Who Wrote This?
by Sharon Bradshaw and Barbara Dreyer

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Did you ever wonder who writes the documentation in small companies? Are you curious to know when small companies hire professional writers?

Armed with inquiring minds and investigative skills, we set out to find the answers to these questions. Our goal was to interview a diverse range of companies with fewer than 200 employees and learn how they create information and when they bring professional writers on board.

We devised a series of questions and set out to interview the people who could provide the answers. Questions asked included:

• What kind of documentation do you provide with your products or services?
• Who is in charge of writing and editing this content?
• Who is involved in writing content for Web sites, marketing material, and white papers?
• Who edits for technical accuracy?
• Who edits for grammar and layout?
• Who creates illustrations?
• What tools are used to create content and illustrations?
• Have you used the services of a technical writer? If so, how did you go about it?
• As you grow, do you plan to hire writers?
  

We networked and talked to various people at small companies. We also interviewed freelance writers about their experiences at small companies.

Here is what we found out. When companies are young the responsibility of writing is shared with other responsibilities such as management, marketing, and product development. When the company grows and decides to hire a technical writer, the first writer is usually a freelancer or contractor. Depending on the success of the project, they may bring the writer on full time or continue on a contractual basis. Even as companies grow in size, contractors are still prevalent — especially if cash flow continues to fluctuate.

Ken Wilson is a technical writer with over 10 years of experience. He works primarily with small hardware and software companies that have grown to the point where they need to hire professional writers. When Wilson is brought into the company, he's often hired to write user guides and online help. Sometimes a request for user guides expands into writing training material and tutorials. Wilson has even been asked to produce sales training.

Wilson finds that marketing, management, programmers, and outside ad agencies write most of the information — and eventually hire a technical writer. He confirms what we suspected: documents written by subject-matter experts might be technically correct, but they leave a lot to be desired. They are often written in passive voice, contain extraneous text, are loaded with convoluted sentences, and lack structure (to name a few problems). Most nonwriters don't use templates or styles, so their documents lack good formatting and consistency.

ISE Research-ThunderVolt, founded in 1994, has 27 employees. ISE engineers, manufactures, and services electric and hybrid-electric engines. Each engine is custom built to meet customer specifications and government regulations. One of the most critical deliverables is a complete maintenance and repair manual. Because government funding is involved, the manual must be published according to government specifications. The lead engineer is responsible for the format and content of the manual. Engineers in charge of the various engine systems are responsible for documenting that system. The sales staff writes most of the marketing material and the president reviews all documentation for content and accuracy.

Evans Plumbing is a locally owned and operated plumbing repair company. While most of their jobs are on the smaller scale (e.g., unclogging stopped drains), they occasionally do $2,000 to $10,000 jobs. The larger jobs require a bid and proposal. A contract writer that has been with the company since it was founded writes formal proposals. The plumber gives the writer the essential bid information and the writer takes over from there.

In pharmaceuticals, many people with science degrees are employed as clinical writers. Clinical writing includes research where statistics are gathered as drugs are tested on people. The results are published in professional journals, and the goal is to get approval from the FDA.

Other science writers work for ad agencies that specialize in biotech and pharmaceutical clients. These writers often work as copywriters and create information for doctors and patients. One firm that markets over-the-counter drugs employs freelance writers to author content about women's health issues for their Web site.

A database design firm employs a professional writer who is also a junior programmer. He writes design specifications, administrator guides, and online help. Other staff members review the content for technical accuracy and grammar. They also rely on client feedback. This writer has a range of talents to offer: an economics degree, programming skills, and technical writing. He even writes articles for the San Diego Business Journal.

We interviewed at a software firm that develops applications for tracking Internet users and at a hardware firm that produces keyboards for portable devices. Each company has less than 40 employees and neither one has hired a technical writer. Typical of most small companies, almost every employee is involved in writing something — management (including VPs and the president) creates white papers. Marketing and PR staff develop Web content and sales material. They also write the end-user documentation with the help of product managers and engineers/developers. These firms also hire ad agencies that supply copywriters and graphic artists.

Another software firm we interviewed has 30 employees and develops applications used by computational chemists in the pharmaceutical industry. Documentation for this product includes system administrator and user guides, reference information, tutorials, and online help. Even end users get into the act by adding topics to the dynamic help system as they create components in the application.

The software sold by this firm fits in a new category called bioinformatics. This growing field combines biotechnology with information technology. When the company released its first product, everyone pitched in and wrote documentation-the product manager, vice president, developers, and technical support personnel. Staff with doctorates in chemistry create the scientific information.

They recently hired a freelance writer (through STC's Jobmail) with software development and writing skills to help them manage their growing need for quality documentation. Since most of the product information is about the software interface, a science degree is not required. In fact, this writer envisions a growing need to become more technical by learning scripting languages that are relevant to the products.

Most of the writers we talked to work freelance. We did find a few exceptions. For example, two technical writers work for a software developer, and they write the release notes, installation and user guides, online help, and Web content. The software engineers and writers share responsibility for the technical accuracy. The grammar and layout is the sole responsibility of the technical writers.

In summary, we discovered that almost everyone employed at a small company writes some type of documentation. As companies grow, it becomes apparent to management that running the company is consuming all of their time. When companies reach this stage, they begin to think about hiring professional writers.

Tech Writing Tools

With all of the companies we interviewed, the documentation tools employed depend on the delivery method and on personal preference.

• Nonwriters prefer Word, Excel, Visio, Acrobat, and Dreamweaver.
• Marketing and graphic artists prefer Illustrator, Photoshop, and Quark.
• Programmers prefer the Windows Notepad, Paint Shop Pro, and authoring tools that come with MS Developer's Studio.
• Engineers use specialized drawing and modeling tools such as Pro E, Protel, and Solidworks.
• Nonwriters typically do not use FrameMaker or RoboHELP, although most technical writers use these tools.

When to Hire a Technical Writer

We all know every company needs to provide information that helps their customers understand how to use their products and services. Young companies frequently write documentation without help from professional writers. As the company grows, finding time to write documentation becomes increasingly difficult.

Four reasons to hire a technical writer:

1. Sales realizes the quality of their product is judged by the quality of their documentation.

2. The CFO realizes they can reduce their technical support dollars with good documentation.

3. Marketing realizes that to increase sales, the customer needs to actually understand how to use the product.

4. Management realizes that developers and subject matter experts are not technical writers and that their time would be better spent doing what they know best — developing products and services.

If you're looking for work, we found that it really pays to network. Most firms intend to hire technical writers when they expand products. When they do, they will ask co-workers and friends for referrals.

Kris Oden has some good job hunting advice — consider a startup company. They are popping up all the time. By the time companies receives their third round of funding, they might be ready for a technical writer. It takes some legwork and research, but those companies are out there, and they just might want you!