Tech Biz Writing

The first unit outlined the areas of documentation covered by the term technical writing. It should be clear by now that the products of technical writing are so wide-ranging as to almost defy precise definition. We can say, though, that if a piece of work involves factual material of a technical nature and is expressed largely in words, it is potentially a product of a technical writer, whatever medium is involved in its transmission.

This unit is concerned with the first phase in the preparation of any technical document, the Outline & Design Phase, where design doesn’t just mean the artistic layout of the product, but the whole presentation and specification of the piece. The principles covered here are common to all authorship projects and to the design of almost any publication.

The accompanying flowchart represents a series of steps on the way to an objective: an agreed synopsis — with a query which sets up a loop in the event of a negative response. Therefore, if the synopsis doesn’t meet the requirement or the specification, the writer is directed around the loop and back onto the flow path for as many times as is necessary to arrive at the end-of-phase goal: final synopsis agreement. Each of the following phases — development and production — has a similar flowchart which is used as an aid in the evaluation and costing exercise.

Next: 14. The Requirement.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 8th, 2006 at 5:11 pm and is filed under Technical Writing, TechBiz Writing, Documentation, Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.