The Technical Writing Process (Part 1)

This course is designed for anyone looking to enhance their technical writing skills, from emerging writers to experienced project managers. Completing this training will enable participants to understand the phases of the writing process to create various technical documents such as manuals, procedures, and root cause analyses. Effective technical documentation requires a strategic approach and understanding of available resources. The technical writing process, as identified by Kieran Morgan, involves five steps: plan, structure, write, review, and publish.

The first phase is 'plan,' where a documentation plan, a key roadmap document, is created. This plan outlines the project's scope, identifies the target audience, lists deliverable documents, and defines the processes to be followed. It's recommended to use a 'Matrix deliverables' spreadsheet to track all documents and their attributes. The plan should also include milestones with a schedule, specifying when documents will be written, the tools, techniques, and status tracking. Identifying roles and responsibilities, including subject matter experts and stakeholders, is crucial. The technical writer should hold a meeting with managers and stakeholders to refine the plan and achieve consensus. A template can be used to create this plan efficiently.

A critical aspect of writing effective technical documents is having an in-depth understanding of your audience. To define the audience profile, interview subject matter experts to understand the challenges the audience faces, their needs, and user experience. It's important to know the level of detail required, how they process information, and how they will use the document (e.g., as reference, work instructions, or guidelines). The 'five Ws and one H' (who, why, when, where, what, and how) can be used to create the audience profile.

The 'structure' phase involves organizing the document's different levels of headings. Specific templates with predefined headings (for deviation, CAPA, SOP, etc.) are recommended. There are various structural approaches: narrative, process-based, library, and system-based. The narrative structure, less common in technical writing, has an introduction, main body, and conclusion with sequential topics. It's often used for academic papers or textbooks.

The process-based structure is used for processes and procedural documentation in Quality Management Systems. It follows a sequence of activities or use cases. Creating process-based documentation involves a four-step approach: 1) analyze all available information, 2) create a high-level process model (e.g., a flowchart) as a basis for the table of contents, 3) work the process model with subject matter experts to make adjustments, and 4) map the model into a table of contents with headings and subheadings. It's common to use a verb-noun or imperative mode structure (e.g., 'write a list') inside each box of the process model for clarity and conciseness. An introduction section should also be added at the start of the document.

The system-based structure is typically found in technical manuals and specifications documents, starting with an introduction to the product or system. The library structure consists of independent documents or articles, often found on websites or blogs, identified with metadata like title, author, and topic. These documents are accessed via keyword searches and are not used for documents related to a quality management system. The video concludes by summarizing the different types of structures discussed.