Tag: technical documentation Vancouver

New York Technical Writer Discusses How Technical Writers Add Value to Your Company

If you are at this website, you probably already have a need for a technical writer. But you might not be aware of all the ways that a technical writer can add value to your company and improve your bottom line. Here are a few ways technical writers can contribute:

  • Technical writers provide documentation about your product or service that help your staff do their job more efficiently, reducing the time needed and improving quality of service.
  • Technical writers create materials that help customers have a positive experience while learning to use your product, through effective, easy-to-use training materials, online help, getting started guides, quick reference materials, or web-based training. A positive experience means customer loyalty, repeat business, and referrals to other potential customers.
  • Technical writers provide clear instructions that customers can use to quickly find the information they need, reducing calls to technical support lines, and therefore reducing your staffing costs.
  • Technical writers are advocates for the end user, and can contribute significantly during the product design stage, helping your developers deliver a product that is easy to understand and use.
  • Technical writers make your product look professional and increase its quality, through well-designed supporting materials and user interfaces. Nothing diminishes a product’s perceived quality like typos and spelling mistakes in the user interface or accompanying documentation!
  • Technical writers produce materials that are persistent aids to learning, which your staff or customers can refer to long after the training session is over. These materials are an asset to your company, and can be the factor that causes customers to choose your product or service over a competitor’s.

In sum, technical writers enhance your product or service, through increasing quality and customer satisfaction. They improve your staff’s performance through increasing efficiency and reducing customer support time, thereby reducing staff costs. Increased income and decreased costs mean great results for your bottom line!

Back to Top

New York Technical Writer Ponders Our Continuing Mission…

To explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.
— Star Trek: The Next Generation

Technical writers rarely get to write the mission statement for space-cruising vessels like the starship Enterprise, but occasionally, if we’re lucky, we might get to help our technical writing clients define or refine their mission statement.

What is a mission statement?

It is a brief statement that explains a company or organization’s reason for existence. Its purpose is to guide the actions and decision-making of the organization by defining its goal and path.

Elements of a mission statement

A mission statement often includes these elements:

  • The purpose and goal of the organization.
  • The primary stakeholders or key market (for example, clients, customers, shareholders, members).
  • How the organization provides value to the stakeholders—its contribution, product, or service.
  • What makes the organization unique, distinguishing it from all others.
Favourite examples

Able Irrigation  With integrity and dedication, we focus our talents on in-ground irrigation that is well designed, safe, and water wise. Service is our business.

Starbucks  To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.

Disney  To make people happy.

Don’t kid yourself. According to Daniel Rasmus at Fast Company.com, the Disney mission has been replaced by a much longer statement: To be one of the world’s leading producers and providers of entertainment and information. Using our portfolio of brands to differentiate our content, services and consumer products, we seek to develop the most creative, innovative and profitable entertainment experiences and related products in the world.

Which one do you like better?

Society for Technical Communication  To advance the theory and practice of technical communication across all user abilities and media so that both businesses and customers benefit from safe, appropriate, and effective use of products, information, and services.

Goodbye Graffiti  To clean the world one wall at a time. [April 2015: Can no longer find the mission statement on their website. But it was a good one!]

Pacifica Treatment Centre  To promote health and recovery from addiction through treatment, education and support that strengthens individuals, families and communities.

Yoga Outreach  Yoga transforms lives. Together we make change possible, one mat at a time.

To the technical writers and editors reading this, you will notice that writers of mission statements are inconsistent in their use of the serial comma. It’s not me, honest!

Back to Top

New York Technical Writer Discusses What We All Want to Know: What Will it Cost?

The advantages of hiring a senior professional…

I have been working in the field of technical writing since 1993, writing and editing many types of technical documentation, including manuals and online help, training materials, web materials, and policies and procedures (also known as standard operating procedures or SOPs). I have worked in many capacities, from supervising writers on a project to being the sole technical writer on an international team where all the communication is virtual. I have a diploma in Professional Writing from the highly regarded Print Futures program at Douglas College, as well as an MA degree from Naropa University in Boulder, CO. I served my professional organization, the Society for Technical Communication Canada West Coast chapter, in its highest office, president, for the 2008-2009 term. I was also honoured to win the STC’s Distinguished Award for technical communications.

I produce top quality documentation quickly and always ahead of production deadlines. I learn about my clients’ products rapidly, and am adept with the latest development tools, such as those used for video and screen capture, print and online document production, content management, illustration, and source control. My experience and skill level allow me to meet my clients’ goals in a fraction of the time of less experienced technical writers. My rate is commensurate with my experience and skill level.

Industry standards for technical writing rates

The Professional Writers Association of Canada lists a range of $50 – $125/hour for technical writing (2012).

Of course there are many factors that influence rate, including experience of the writer, local market, size of the company, level of responsibility (for example, supervising others), and budget.