Our technical authors and illustrators provide technical documentation at competitive prices for manufacturers worldwide in Defence and Commercial sectors.

1. Understanding technical authoring
If you have ever needed to write a user/help guide, an installation and or maintenance manual, an
SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) or even a product description and troubleshooting guide then
you know what technical authoring is about. Technical authors come in various guises and can
sometimes be trainers, business analysts, managers, engineers, programmers, project managers and
administrators or health and safety representatives.
Businesses benefit from well authored technical documentation as it supports knowledge transfer
and management from the tacit to the explicit. When employees enhance their understanding of
business processes this leads to a more productive workforce that are less likely to make mistakes
and have tools at their disposal to problem-solve. Learning at a faster pace is encouraged and
therefore cost savings ensue.
Independent problem-solving also leads to less support calls allowing support services to cope with
more critical problems requiring resolution.
Assisting employees to understand and process technical documentation requires the use of
appropriate writing techniques. Writing should be clear and concise and not cluttered with
inappropriate or redundant words and grammar. Writing should be pitched appropriately at the
required target group to make it user-friendly and ensure uptake.
Best practices fortechnical authoring also include the use of technical illustrations that can assist the
reader in putting the information in context and applying it at the cold-face. The use of images
complements the text and assist readers by using visual ques. Only relevant information should be
included to allow the reader to fulfil the required outcome and not clutter their understanding with
extraneous information.
Document layout must also be carefully planned to create all the internal linkages in the text and
also to facilitate searching and quick look-ups. A comprehensive index and glossary are essential as
well as references and footnotes to other technical documentation that may be of assistance to the
reader. Exercises to assist the reader to recall information and make the concepts stick are also
helpful.
Technical authors need to stay up to date with developments in their field of expertise and may
undertake continuing professional development (CPD) courses or can also attend relevant
conferences or increase their knowledge by reading technical magazines and literature.
Reader feedback and focus group discussion can also prove to be useful. When considering the
questions that are frequently asked in relation to a particular document this can be used to revise
and edit the material for future distributions. Version control is also crucial in that readers should
only be making use of the latest versions of technical documentation to ensure that the current
thinking and approach is applied.
Technical authoring is an art and a skill and doing it effectively means improved understanding for
readers and improved performance for employees.