FAQs: How and Why to Budget for Medical Device Product Documentation

When launching a medical device product, providing easy-to-use, accurate instructions are critical  in order to operate, service, or sell the device. But developing highly professional product documentation requires a certain skill set that may extend beyond the manufacturer's internal resources. 

Here we'll answer the most frequently asked questions so you'll understand the true cost vs. benefit of outsourcing the documentation function, the potential ROI, and how to keep your project within budget.

1. Isn’t it expensive to hire a technical writer? I'll just have one of my engineers  write the product documentation.

Companies often assign technical documentation responsibility to the product engineers, given their in-depth knowledge of the product. Although engineers are considered the subject matter experts, they may not possess the professional writing skills necessary to produce clear, concise, easy-to-use documents. Consequently, the total cost of a finished technical manual is most often higher and the turnaround time is longer. 

Take a hard look at the cost-benefit analysis of outsourcing the documentation function. Consider the following:

•  Save compensation dollars. There's approximately $15,080 difference in annual salary between a technical writer and an engineer. 
• Consider the opportunity cost. It takes between 40 - 400 hours to write the documentation. Do you really want an engineer spending their valuable time writing instead of the job they were hired to do?
• Match skills with tasks. Useful documentation relies upon content organization strategies, document usability techniques, audience needs and gaps, and style guides. Without these skills, a final document can take 3x - 5x longer than outsourcing it to a technical writer who does this for a living.
• Dedicate even more internal resources. You'll need another set of eyes to check for grammar, consistency, organization, formatting, and end-user understanding.
• Risk reduced morale and job satisfaction.  It may frustrate your engineers to complete tasks outside of their strengths and responsibilities.
• Uphold your product or company's reputation. Your instructions need to be clearly written so that customers can understand how to operate or repair the product.

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