Technical Writer

I’m feeling depressed today. It’s a combination of a lot of little things:

• A new boss, who doesn’t understand what it is that technical writers do, let alone what I’m doing in his team
• I need to document a system process by tomorrow night but I can’t get access to that particular system
• A workmate comes to me as a last resort. They had tried to purchase a new system to store specific data but couldn’t get budget for it. They wonder if I have any suggestions for an alternative. I tell them a single SharePoint list will do the job for them.

That’s right. One single SharePoint list. Yet they were prepared to spend hundreds, maybe thousands, of dollars to buy a new product just to produce the same information as a single SharePoint list with a number of different views.

We discussed how many lists my workmate really needed. She thought ten, one for each of our major customers.

I try to tell her that, no, if she adds an extra (checkbox choice) column for the customer name then she only needs one list, especially since 90% of the information is exactly the same for each customer. But no, she wants to duplicate the information ten times over. I set up a sample for her but she goes away not convinced.

I have no authority. I am only the technical writer. Had I been, say, a business analyst or system architect, or even a developer, then obviously I would have known what I was talking about and she would have seriously looked at the proposition.

It’s the same with the access problem. It’s a remote system. I can’t get into it. Our Service Desk guys can’t get into it. So, we (Service Desk and I) have logged a request with the people who manage the remote site. I know that request will drop right to the bottom of the pile. Because I am only a technical writer and therefore unimportant in the scheme of things.

[I have no complaints with our Service Desk, by the way. These people are fantastic. Patient, good-natured—which is pretty hard given some of the work that is heaped on them, always ready to help—despite how stupid a question may be. They keep systems running smoothly 99.9% of the time, and yet the only time they really get noticed is when something goes majorly wrong. Then it’s usually bad notice.]

But it’s the new boss that really depressed me. Here we go again. I now have to sell myself and my product—me, and my technical writing—all over again.

Sometimes I wonder if it is worth it.

The problem with being a sole technical writer in a team or a company is that no-one really knows who you are or what you do, and you have to convince them of your value. It’s even more of a problem if your team leader or manager doesn’t accept that you really are a part of the team. You become demoralised, your work gets worse, which affects your morale even more, and your ability to fit into the team, which affects your work and so on in an ever increasing downward spiral.

I think that most of us who are sole technical writers have experienced this problem.

At a recent conference I attended, one of the presenters spoke about this alienation, about no-one understanding your value to the company or your team. A goodly number of us in the audience nodded.

“You know,” he said, “That it’s your fault. It’s up to you to convince people of your value, it’s not up to others to do it for you.”

I agree with him.

Just being able to write doesn’t automatically make you a good technical writer. Two other skills that are more important are project management and people skills. People skills do not just mean being able to coax the developer into giving you time out of his/her busy schedule, it also means networking and selling yourself. Yet a lot of technical writers are far stronger in the technical and writing side than they are on the people side.

I am one of these.

Marketing is hard work, and right now in my depressed state I wonder if it’s worth it.

I will feel better tomorrow. Most jobs have components you’d rather not do, and there aren’t many better jobs than tech writing, so tomorrow I will see how I can convince my boss I add value.

But for tonight, I think I’d like to wallow in self-pity.