Information Gathering Tips for Technical Writers

By Arun Dash

The diverse responsibilities owned by technical writers in recent times endorse that theirs is the best example of ‘team work’. They understand the requirements, communicate with different teams and stakeholders, collate information, and prepare documents for various types of users. So, the nature and scope of their job that hold the key to generating quality documentation output are:

• Mastery in inter-personal communication to flourish as thorough professionals.
• Good English writing skills.
• Content organization.
• Content management abilities.
• Technical aptitude.
• Penchant for details.
• Efficient coordination skills to extract information from the product development team or the engineering services team.

Keeping such issues in mind, it is particularly important for technical writers to learn the art of eliciting information from various stakeholders involved in the product development. The stakeholders might include the development team, the test team, the User Interface design team, and even, the customer themselves at times.

Here are a few tips that can serve as potential elicitation techniques essential for technical writers:

• Know the end-users

Identifying the level of knowledge of the target users always comes in handy while preparing a help document for any product or software application. Based on the level of their previous understanding and technical knowledge, you can decide a suitable approach to your documentation. You can handpick what all information you must include in the document and what all you can weed out.

Action point: Ask questions upfront to know the level of knowledge of the target users of the application or product before you start planning to write.

• Step into the end-user’s shoes

While communicating with the development team or test team, it is essential to know the nitty-gritty of the application from an end-user’s perspective. Unless you do that, you may assume some information as unnecessary and so may not include in the documents. But users may find it difficult to grasp the concept or functionality just because of the absence of the information that you have left out.

Action point: Don the hat of a user and ask as many silly questions as possible to the development and test team.

• Lend your ears as they explain

Time always plays a critical role irrespective of the project delivery method (Agile or Waterfall) you follow to run a project. So, to consume your time thriftily, you must be all ears to the speaker while eliciting information from different stakeholders. Follow diligently the 80/20 rule that the most effective communicators practice. Spend 80% of your time listening and only 20% talking (here, mostly, in the form of asking questions).

Action point: Ensure that your active listening and resultant understanding encourage the speakers to explain better and with patience.

• Feign ignorance

Many a time, you are required to write instructions and prepare documents for users who have limited knowledge of computers and any such technology. For a comprehensive documentation that can cater to the needs of such users, you must capture all the basic information that might look a trifle otherwise. In such cases, you may feign ignorance to drill down to get the details from the lowest levels in any domain.

Action point: Underestimate the (technical) intelligence of the average user and ask questions about the application and its functionality from their points of view.

As you weigh the tips in terms of their applicability, I am reminded of the wise words of the French Philosopher Voltaire: Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers. Considering the times when Voltaire lived, from 1694 to 1778, we must overlook the ‘gender bias’ element in his use of the word ‘man’. So, it is applicable to all of us!

About the author: Arun Dash works as a technical writer for TATA Consultancy Services in Hyderabad. He is an avid reader of editorial columns and articles published in newspapers and magazines. Voluminous paperbacks seldom interest him though. When he reacts to any social issues, he does that by writing blogs (at http://idlemusingz.blogspot.in). No matter how busy his schedule is, he spends at least two solid hours with his cute daughter Riddhi every day. You can reach him at mailarru[at]gmail[dot]com.