Nine Tips For Improving Your Technical Writing

Technical authors, particularly early in their career, can often find themselves struggling to get their content right. It doesn’t have to be difficult to get your writing to the next level. Here are few simple tips to improve your work.
Exercise Your Curiosity
The best writers don’t just know the little bit it takes to write about a product but the read round their industry and their subject. They talk to experts in the field and they learn as much as they can so they can put their work into context for their readers.
Use Lists
Break up your data flow with bullet points and numbered lists, they make your work feel less like a “wall of text” for the reader. You can also use this technique to highlight important information.
Keep Your Language Current
Particularly in technical subjects language can evolve rapidly, make sure you’re using today’s terminology and not last years’.
Think Like a Journalist
Don’t forget the “who? What? Why? Where? When and How?” Your writing will be infinitely more meaningful to a user who understands the basic principles of what you want to communicate.
Write for the World
In a globalised world it’s more and more likely that your material will be picked up people who don’t speak English as a first language. Keep the language simple, and use short sentences.
Give Real Life Examples
If your readers are likely to be unfamiliar with your area of expertise (and sometimes even if they are going to know a bit about the subject too), then give them examples to relate your content to. Showing how a particular feature achieves a personal benefit is a great way to get users to engage with your documents.
Be Professional but not Formal
You can’t use slang, and you can’t use curse words because that’s not professional. But you can write the way you would talk. Formality stultifies your language and makes it less accessible. Never forget that your readers need information they can use and relate to.
Focus on the User
A manual is not a product showcase; never forget why a user will need your document and write for that need. That doesn’t mean you neglect the needs of your company, but it does mean that you need to prioritise effectively.
Keep up to Date
Throughout the writing process you should stay on top of developments in your industry and be prepared to alter what you’ve written to reflect them. This keeps your credibility with the reader at its highest level.