: most I’ve met are more interested in adding value to their customer’s content now than selling technology. In fact, I think that the technology is secondary to helping them achieve a direction for their information.
The TW want ads have always been slanted towards the tools because that’s the only thing the HR people can wrap their heads around. It’s easier to say, “Must know Word 2007″ than “Has to demonstrate strategic forward thinking for content creation and delivery”. In fact, there are many TW managers who today who are in the same paradigm they were in 15 years ago, so there’s less of a chance of that changing. Tools seem to be paramount and tools are the easiest part of the environment.
I’m with Karen: I used to be overwhlemed and not knowing which area or skill to develop first. I have since found three criteria to be useful:
(1) What interests me?
(2) Do my colleagues/customers/users/etc. care about it?
(3) Do I think I can do it reasonably well? Or maybe even better than most other people around me?