Measures of Excellence in Technical Communication

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Measures of Excellence in Technical Communication
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Measures of Excellence in Technical Communication

• Although every technical document is different,
  eight measures of excellence characterize all
  technical communication.
• Honesty
• Clarity
• Accuracy
• Comprehensiveness
• Accessibility
• Conciseness
• Professional Appearance
• Correctness

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Honesty

• The most important measure of excellence
• Three reasons to be honest as a communicator
• It is the right thing to do
• Readers can get hurt if you are dishonest
• You and your organization could face serious
  legal charges

4
Clarity

• Your goal is to produce a document that the
  reader can understand easily.
• Technical communication must be clear for two
  reasons
• Unclear technical communication can be dangerous
• Unclear technical communication is expensive.
  (Reduce the number of calls to customer service)

5
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.

6
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.

7
Accessibility

• 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
• A web page should include a site map and a clear
  set of navigation links to help readers
  understand where they are.

8
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.

9
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.

10
Correctness

• 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.

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In Conclusion

• 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.