DAY TO DAY RESPONSIBILITIES

Creating and managing technical documentation for a product can be very cyclical, with new changes coming in every sprint. Over time, it becomes a constant loop of research, documentation, and publication—with an ever-growing list of tasks for the next product release.

My day-to-day tasks include:

  1. Creating and managing technical documents such as:
    • Product end-user documentation using Adobe RoboHelp, MadCap Flare, and MS Word
    • Web-based help using Content Management Systems (CMS), including Confluence, WordPress, and Ghost
    • Version release notes using Adobe FrameMaker, MS Word, and Adobe Acrobat

  2. Maintaining documentation repositories for knowledge bases in GitHub.

  3. Proofreading and editing existing technical documents to match design and formatting styles based on the company’s established guidelines.

  4. Updating the following based on changes made during the sprint:
    • Existing technical guides and procedures to match the product’s latest updates and changes
    • Existing screenshots and field/button definitions to match the product’s latest user interface changes
    • Existing assets to match the company’s branding changes

  5. Accessing the pre-release version of the application to directly view, research, learn firsthand, and document the version’s pending changes.

  6. Researching and simplifying technical terms and processes to make instructions clear, detailed, and accessible for the target audience.

  7. Creating and managing tutorial clips using Adobe Captivate.

  8. Creating and managing supplemental visuals, design, and instructional graphics using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator.

COLLABORATIVE RESPONSIBILITIES

From experience, technical writing is 50% documentation and 50% collaboration.

Without constant communication and feedback from the development team, the current documentation is at risk of being out of date, inaccurate, or incomplete.

The last thing you need to hear upon document publication is a team member wanting last-minute changes. Therefore, it is necessary to keep the team informed during the entire technical writing process.

During the course of a standard sprint cycle, my team-centric tasks include:

  1. Monitoring the product’s active user stories and attached files in Jira, ensuring accurate and up-to-date sources for documentation.

  2. Consulting with designers, QAs, developers, and product owners through calls and emails to gather information on documentation changes.

  3. Providing technical document drafts for review using Adobe Acrobat, OneDrive, and SharePoint.

  4. Gathering feedback with each user story’s assigned development team members on technical documentation drafts to:
    • Ensure clarity and accuracy of final documentation
    • Incorporate their insights to enhance team rapport and lines of communication for future sprints and projects

  5. Acting as a liaison between development team members to resolve conflicts in feedback and ensure consensus for documentation changes.

  6. Escalating issues within the development team hierarchy when a documentation conflict cannot be resolved between QA and developers.

  7. Attending meetings, presentations, and demos with the dev team using MS Teams to discuss changes and progress in the user stories.

  8. Collaborating with fellow writers to critique technical documentation drafts to gain a fresh perspective.