Keep the Insights Churning
Posted on July 30, 2015
Filed Under Communication, Technology | Leave a Comment
Technical writers may not realize it, or always act on it, but they’re positioned to know a lot about their organizations, more, perhaps, than most of their colleagues. That’s because they’ve traveled their reaches looking for what we might call linking insights, and have mulled over those they’ve received.
Craig Haiss on his HelpScribe blog is good at paying heed (and minding his manners) on his technical writing rounds.
“There are ways,” he writes, “to infiltrate the minds of your coworkers and make an indelible impression of your worth. But you have to make a proactive effort.”
“Don’t let the routine lull you into an apathetic state,” Craig urges. “You job is not about what happens to you. You can meet your deadlines and still find ways to meet other key players in your business. Look for projects outside of your department that could benefit from you technology and communication skills.”
They you have it: Not everybody, far from everybody, in fact, has both technology and communication skills. Treasure what you’ve acquired, along with the instincts you were born with. If you’re not learning, you’re likely wasting the time you’re spending on your daily rounds.
Or maybe, by organizational fate or mistaken fiat, other departments are working on the same things you are. Should you note that, do something about it. “Payroll is pricey. Tools are pricey,” Craig notes. “When two or more people are documenting the same process with different tools, your company is losing money.”
That’s the style of an activist writer, not a mere transcriber of observations made on fitful rounds.
“Only you can help others realize how valuable an asset you are,” Craig notes. That’s true, but you have to act like an asset – by making connections others may be missing, and by noting needs and issues that may have been overlooked.
Yes, a technical writer functions, or should, in the mode of what the newspapers used to call a beat reporter. Newspapers are fading now, unfortunately. Don’t let that be the fate of your technical beat. Your organization can’t afford it, nor can you. – Doug Bedell
Comments
Leave a Comment
If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.
Recently
- Presentations With Forethought
- Technical Writing’s Lineage – Surely It’s Deeper than Digital
- At the Holidays, Twitting Amazon
- Successful Cookie Baking – From Mom, an Acknowledged Expert
- Slides for a Tech Writer’s Craft
- Digital or Not, Be Clear
- Being Watchful About Digital Designs…
- When Proposals Don’t Click, Keep Making Them Anyway
- Like a Good Gardener, Help an Enterprise Keep Itself Current
- We’re Leaders All, And Need to Think That Way
Categories
Archives
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
Blogroll