Technical Writing and Communication

Technical Documentation is always about motivation, asserting belief on what one knows, and offers as an advice, is undoubtedly acclaimed of. People must belief and rely what one has to offer.

Usage of Voice – Should we use Active Voice, or should we use Passive Voice ? in fact, both. Previously “I” and “We” or in that sense any “Personal Pronouns” were avoided with a view point that they make the person’s work more hyped than person himself. Contrary to this belief, personal pronouns can clearly distinguish between what you did and what others did. Prefer using “We” instead of “I” to make the statement somewhat impersonal. For an example instead of “By a combination of CTRL and the A key I can select my document“, you should use “By a combination of CTRL and the A key We can select our document“

The best is however usage of the word one, for example “By a combination of CTRL and the A key one can select his or her document“

Usage of Masculine and Feminine pronoun – No more his, it’s better not being questionable about the gender of the target. For example Instead of “A team leader must be ready to explain the point to his team” doesn’t really fit in a world where females play a major role in most organizations. It’s better to write it this way – “”A team leader must be ready to explain the point to his or her team” or better avoid the whole point at all and construct sentence with plural pronouns for example; “Team leaders must be ready to explain the point to their teams“.

Avoid using too much words – Needless phrases, use of too many words when you can substitute are all to be avoided while writing for the technically sound human groups. For example avoid “at this point” and let’s use “now“. Simple, Effective and to the point are the most effective jargons to remember while redrafting a technical document.

Will share some more secrets of my learning in upcoming posts.