ENIE – 100 Technical Communication Skills

WEEK-2 LECTURE #2

Importance of effective engineering

communication

Dr. Loai Abdullah Alkhattabi

E-mail: laalkhattabi@uj.edu.sa
The Challenges of Producing Technical
Communication

AUDIENCE PURPOSE DOCUMENT

•No matter what document you produce or contribute to, you need to begin by considering
three sets of factors:

1- Audience-related factors

•Does your audience know enough about your subject to understand a detailed discussion, or do
you need to limit the scope, the amount of technical detail, or the type of graphics you use?

•Does your audience already have certain attitudes or expectations about your subject that you
wish to reinforce or change?

•Does your audience share your cultural assumptions about such matters as the need to spell out
details or how to organize the document, or do you need to adjust your writing style to match a
different set of assumptions?
2- Purpose-related factors

•Before you can write, you need to determine your purpose: what do you want your audience
to know or believe or do after having read your document?

•Although much technical communication is intended to help people perform tasks, such as
installing a portable hard drive for a computer, many organizations large and small devote
significant communication resources to branding: creating an image that helps customers
distinguish the company from competitors.

•Most companies now employ community specialists to coordinate the organization’s day-to-
day online presence and its social-media campaigns.
3- Document-related factors

•Does your budget limit the number of people you can enlist to help you or limit the size or
shape of the document?

•Does your schedule limit how much information you can include in the document?

•Does your subject dictate what kind of document (such as a report or a blog post) you
choose to write?

•Does the application call for a particular writing style or level of formality?
• Because all these factors interact in complicated ways, every technical document you create
involves a compromise.

• EXAMPLE:- If you are writing a set of instructions for installing a water heater and you want
those instructions to be easily understood by people who speak only Urdu, you will need
more time and a bigger budget to have the document translated, and it will be longer and thus
a little bit harder to use, for both Arabic and Urdu speakers. You might need to save money
by using smaller type, smaller pages, and cheaper paper, and you might not be able to afford
to print it in full color.

• In technical communication, you do the best you can with your resources of time,
information, and money. The more carefully you think through your options, the better able
you will be to use your resources wisely and make a document that will get the job done.
 Characteristics of a Technical Document

•Almost every technical document that gets the job done has six major characteristics:

1) It addresses particular readers

2) It helps readers solve problems

3) It reflects the organization’s goals and culture

4) It is produced collaboratively

5) It uses design to increase readability

6) It consists of words or images or both

1) It addresses particular readers.

Knowing who the readers are, what they understand about the subject, how well they speak
English, and how they will use the document will help you decide what kind of document to
write, how to structure it, how much detail to include, and what sentence style and vocabulary
to use.

2) It helps readers solve problems.

For instance, you might produce a video that explains to your company’s employees how to
select their employee benefits, or a document spelling out the company’s policy on using social
media in the workplace.
3) It reflects the organization’s goals and culture.
Technical documents also reflect the organization’s culture. For example, many organizations
encourage their employees to blog about their areas of expertise to create a positive image of the
organization.

4) It is produced collaboratively.
No one person has all the information, skills, or time to create a large document. You will work
with subject-matter experts—the various technical professionals—to create a better document
than you could have made working alone. You will routinely post questions to networks of
friends and associates—both inside and outside your own organization—to get answers to
technical questions.
5) It uses design to increase readability.
Technical communicators use design features—such as typography, spacing, and color—to
make a document attractive so that it creates a positive impression, helps readers navigate the
document, and helps readers understand it.

6) It consists of words or images or both.

Images can make a document more interesting and appealing to readers and help the writer
communicate and reinforce difficult concepts, communicate instructions and descriptions of
objects and processes, communicate large amounts of quantifiable data, and communicate
with nonnative speakers.
 Eight characteristics distinguish excellent

technical documents:

Measures of 1) Honesty

Excellence in 2) Clarity

Technical 3) Accuracy

Documents 4) Comprehensiveness

5) Accessibility

6) Conciseness

7) Professional appearance

8) Correctness
1) Honesty
• You need to tell the truth and not mislead the reader, not only because it is the right thing to
do but also because readers can get hurt if you are dishonest.
• if you are dishonest, you and your organization could face serious legal charges.

2) Clarity
• Your goal is to produce a document that conveys a single meaning the reader can understand
easily. An unclear technical document can be dangerous.
3) Accuracy
• A slight inaccuracy can confuse and annoy your readers; a major inaccuracy can be dangerous
and expensive. In another sense, accuracy is a question of ethics. Technical documents must be
as objective and unbiased as you can make them. If readers suspect that you are slanting
information—by overstating or omitting facts—they will doubt the validity of the entire
document.
4) Comprehensiveness
• A good technical document provides all the information readers need. It describes the
background so that readers unfamiliar with the subject can understand it. It contains sufficient
detail so that readers can follow the discussion and carry out any required tasks. It refers to
supporting materials clearly or includes them as attachments. A comprehensive document
provides readers with a complete, self-contained discussion that enables them to use the
information safely, effectively, and efficiently.
5) Accessibility
• Your job is to make the technical documents various parts accessible. That is, readers should
not be forced to flip through the pages or click links unnecessarily to find the appropriate
section.

6) Conciseness
• A document must be concise enough to be useful to a busy reader. You can shorten most
writing by 10 to 20 percent simply by eliminating unnecessary phrases, choosing shorter
words, and using economical grammatical forms. Your job is to figure out how to convey a lot
of information economically.
7) Professional appearance
• You start to communicate before anyone reads the first word of the document. If the
document looks neat and professional, readers will form a positive impression of it and of
you. Your document should adhere to the format standards of your organization or your
professional field, and it should be well designed. For example, a letter should follow one of
the traditional letter formats and have generous margins.

8) Correctness
• A correct document is one that adheres to the conventions of grammar, punctuation,
spelling, mechanics, and usage.
• Incorrect writing can confuse readers or even make your writing inaccurate. The more typical
problem, however, is that incorrect writing makes you look unprofessional.
• If readers doubt your professionalism, they will be less likely to accept your conclusions or
follow your recommendations.
 Preparing Effective
Technical Documents
• The main question you must answer: “How do I
prepare the right document for this group of
readers and this particular situation?”

• The four basic tasks of an effective technical

communicator are:
1. Deliver information readers can use
2. Use persuasive reasoning
3. Weigh the ethical issues
4. Practice good teamwork
How Communication Skills and
Qualities Affect Your Career
•A 2012 survey by Millennial Branding, a research and management consulting
firm that helps companies find and train Generation Y employees, sifted data from
more than 100,000 U.S. companies. The results showed that 98 percent of those
companies named communication skills as extremely important for new
employees (Millennial Branding, 2012). The next two most important
characteristics? Having a positive attitude (97 percent) and teamwork skills (92
percent).
The top ten skills and qualities, according to employers, and the scores they
earned:

Job Outlook 2013, National Association of Colleges and Employers,

Their main conclusion: “. . . the ideal
candidate is a good communicator who
can make decisions and solve problems
while working effectively in a team”
 Written Communication
• Detailed Technical Report

• Executive Summary
Types of • Memos
Technical • E-mails

Communication Oral Communication

? • Face-to-face conversations
• Telephonic
• Meetings
• Seminars
• Conferences

Graphical Communication
•  Engineering Drawings
• Charts