Every two weeks, Aaron and I hold a virtual meeting. We get on Google Talk, catch up, and talk business. The last time that we did this, we were discussing some matter or another and one of us said “I wish I’d known that when I started in the profession.” In a series of blog posts over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing some of that kind of information.

The first bit of advice is that knowing how to write isn’t enough. The ability to write well helps, but there’s more involved in being an an effective technical writer.

One of those skills is information design — how to structure and chunk information in a way that your readers will find useful. Good structure goes hand in hand with with audience being able to understand what you’ve written. Which bring us to the next skill …

You really need to be able to write tightly. Documentation isn’t like a novel or an expository essay. The goal is to teach the reader to perform a task as quickly and efficiently as possible. A few too many words hinders that process. While you will have sections of background information in the documentation that you write, those too should be as concise as possible. You might want to listen to the podcast that Aaron and I did on common writing mistakes for some pointers.

Technical skills are important, too. Start by learning the tools of the trade, like FrameMaker, Flare, and even Microsoft Word. Then, tackle the other skills that revolve around the operating systems, applications, and languages that are used where you work or may work in the future. Aaron and I devoted an entire podcast to this subject, which could be worth a listen.

In order to get information, you’re eventually going to have to interview the elusive and sometimes dangerous subject matter expert (SME). Good interviewing skills are definitely something to develop. Tom Johnson penned a blog entry listing 10 tips for perfecting interviewing skills. While Tom’s post is aimed at podcasters, you can adapt the information to interviewing your SMEs.

Update: In the time since this post was written, Tom Johnson has published an excellent interview on going beyond technical writing. It’s definitely worth a listen. You might also want to take a listen to another podcast on this topic.

Related posts:

1. Advice for the novice tech writer: think long term
2. Advice for the novice tech writer: be like an empty cup
3. Advice for the novice tech writer: hold on to your passion