Bridging the Gap

An earlier blog talked about the reasons you may have for outsourcing your technical writing requirements. Suppose you want to outsource … what next? How do you choose the right technical writer or technical writing team to suit your needs?

Here are some issues and key questions for your short-list of possible technical writers:

Communication and interpersonal skills: Are you comfortable that they will fit into your team? Does the candidate have experience of working with all kinds of staff- from SMEs to managers and marketers. What kinds of teams have they worked in? What kinds of companies have they worked for? (Big or small? Structured or unstructured?)

Writing experience: What kinds of documentation have they produced? Are they experienced in producing the kind of documentation you want? Consider their portfolio of work. Is it a good fit with the types of documentation you want?

Technical experience: Are they experienced in the technology? Keep an open mind on this issue. While some background knowledge is useful, a novice may be valuable if he/she has the ability to absorb the information and clearly explain it to the user.

Planning: What kinds of documentation planning tools have they used? What planning processes do they suggest for this project?

Tools and software: What kinds of tools and software have they used? You should be comfortable that the candidate is proficient with the standard technical writing software tools (such as, Word and Frame). Anything more specialist may not be a deal-breaker if you get the impression that the candidate will be able to pick up the new tools with relative ease.

Deadlines: What is the proposed time frame? Can they meet your deadlines?

Reporting procedures: How do you propose to keep track of progress? How does that fit with the candidate’s procedures?

Finally, ask many questions until you are satisfied you have found the right fit for your company.

Looking to improve your processes and your documentation? Contact Bardwrite to learn how we can help you.

Bigger companies often have technical writers on staff. But what if you are a smaller company that does not have a staff writer but needs an injection of technical writing expertise?

Or a mid-size company that finds its technical writing team is employed at capacity but you require additional writers for a short-term project?

Or a company that currently does not have the right skills and experience on staff to tackle a new documentation project?

 The answer is to out-source your technical writing requirements. The benefits of outsourcing include:

• Your company maintains its focus on its core objectives, without adding to the staff headcount.
• The out-sourced team already has its technical writing experience and skills in place. No valuable time is lost training and up-skilling staff. 
• Your out-sourced project can be big or small. Projects can change size mid-stream without any implication for employee headcount. 
• Outsourced technical writers can bring a wide range of skills, including scoping, planning, budgeting, scheduling, writing (of course!) and editing. 
• You get the benefits of a team, without having to pay the overheads of a team. 
• Experienced technical writers may provide you with a new perspective on your business. And new perspectives may lead to new opportunities.  

Overall, out-sourcing your technical writing requirements gives you a quick, responsive, experienced, cost-effective result. But now the question is: how do I out-source the best technical writing company?  That’s next week’s blog.

Looking to improve your processes and your documentation? Contact Bardwrite to learn how we can help you.

There are as many ways into the technical writing field as there are technical writers.

The obvious path is the one I took: a technical writing course at university. This taught me the fundamentals of tech writing, including software applications, research, writing and editing. When it comes to the employment market, tertiary institutions may also be a great place to start networking and hunting out job vacancies. My university continues to email job vacancies to technical writing alumni. 

But what if you don’t have access to a university course? How can you move into the technical writing field from outside the university system? Is experience necessary? Not at all. Like many other professions, technical writing positions can be found through judicious networking. A large address book full of technical writing contacts can be one of your best assets.

Where to start networking? Joining an industry body can be a good idea. Becoming a member of technical writing associations may give you first access to job postings as well as contact with people who maybe able to give helpful advice or direct links to job vacancies. Some industry bodies also post useful research or run technical writing courses. When attending a course, keep your ear to the ground. Courses can be a great opportunity to network.

When it comes to your C.V., there are good ways of presenting your background and skills to a potential tech writing employer, even without direct experience. Think laterally about your skills. Have you written articles for a newspaper; completed a policy document; written a brochure? What software packages do you know? Have you done any research? Project planning? Make sure that your C.V. covers these points and think about ways you can expand your list of skills (a writing or software course, for example). Finally, ensure that your C.V. is grammatically correct and free from spelling mistakes.

Start networking!

Looking to improve your processes and your documentation? Contact Bardwrite to learn how we can help you.