What is technical communication?

Many prevailing definitions of technical communication define it as communication that involves or concerns technology. While technical communication is mainly about communicating technical information and it often does include the use of technology, the content or the means used to create that content themselves do not define technical communication.

Defining technical communication

Society for Technical Communication defines technical communication as a field that “includes any form of communication that exhibits one or more of the following characteristics:

Communicating about technical or specialized topics, such as computer applications, medical procedures, or environmental regulations.
Communicating by using technology, such as web pages, help files, or social media sites.
Providing instructions about how to do something, regardless of how technical the task is or even if technology is used to create or distribute that communication.”

Mike Markel in his Technical Communication textbook describes it as communicating technical information “through documents such as proposals, emails, reports, podcasts, computer help files, blogs, and wikis.”

Elizabeth Tebeaux and Sam Dragga in their textbook The Essentials of Technical Communication define technical writing as “business or professional writing that occurs in a business or work setting.”

These definitions describe technical communication as a field that can involve a broad range of activities from writing how-to procedures to tweeting about a new technology. However, many of these activities, even though they may involve communicating technical information, fall under fields that are different from technical communication.

For example, managing social media sites, creating podcasts, or writing blogs are part of marketing communication. Similarly, activities such as writing proposals, emails, or reports are part of professional communication, a field that is quite different from technical communication.

Any form of communication can be defined by its audience and purpose. Marketing communication is oriented towards potential customers. Its purpose is to tell them how and why your product is better than that of your competitors. Professional communication is oriented towards stakeholders such as executives, employees, and investors to inform them about decisions and discussions happening in a company or an organization.

In this aspect, technical communication is vastly different from other forms of communication as it is oriented towards the users of a product or service. Its purpose is to explain to them how to complete a task using the product or service.

Identifying technical communication

The simplest form of technical communication is a how-to guide. Step-by-step instructions that explain how to perform a task is basic technical writing. These instructions can be about anything – how to install software, how to wash clothes in a washing machine, how to operate a lawn mower, and even how to operate a nuclear plant.

In addition to how-to procedures, technical communication also includes troubleshooting guides that help users figure out the problem with a product. It also involves conceptual documents that explain what a product does and how it works.

Majority of technical communication is in written format, although you will also find how-to videos in several cases. And yes, towards that end, your grandma’s recipe cards and those contouring tutorials on YouTube are forms of technical communication.

It doesn’t matter whether or not you use technology to create technical documentation. Though most of writing today is done using some kind of word processor, if you jot down how to wash dishes on a sticky for your lazy roommate, that counts as technical writing too.

In a corporate setting, however, technical writers often use specialized software to create instructional content. These are called Help Authoring Tools. These programs allow them to create complex help documentation for complex products and services.

Irrespective of the tool you use, as long as the content helps someone to figure out how to do something, it’s technical writing.

Here are two examples of technical writing: Microsoft technical documentation and Google Help.

If you browse these two websites, you will realize that these are not blog posts or reports. These are help articles. They tell you how to manage your YouTube account or how to set up filters in your Outlook. They don’t promote their services. They don’t talk about the prices of those services. They simply tell you how to complete a task using their service.

Characteristics of technical communication

Technical communication stands out from other types of writing because of its audience and purpose. It is user-centric and goal-oriented, which makes it factual in nature.

Factual

Technical documents state things as they are. It does not use metaphors or flowery language. A technical document often includes language such as – Part A is here, part B is there. Do this, then do that, and then do that. It is as simple as that. It does sound dry but the purpose of technical writing is not to entertain. It’s to explain to its users how to do something.

User-centric

You will hear the word “user” all the time in technical communication. The user refers to the person who is going to use your product or service. The user is the focus of any technical communication. Technical communicators study the user’s persona, their needs and requirements, and the environment in which they will use the product and the documentation. They use this understanding of the user to ensure that technical documentation helps its user to achieve their goal.

Goal-oriented

Users don’t read instructional manuals because they like to read (well, some of them do but that’s a rare species). Remember the last time you opened a manual or Googled how to do something. Why did you do that? Because you were stuck and you needed help figuring it out. Those instructions helped you complete the task at hand. That’s what technical documents do – they help you achieve your goals. They walk you through installing software, tell you how to assemble furniture, and help you figure out why your TV won’t connect to the Internet.