2.1 What is Technical Communication?
Suzan Last
Learning Objectives
This unit will help you:
- Understand what technical writing is, why its important, and what it looks like
- Apply a “problem-solving” approach to communications tasks, starting by learning how to fully define the problem before looking for solutions
- Recognize the main conventions and characteristics of technical writing, and how they differ from other forms, such as academic and journalistic writing
- Understand the importance of defining the “rhetorical situation” in which you are communicating
- Apply what you have learned so far by examining “case studies” that demonstrate the costs of poor communication
- Appreciate the complexity and iterative nature of a writing process in determining what writing process works best for you.
When you hear the term “technical communication,” what comes to mind? Perhaps you think of scientific reports, specifications, instructions, software documentation, or technical manuals. And you are correct. However, technical communication is so much more than that. Technical Writing is a genre of non-fiction writing that encompasses not only technical materials such as manuals, instructions, specifications, and software documentation, but it also includes writing produced in day-to-day business operations such as correspondence, proposals, internal communications, media releases, and many kinds of reports. It includes the communication of specialized technical information, whether relating to computers and scientific instruments, or the intricacies of meditation. And because oral and visual presentations are such an important part of professional life, technical communication also encompasses these as well.
Why are Technical Communication Skills Important?
In a recent presentation on the topic of Co-op Work Term Reports, [1] the Engineering co-op coordinator for the University of Victoria presented the following statistics regarding the importance of communication skills in the professional world of engineering:
The Reality: Technical Writing and Communication
- How graduate engineers spend their time:
- 25-50% Problem solving of some kind
- 50-75% Communicating (Writing and reading reports, letters, memos, proposals, presentations, discussions w/colleagues, managers, clients)
- Performance evaluations and job advancement usually depend more on communications skills than on technical skills
He added that engineers who are more advanced in their careers spend only 5-10% of their time engaged in problem solving of some kind and 90-95% of their time engaging in related communications tasks: researching, writing and reading reports, proposals, emails, letters, memos; giving or attending presentations; discussing and meeting with colleagues, team mates, managers, clients, and so forth. In a recent survey of over 1000 professionals from various professions, over 70% of engineers and almost 50% of programmers rated the quality of their writing as either “