Chapters 14 and 15

Chapter 14 focuses on genre within the field of Technical Communication.  The chapter considers Genre, loosely speaking, to be “shared textual conventions.”  As a vivid example, the text provides the example of a “class introduction” on the first day of a new semester.  Within the genre of “class introduction,” certain topics are expected to be introduced (your name, major, maybe a brief intro) but others are not (sexuality, political views, religious beliefs, etc).  Knowing the genre within a given situation can help technical communicators best reach their audience in the way that the audience wishes to be reached.  The chapter also touches on the idea of “changing genres,” and how technical communicators need to be up-to-speed with industry trends, such as “scientific research articles” on page 344.  A key benefit of genre is that readers accustomed to that specific style “genre” of writing can more easily find information within a document.  Writers, however, should not use genre as a crutch; like any type of writing, genre-based writing should be tailored to the individual audience, even if that deviates from the broader and more accepted “genre” within that field.

Chapter 15 discusses how technical communicators can write effectively across a variety of different settings.   Although the book has discussed, more broadly, that technical communicators spend most of their day completing tasks other than writing, the skill of writing is what sets technical communicators apart from other professionals.  From this standpoint, I felt that chapter 15 was one of the most relevant chapters to the actual act of writing.  The chapter discussed considerations such as editing, proofreading, and stages, but did not discuss the actual process of writing as much as it probably could have.  Specifically, I felt that its omission of any mention of “typing speed” was significant within the chapter.  Within the broader workplace, a significant performance differentiator is typing speed, and this is surely also true within the field of technical communication – where professionals spend a vital part of their day behind the keyboard. 

Chapters 12 and 13

Chapter 12 focuses on the idea that merely presenting information to an audience does not guarantee that they will value it, understand it, or use it effectively.  One example the chapter uses is the common marketing mantra of “if you build it, they will come.”  Though revolutionary ideas sometimes make companies runaway profits (Apple and its pioneering of the IPod is an example that comes to mind), many products that are simply “built” certainly don’t attract the attention they seek – especially it is not built with the user in mind. The chapter presents some heuristics on how to assess “artifacts” and their usability to audiences, and also discusses how to rank if “artifacts represent acceptable quality...” using a scale of 1-5, with 1 representing a “minimal error” and 5 representing a “catastrophic error.”  One element I found interesting within the chapter was the emphasis on “appropriate sampling methods and sample sizes,” quoting work from one of my former Technical Communication professors, Dr. Amy Koerber.

Chapter 13 delves into project management within the field of technical communication.  The chapter highlights the importance of flowcharts that include “project phases of planning,” “research,” “information gathering,” and “revision,” among others.  Further, the chapter highlights the importance of time management.  Just as any businessperson knows that a project without a timeline is destined to fail, a company’s reliance on its technical communication team is certainly likely to be time-sensitive and require deadlines with updates at certain stages in the development process.  The chapter closes with a statistic that reinforces its overall theme – “technical communicators spend only 20-30% of their time writing.”  Accordingly, the vast majority of their time is dedicated to the development process associated with projects, so project management and time management are becoming increasingly vital.