Introduction
Technical writing is a broad term, but its overall goal is to help people understand challenging ideas. Copywriters need this vital skill when creating a wide range of documentation, including customer product manuals, software specifications and employee how-to guides.
In this guide, we’ll explain what technical writing is and which documents require this content creation style.
What’s Technical Writing?
A common description of technical writing is “simplifying the complex,” as it aims to explain difficult concepts clearly. This technique involves using straightforward, concise language to help industry experts transfer knowledge to readers.
While this term is often used in software and engineering, the meaning of technical writing is broad and applies to many specialized fields, such as business and finance. Companies hire technical writers to create several types of documentation, including standard operating procedures (SOPs), user manuals, troubleshooting guides and white papers.
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4 Types of Technical Writing
Explore these common technical writing examples to enhance your knowledge base.
1. End-User Documentation
These documents share instructions and information to help customers use a product or service. End-user documentation requires special attention as it generally has highly technical subject matter, but it’s intended for any reader, regardless of their expertise.
Troubleshooting Guides
Troubleshooting guides help people solve common issues without customer support. Typically, these documents contain a list of problems and instructions on how to resolve them.
Using a troubleshooting guide template, you can draft instructions that empower people to fix their own issues, saving your support team time and energy.
User Manuals
User manuals give customers the information they need to get the most out of your product. These documents include step-by-step directions, safety precautions and maintenance tips.
2. Technical Documentation
Technical documentation refers to guides for people in specific industries. These manuals can use complex terminology because they’re intended for experts, but writers need advanced knowledge of the topic to provide accurate information.
API Documentation
This type of software documentation tells developers how to use the Application Programming Interface (API). Usually, these guides include quick references, how-to details and realistic examples. Every system is different, and these manuals help people understand each platform’s unique functionality.
Technical Specification Document
Technical specifications outline a project’s functional and non-functional requirements, creating a single source of truth for stakeholders to reference. These outlines break tasks down into smaller parts, which prevents miscommunications and keeps teams on track.
Technical Report
Technical reports present a team’s research, tasks and results. Development teams typically write these documents to record the development process and product details. Drafting a technical report during a project or directly after its completion is the best practice, as this prevents you from forgetting any details.
3. Company Documents
Organizational documentation outlines policies, communicates company standards and teaches new hires about processes and procedures. This type of technical writing requires different levels of communication — basic instructions should use simple phrasing, but policies may require certain legal terms.
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and Work Instructions
SOPs and work instructions describe how to complete a process from start to finish, helping employees meet company standards and produce consistent results. Explaining these steps accurately means every worker can execute a task well, regardless of their experience.
Scribe’s How-To Guide Generator lets you craft clear instructions in minutes. Simply turn on our browser extension or desktop app and do the task as usual. Our AI tool will describe everything you do on screen, creating a detailed manual complete with annotated screenshots.
Policies
Policies share a company’s expectations about accountability and proper conduct. These documents must strike a careful balance between technical and straightforward phrases. They need to use official legal terms but maintain approachable, clear language to avoid misunderstandings.
4. Proposals
Proposals explain a company's goals and products to gain new clients and secure executive buy-in. Technical writers must have a deep knowledge of the business in order to make engaging, convincing and informative content.
Partnership Proposal
These documents outline a possible collaboration between multiple businesses or individuals. Partnership proposals describe the joint effort’s terms, scope, role and responsibilities. They also present the shared benefits and how you intend to measure success.
These technical documents require special attention to each party’s unique goals, explaining the advantages of the partnership in plain language. This creates transparent expectations and a solid reference to avoid future conflict.
Project Proposal
Similar to partnership proposals, project proposals detail a task’s scope, roles, success metrics and benefits. However, these documents are typically internal and describe a single initiative rather than a long-term collaboration.
To secure project buy-in, you may need to describe a risk assessment, proposed budget, cost-benefit analysis or available resources.
How To Be a Technical Writer for Your Organization
Technical writing is essential for every organization, and with the right strategies, you can start producing practical technical documents today. Here are our tips to improve your writing skills and craft compelling content.
Start With Templates
Using a template provides a clear structure to ensure each document contains all the necessary information. For example, a premade layout can show developers how to structure a technical report without requiring hours of research, saving them valuable time.
Use the Right Tools
Technical writing software, like Scribe, helps you quickly gather and present complex information. It generates clear visual aids, detailed text and eye-catching tips so every employee can understand difficult topics quickly.
Scribe supports all users throughout the writing process, encouraging every team member to produce documentation regardless of their technical expertise.
The right tools also keep your team in the loop — industry standards can change overnight, and real-time updates ensure every teammate knows about new best practices and resources.
Work With Subject Matter Experts
Talk to relevant employees and learn their methods to produce documentation that aligns with your organization’s processes.
Gather your team’s techniques instantly with Scribe’s documentation app. Ask employees to use Scribe during a typical workday, and our AI tool will describe each task in detail, providing you with guides crafted by your very best.
Aim for Continuous Improvement
After drafting, encourage your team to share their ideas and opinions. Your technical writing will only improve as more colleagues provide feedback. And you want every technical guide to be legible and concise, so getting a second opinion is essential.
Feedback is easy with Scribe. Once you set user permissions, teammates can edit the guide, leave comments or drop a quick emoji to show their support.
Basic Technical Writing Tips and Tricks
While tools like Scribe do the heavy lifting, the following technical documentation best practices help you refine your content:
- Understand your audience: In technical writing, purpose is key. You need to understand your document’s audience to provide the right structure and language for their needs. For example, a user-end guide should avoid jargon, while API documentation must use specific technical terms so developers know what to do.
- Collect data and research your topic: Conduct research and interview experts to gather relevant information. Technical documents need to be highly accurate to offer the right guidance and mitigate risks.
- Be concise: Use succinct language to communicate concepts quickly. If you can’t avoid difficult terminology, leave detailed definitions in the body text or footnotes.
- Apply references and links: Link to references, including videos, articles and related company documents, to create a cohesive technical guide. This allows employees to instantly jump to a quick explanation and prevents your document from being cluttered.
- Use visual aids: Visual elements can improve comprehension, especially for highly advanced topics. When possible, we recommend including screenshots, charts, videos and GIFs.
Elevate Your Technical Writing Process With Scribe
Scribe is the ideal technical writing platform, allowing you to craft detailed instructions and manuals in seconds. Our automated AI software translates complex topics into accessible documents that every employee can use.
You can also use Scribe to capture crucial company techniques, allowing you to share knowledge effortlessly. Collect technical know-how from your best employees and pass it on to new hires to retain expertise.
Create targeted technical documentation without the hassle and sign up for Scribe today.
