Technical Writing Workshop
Better writing skills help technical staff cut down on the time they spend writing and rewriting technical reports.
Tools Used: MS Word, MS PowerPoint, MS Visio, Adobe Acrobat
A metals-processing company generated hundreds of technical documents every year. Unfortunately, many of their engineers and technical staff lacked the skills required to produce quality written documentation.
They struggled with:- Identifying what information to include in documents.
- Structuring documents logically.
- Presenting information clearly and concisely.
The result was documents that took far longer to write than the authors could afford to spend on them, and that required extensive reviews and rewrites before they were ready to release.
The entire documentation process was bogging down the technical staff who had to write the documents and the supervisors and managers who had to review them.
Poor writing costs real money
In this company, as in many others, poor writing skills have a direct negative impact on productivity:- Poorly structured, unclear information causes misunderstandings and mistakes, which take time and money to resolve.
- Technical staff spend more time than they should on documentation, limiting their ability to take on new projects or more value-added endeavors.
- Supervisors lose time reviewing and editing poorly written documentation.
- Low-quality documents give an unprofessional image to the team or individual that produced them, impeding the acceptance of ideas presented in the document.
- Great ideas are overlooked because staff cannot present them clearly to decision-makers.
Writing is a learned skill
Unfortunately, writing skills are often under-emphasized in technical education programs. Engineering students might take one or two courses in technical communications; their technical project course or co-op work term might include a requirement to produce a report.
Beyond some very basic training, many technical education programs offer little incentive to develop and practice writing skills. Consequently, engineers and technologists often arrive in the workplace ill-prepared to manage the documentation tasks required of them on the job.
My client was experiencing first-hand the significant consequences of this skills gap.
Training workshops help address the skills gap
I developed a series of workshops designed to help the company's staff develop solid technical writing and editing skills. The workshops focused on technical reports, but the principles covered are applicable to all types of technical writing, including emails, memos, and presentations.
The workshops covered:- Analyzing the audience and content requirements of a document.
- Preparing an outline and organizing a document.
- Presenting information effectively in lists, tables, and diagrams.
- Writing clear, readable paragraphs and sentences.
- Using MS Word’s built-in tools to make the job easier.
- Editing quickly and efficiently.
Participants in the workshops ranged from new hires to senior engineers. As a follow-up, I also developed editing workshops to train peer reviewers, focusing on efficient review techniques and constructive feedback.
This Can Work for You, Too
Training your technical staff to write effectively is just good business sense. It’s an investment with long-term benefits for your team and your company.
I offer training workshops to improve technical writing and editing skills, tailored to your team’s needs.
If your team struggles with documentation, contact me. I can help.