Knowledge Work

Not too long ago, a senior manager asked me to write a short page of talking points explaining why it was a good idea to have professional communicators–in this case, technical communicators–on staff.  Here’s what I came up with. Maybe you can use it too (or refine it–comments are welcome!)

• Research, write, edit and refine technical and marketing documentation, either as lead authors or as team participants.
• Policy and procedure manuals
• Proposals and RFPs
• Training materials
• Web pages
• Product manuals and online help
• White papers
• Reports and presentations
• Project documentation
• Research and recommend best practices for communications.
• Set and propagate documentation standards and style guidelines.
• Manage your documentation library and collaboration tools.

Why should you care?

An experienced technical communicator can help you save money, make money, establish and maintain a competitive advantage, and comply with legal and regulatory requirements.

Save money

• Reduce support and overhead costs by delivering improved training material and reference documents.
• Increase buy-in from colleagues and clients by delivering persuasive and easy-to-understand policy and procedure documentation.
• Help your staff “do it right the first time” by providing clear directions, reducing the necessity for costly rework and revision due to ambiguity and misunderstanding.
• Bring new employees and client staff up to speed quickly by providing clear documentation and training material; they will become more productive, faster.

Make money

• Win new business by crafting more compelling proposals and RFPs.
• Add considerable value to the services that you deliver and the processes and tools that you support by being able to offer high-quality training and documentation and turning it into a selling point.

Establish and maintain a competitive advantage

• Clear communication helps you align business and IT goals and practices to improve your organization’s effectiveness.

Comply with legal and regulatory requirements

• Stay out of the liability zone by clearly documenting your policies and procedures and communicating them to clients and staff.
• Comply with Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, and related global and industry-specific statutory requirements.