Better Documentation Skills

You need to identify "why" you find it difficult to produce the documentation.

1) Do you know the software (if it is software)? If not, sit with someone who does and have them walk you through all of it.

2) Do you have access to the physical things you need to document? If not, then get the items you need in order to try it yourself and document as you go.

3) Is it the actual writing process that you find difficult?

4) Diagrams always help in documentation... you might wantto get a digital camera in order to help this process.

You need to be able to handle, use and test the items yourself before you can instruct/document steps for others to do so.

I find it much easier to have the day-to-day instructions written by the operators. Have them record exactly what they are doing. Then go through it as the QA Mgr. and improve their procedures.
If you write it from scratch, they most likely won't follow it. You do not have the experience of actually doing the job, and don't know the problems faced by the operators. Besides, it's much easier to modify procedures than to start with nothing.

Don

I have found that the biggest obstacle to producing good is finding a style that you like. I would recommend that you review documentation others have produced and see what appeals to you. Documentation is usually a step by step process of describing what needs to be done (i.e. do this then do this, etc.). Try to avoid the trap of trying to describe every possible eventuality especially if you can group them. If your problem is partly writing skills, a grammar checker can help. Write like you are speaking to your audience and avoid technical terms or jargon if possible (or define them if you cannot). Finally you must have staff working for you. It may be possible to have them generate the initial documetation as they perform the testing/QAand then review these documents with a few key people from the organization to verify its accuracy and correct errors. You will also need to develope stadards for your documentation so that there is consistency in format from document to document. After you have a library of documentation, you can clone parts as needed for future projects. Hope this helps.

Create a folder and name it Documentation Resources. In this folder create the following sub-folders:

My Previous Documents

Internet Research

Scanned Articles

EMail

Include any other sub-folder that seems appropriate for your organizational needs.

Do a Google search for tips or tutorials on technical writing. There are many free
resources available online; however, you must be willing to devote some time to study and practice.

In your Documentation Resources folder be diligent
about keeping your sub-folders up to date. For
example, in your Internet Research sub-folder, you
can download entire web page(s) you find useful
or you can copy and paste useful articles into a
WordPad document. If you copy and paste, besure
to include the url. I find it helpful to also insert the date.

If you subscribe to professional publications, scan helpful articles and save them in your
Scanned Articles sub-folder. You can begin your E-Mail folder by downloading this reply.

If you make a list of your documentation needs, you can get quite creative and efficient in how
to organize your sub-folders.

If you would like a word processing program which is superior to WordPad visit
http://polyedit.com
and downloadCrypt Edit. This is an incredible freeware program with more features than WordPad, including encryption, spell check and email.

Don't hesitate to seek advice from your peers. If you attend seminars, develop a network outside
of your company. Keep your network alive by
email.

You will find that your knowledge and experience can help others in your field.

Remember that the basics are practice and organization.Beyond these basics it is
important for you to personalize your
documentation system to your specific needs.

With moderate effort on your part you will notice
a significant improvement in your technical writing skills. Technical writing does not
requ

Having good writing skills can be very useful at times. Some could naturally have good writing skills while some may lack it. If you ever feel that you can never gain good writing skills, you are wrong. Everyone can attain quality-writing skills if they try. Here are some helpful tips to improve your writing skills.

Write - Write something each day. If you don’t practice you won’t gain anything. This is very true in the art of writing. You have to keep on writing to brush up your skills. You can write about anything. You can write about an incident that happened to you or about anything interesting that caught your eye when you were walking on the street. It doesn’t matter what you write as long as you attempt to write something.

Take courses - Courses can give you a good guidance to writing. With the rapid growth of on-line courses you can even opt for an on-line creative writing course. Most of the on-line courses would be short and if you are a novice atwriting it would be more advisable to pick a classroom course where you can interact with the lecturer.

Create a folder and name it Documentation Resources. In this folder create the following sub-folders:

My Previous Documents

Internet Research

Scanned Articles

EMail

Include any other sub-folder that seems appropriate for your organizational needs.

Do a Google search for tips or tutorials on technical writing. There are many free
resources available online; however, you must be willing to devote some time to study and practice.

In your Documentation Resources folder be diligent
about keeping your sub-folders up to date. For
example, in your Internet Research sub-folder, you
can download entire web page(s) you find useful
or you can copy and paste useful articles into a
WordPad document.

If you subscribe to professional publications, scan helpful articles and save them in your
Scanned Articles sub-folder. You can begin your E-Mail folder by downloading this reply.

If you make a list of your documentation needs, you can get quite creative and efficientin how
to organize your sub-folders.

If you would like a word processing program which is superior to WordPad visit
http://polyedit.com
and download Crypt Edit. This is an incredible freeware program with more features than WordPad, including encryption, spell check and email.

Don't hesitate to seek advice from your peers. If you attend seminars, develop a network outside
of your company. Keep your network alive by
email.

You will find that your knowledge and experience can help others in your field.

Remember that the basics are practice and organization.Beyond these basics it is
important for you to personalize your
documentation system to your specific needs.

With moderate effort on your part you will notice
a significant improvement in your technical writing skills. Technical writing does not
require special talent. It requires practice and
organization.

Good luck.

-diogenes01

I know this is a somewhat simplistic answer, but I feel confident it will help. Signing up for a Technical Writing or Report Writing class at your local community college should make a huge difference.

I come from an unusual background...I was an English Major in college and a professional graphic artist. I made the change to an IT career for obvious reasons (my family wanted to eat at least a couple times a day...picky people that they are) ;)

Those writing skills and graphics skills have, however, served me very well as a Network Engineer. I still remember the training I received in college and, with the aid of Visio or a Graphics Program (Illustrator, Photoshop etc), I've built a reputation for creating outstanding reports.

Other than a class, my highest recommendation would be to hit the local library and pick up a couple of books on Report Writing. Read them and make notes about the reports that you particularly like. Look for common trends. Obviously grammar, spellingand other basics are essential. A spell checker can help somewhat...a skilled friend is better. But there are other important issues. The outline/organization is crucial. . A strong opening using traditional skills (theme statement) and solid conclusion (restating theme and showing how it has been supported) tend to be very popular with the "I just want to skim over this...give me the goods short and sweet" CEO types. The "style" of the report, the graphics and illustrations, etc, etc. They alladd up.

So, simple as it may sound, take a class if you can. Read and take notes about quality reports you have seen. Find out the features that you, or, even better, your audience appreciates and then incorporate them into your future work. It's a skill like any other. The more you hone it, the better your reports will be.

This is a follow up dialogue to my previous reply. A lot of good information has been given to you to help you out. I did have another thought. It occurs to me if only informal testing has been occurring, maybe part of the problem is that no formal testing plan exists. If you do not have a good handle on testing procedures, this will make it very difficult to generate documentation. If you are unable to gain the necessary training to lead and document the testing, maybe you can find the appropriate resourses in books and on the Internet. You need a model that you can use. It is easier to build a test plan and documentation cutting and pasting from a model then it is to do from scratch. The other thing that will be difficult for you is thatyou are alone in your function. There is no second opinion or second set of eyes to review the work for errors. You need a mentor or confidante that you can rely on to assist you whether within your organization or outside. Join Interest Groups. Subscribe to publications and do a lot of research and reading. Hope this helps.

Seems that you are getting a lot of good information, so I'll just throw my 2 pennies worth in by giving you a link:

http://www.school-for-champions.com/techwriting/default.htm

It hawks this companies software, but is a good basic course that might help you get started. It seems like you have the tools available to get research and document the process. What you need now are oganizational and presentment tools. Use the same associates that documented the process to edit your text and see if they can understand it and provide feedback to you. Then try someone who has no knowledge of the process. Collaborate.

This question was closed by the author