Hiring Your First Technical Writer for Long-term Leverage

Hiring the wrong technical writer who will build the wrong platform for your company is a costly mistake you want to avoid… Here’s how to build the right platform off the bat with the technical writer who will stay the long run.

Is professional technical documentation really that important?

Hiring a technical writer can be a valuable asset to high tech organizations. Technical writers are a group of quirky individuals responsible for creating and maintaining technical documentation, such as user manuals, instructional guides, and procedures. They play a crucial role in setting the tone for how your company is going to be communicating your key assets to your customers as well as how your core company knowledge is documented and shared.

More often than not, I see companies asking their software engineers to create technical documentation. The assumption is that they know the products better than anyone else and can therefore convey to unsuspecting souls how to use it. The truth, however, is somewhat different. Writing technical documentation is a time-consuming task requiring a different skillset and mindset than writing code. Using engineers to write documentation is not only a waste of their time which would otherwise be devoted to their unique and valuable code-writing genius, but it also results – no offense meant – in suboptimal, and hence less effective, documentation.

The effectiveness of technical documentation is measured by its usability, that is, the degree to which it answers more question than it raises. Non-technical audiences end up having a difficult time understanding and consuming poorly written technical documentation, leading to increased burden on the support team, and hence increased costs for your organization. A key difference between software engineers' thinking and professional writers' thinking is that engineers tend to focus on the technical details and functionality of a product, while technical writers focus on user needs. Engineers may also be more inclined to use jargon and technical terms, while technical writers aim to use simpler language.

The cross-organizational nature of technical documentation

Technical documentation often involves collaboration across different departments and organizations, including contributions from product managers, engineers, and subject matter experts (SMEs), as well as input from external partners and customers. The cross-organizational nature of technical documentation requires effective communication and coordination to ensure that the information is accurate, up-to-date, and consistent. It also requires a flexible documentation management system that can accommodate multiple contributors and stakeholders while communicating complex technical information to a wide range of audiences, from developers and engineers to end-users and customers.

In reality, however, technical documentation is a two-way street. Yes, producing comprehensive documentation requires that the author collaborate with others in the organization, but more importantly, when disseminated properly, your technical documentation becomes an asset to your organization serving two key purposes. First, it collects the most important intellectual property your organization produces, thereby abating the risk of dependency on any particular bright stars in your company. Secondly, the right kind of documentation can significantly shorten any onboarding processes, thereby reducing your time to ROI.

Your first technical writer

The role of your first technical writer is crucial. They will be setting the tone for your outward communication with technical staff and end users. They will also define the processes by which your company’s intellectual property is collected and shared. Their work will affect the degree of centrality your documentation will enjoy within your organization, determining how many of your SMEs will use it and in what way. The presence of a technical writer in your organization will create an opportunity for your company to think about its communication efforts more holistically and establish a sharing and collaboration culture between technical and business (including marketing, sales, and post-sales) entities.

In other word, onboarding your first technical writer open a plethora of other “firsts” in your organization, which you would be wise to consider before setting that first interview with them.

Interviewing your first technical writer

As a group of experts, technical writers are jacks of many trades, and you will find yourself relying on all those traits for high quality effective documentation. Here are some key points to consider when defining the role of your prospective technical writer and interviewing them:

1. The skill of technical writing. First and foremost, your technical writer is… well… a writer who can write about technical issues. You want to know they write well, and you want to know they have the ability to understand technical Issues. The best way to find that out is by asking for writing samples. What you’re wanting to know is how they approach to task at hand, so you might want to ask them to explain a commonly known concept rather than a technical element that is specific to your product where they are at a disadvantage. ?When you’re assessing their written sample, look for the structure, not just the accuracy of the content produced.
2. Organizing information. The structure of a written sample exemplifies how your candidate organizes information. A good technical writer challenges your SMEs by virtue of producing well organized information. Where information chaos reigned, gaps are bound to surface and assumptions must be questioned in order to write clear and comprehensive yet succinct documentation.
3. Analysis, critical review, and innate curiosity. Technical writers are often self-learners. A good technical writer will not burden your SMEs but rather, with little information and a sandbox in which to play with your product, they should be able to produce at least a rough draft for the document you requested. You might ask them about a subject of interest to them and how they go about learning it and honing their skills in that area.
4. People skills. Expect your technical writer to be in continuous conversation with your SMEs. Since their role is cross-functional, they will quickly learn more about your products than any single SME knows. Greater knowledge allows for greater synergy and documentation of higher quality. They key for this is the ability of your prospect technical writer not only to interview your SMEs, but also to get hold of them and when needed, initiate and lead cross-functional meetings.
5. Self-motivated. Clearly, your SMEs, who are the source of knowledge for your technical documentation, are busy fulfilling their own roles. Time and attention required for technical writing may be low on their priority list. Besides understanding that your company might need to shift priorities cross-organizationally for your technical writer to be effective, it is important that your technical writer does not get stuck because they lack access to any single SME in the organization. Find out to what degree they self-propel.
6. Versatility. Your desire to hire a technical writer right now represents a specific need that is true for your current situation. Clearly, you should be seeking for a technical writer who can write the documentation that is required to be written right now. However, you should find out how flexible their writing is so it will address future needs which you might not foresee just now. You might even ask for their perspective on future needs of your company.
7. Formal training and technical expertise. With a good technical writer, specific technical expertise and formal education is nice to have but not a necessity. Remember, they’re fast, curious self-learners, and they can catch up on the curve of expert knowledge. What is indispensable, however, is their ability to quickly analyze information and decipher complex information, translating it to simple and easy-to-follow illustrations, infographics, or text-based documentation.
8. Technical writing tools. Don’t get hung up on specific tools with which you expect your technical writer to be familiar. There’s a plethora of tools out there, and what’s important is that (a) you allocate a budget for technical writing tools when you set out to hire your first technical writer, and (b) that whatever tools they end up using are the right tools for your organization through which to author, publish, and disseminate knowledge. As mentioned, technical writers are quick to understand technology; after all, you’re hiring them to document your own products. You can rest assured they can figure out new professional tools. What you should find out, however, is how they would go about researching the needs of your company and the tools out there to determine the best fit for your current and projected future needs that would match your (now expected) budget. Letting technical writers use the wrong tools for the job would be a greater waste of your money than investing in the right tools, which will grow their productivity and allow them to maximize the use of their time even if they have to study some new tools.
9. Service approach and cultural fit. Technical writers typically love what they do for many different reasons. You should find out what ticks your candidates and make them shine in their zone of genius. If you allow them to live their own values, goals, and desires within their professional capacity, you are more than likely to keep them for the long run. Your first technical writer is faced with many interesting challenges as they come across all the “firsts” they introduce to your organization. The more influence you allow them to help shape the foundations of your documentation and lead your documentation culture, the greater engagement and productivity you will achieve, and their immersion in the company fabric will offer roots that can be nurtured for years to come.

Some final words

In conclusion, the role of a technical writer is crucial for any organization looking to effectively communicate complex technical information to a non-technical audience. The ability to understand and analyze complex technical information, strong writing and editing skills, and the ability to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences are essential characteristics of a successful technical writer. But they are only the beginning of your requirements when it comes to your first technical writer.

With your first technical writer the ability to foresee future needs is crucial in order to make sound choices that will hold for future developments in your company and keep your technical writer interested and engaged in the long run where your return on your investment in their learning curve is significant. The last thing you want to do is to have to replace your technical writer every few months, just when they’ve started to get a real grasp of your company and products, and you don’t want them leaving a half-baked technical documentation foundation for the new hire to decipher. So, take a moment to consider the implications of having a technical writer on your organization as a whole, on the demands this will place on your SMEs and non-technical business experts, as well as budgetary requirements for having proper, professional technical writing tools. And then, dive deep into understanding how your candidates think, learn, analyze information, and simplify knowledge to ensure you’ve got yourself the best technical writer who is most suitable for your company, not just now, but also in the long run.

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Contemplating whether to hire your first technical writer?

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