Transcript Measures of Excellence in Technical Communication

Measures of Excellence in
Technical Communication
Measures of Excellence in
Technical Communication
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Although every technical document is
different, eight measures of excellence
characterize all technical communication.
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Honesty
Clarity
Accuracy
Comprehensiveness
Accessibility
Conciseness
Professional Appearance
Correctness
Honesty
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The most important measure of
excellence
Three reasons to be honest as a
communicator:
1.
2.
3.
It is the right thing to do
Readers can get hurt if you are
dishonest
You and your organization could face
serious legal charges
Clarity
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Your goal is to produce a document that
the reader can understand easily.
Technical communication must be clear
for two reasons:
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Unclear technical communication can be
dangerous
Unclear technical communication is expensive.
(Reduce the number of calls to customer
service)
Accuracy
The slightly inaccuracy will confuse
and annoy your readers.
 A major inaccuracy can be
dangerous and expensive.
 Accuracy is also a measure of ethics.
It must be reasonable, fair and
truthful.
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Comprehensiveness
Provides all the information readers
need.
 Readers who are unfamiliar with the
subject can understand it.
 Contains sufficient detail so that
readers can follow the discussion
and carry out any required tasks.
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Accessibility
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Refers to the ease with which readers can
locate the information they seek.
Readers should not be forced to flip
through the pages to find the appropriate
section.
Example:
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A web page should include a site map and a
clear set of navigation links to help readers
understand where they are.
Conciseness
Must be concise to be useful.
 A longer document is more difficult
to use because it takes more of the
readers time.
 Make the document long enough to
be clear given the audience purpose
and subject but not a word longer.
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Professional Appearance
If the document looks neat and
professional, readers will form a
positive impression of both the
content and the authors.
 Your document should be well
designed and neatly printed.
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Correctness
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Good technical communication observes
the conventions of grammar, punctuation,
spelling and usage.
Carelessness and grammar errors make
your readers doubt the accuracy of your
information.
As a result, the document will not achieve
its purpose and readers could judge you
incompetent and unprofessional.
In Conclusion
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Technical Communication is meant to
fulfill a mission: to convey information to
a particular audience so that they
understand something or can carry out a
task.
To accomplish these goals it must be
honest, clear, accurate, comprehensive,
accessible, concise, professional in
appearance and correct.