Outsourcing Technical Communication

This book examines the impact of outsourcing on the field of technical communication. Aided by new technologies and driven by global market structures, technical communication products that were once developed in the United States or Western Europe are now being developed in Asia, Eastern Europe, and other parts of the world. If technical communication follows other fields, such as information technologies, electronics manufacturing, and even textiles, this 'outsourcing' of technical communication products and jobs will surely influence our profession-but how? What kinds of jobs will remain in the United States? Which jobs are more efficiently handled outside the United States? How can U.S. technical communicators develop a 'comparative advantage' in the global economy? How can collaboration and joint development of information products be managed? What are the ethical, cultural, social, and economic dilemmas created by outsourcing?This collection is designed as a theory/practice book that addresses the needs of graduate students, faculty, and technical communicators who want to teach, practice, or conduct research in this area. It addresses technical communications and outsourcing in six different parts of the world, including the United States. It also explores issues of curriculum, project management, legal considerations, and intercultural communication problems.This title is suitable for: Technical communication professionals in academia and industry; managers, researchers, and teachers of documentation projects who are involved in offshore outsourcing situations and need to find best practices, strategies, or recommendations for being successful; technical writers (freelancers and corporate employees) working with international partners interested in how outsourcing can affect the future of their profession; non-U.S. writers working in outsourcing projects looking to perform satisfactorily in their jobs; undergraduate and graduate professors in universities and community colleges teaching courses in publications management, information design, international communication, and technical writing, and students enrolled in those courses; teachers and students in rhetorical theory and professional communication pedagogy courses; ESL (English as a second language) and ESP (English for specific purposes) readers.

Outsourcing stirs strong emotions. Employees associate it with layoffs, reduced quality, and plummeting morale. Managers often don't understand the potential, thinking either that it will reduce their costs by large amounts or that it will make them obsolete, too. The truth is that, when done correctly, outsourcing often does not lead to layoffs, can lead to increased quality, and can even boost morale. Although the inflated savings that some managers have been led to believe are untrue (outsourcing can rarely, if ever, reduce content development costs by more than 60 percent), outsourcing can still be a win for both a company and its employees.Outsourcing Technical Writing: A Primer provides a comprehensive introduction to outsourcing technical writing. Barry Saiff, who has had extensive experience with outsourced content development, provides a roadmap for outsourcing success along with cases studies, a sample outsourcing agreement, and a sample plan. He also connects the success of outsourcing with management excellence and process maturity.

"This book covers a wide range of topics involved in the outsourcing of information technology through state-of-the-art collaborations of international field experts"--Provided by publisher.

Digital Literacy for Technical Communication helps technical communicators make better sense of technology’s impact on their work, so they can identify new ways to adapt, adjust, and evolve, fulfilling their own professional potential. This collection is comprised of three sections, each designed to explore answers to these questions: How has technical communication work changed in response to the current (digital) writing environment? What is important, foundational knowledge in our field that all technical communicators need to learn? How can we revise past theories or develop new ones to better understand how technology has transformed our work? Bringing together highly-regarded specialists in digital literacy, this anthology will serve as an indispensible resource for scholars, students, and practitioners. It illuminates technology’s impact on their work and prepares them to respond to the constant changes and challenges in the new digital universe.

The increasingly global nature of the World Wide Web presents new challenges and opportunities for technical communicators who must develop content for clients or colleagues from other cultures and in other nations. As international online access grows, technical communicators will encounter a range of challenges related to culture and communication in cyberspace. These challenges include how to design content and develop services for online distribution to a culturally diverse audience of users; how to address cultural and linguistic factors effectively when collaborating with international colleagues and clients via online media; and how to develop effective online teaching and training practices and materials for use in learning environments comprised of culturally diverse groups of students. The contributors to Culture, Communication and Cyberspace examine these challenges through chapters that explore the different aspects of international online communication. The contributing authors use a range of methodologies to review a variety of topics related to culture and communication in cyberspace. In so doing, the authors also examine how business trends, such as international outsourcing, content management, and the use of open source software (OSS), are affecting and could change practices in the field of technical communication as related to online cross-cultural interactions.

Practical, research-based overview of careers in technical communication featuring narratives from working professionals in a range of careers and international contexts Technical communication is a diverse, growing, and rapidly changing field, and an up-to-date guide to careers will be useful for students and junior professionals in the US and Europe Competing books on technical communication careers are outdated and do not include non-US contexts; this book contains current research and practitioner narratives that most closely examine careers as they operate today

A practical guide to managing technical writing projects and tech writing departments, covering hiring, evaluation, management, internal and external customer relations, estimating and tracking tech writing projects, running a tech writing business as a solo contractor or as a manager, selling writing services, contracts and work orders, outsourcing, technical training development & delivery, and more.From the Introduction:"There are many books available on the techniques of technical writing, primarily for beginners and practitioners of tech writing. But there are very few books on how to manage the technical writing group in a company or how to manage a technical writing business (whether you're on your own as a freelancer or you have writers working for you). If you are a tech writer who manages other writers, or if you are a non-writer who manages writers, this book is for you.The sections on managing tech writing projects show a methodology specific to technical documentation. If you want to learn general management and project management techniques-and you should-that information already exists. What this book aims for is to provide you as a manager of technical writing with the specifics that you won't easily find elsewhere.Secondarily, this book aims to give new managers, and future managers, a leg up on how to actually run a technical publications group, based on some 20 years of experience in the field.There are different situations in which someone becomes a manager of a technical publications group. Sometimes a writer grows into the role within a company as the department grows, sometimes tech writers are subsumed under some other group - I've seen writers belonging to support, testing, marketing, and infrastructure groups - and the person in charge of technical writing in the company isn't actually a writer and may never have been one.Tech writers who set up their own freelance business have their own specific needs: not only are they the managers, they're also the writers. Finally, owners or managers of tech writing agencies, whether or not they are writers themselves, have business issues specific to a tech writing business to consider."Contents:Chapter 1 Introduction* A guide for technical writing managers* Writers who become managers* Managers who are not tech writers* Freelance tech writers* Tech writing agency owners* What's in this bookChapter 2 Tech writing for managers* A quick intro to technical writing* Technical editing* Technical writing and product management* Tech writing and debugging* What skills do technical writers need?Chapter 3 How to hire tech writers* Establish the requirements* Evaluate the resumes* Interview the writers* Review the samples* Give a test* Tech writers with non-tech writing experienceChapter 4 Managing a tech writing group* The role of tech writers in a corporate environment* The documentation team* Define standards* Distribute the work in your team* Involve the writers* Build teams* Monitor the work and communications* Evaluate the writers* Client relations* Communicating with other groups in your organization* Corporate tech writing* Re-use, repurposing, and content management systemsChapter 5 Estimating, tracking, and managing tech writing projects* Determine the project scope* Estimates and schedules* Assemble the team* Provide resources and leadership* Working with outsourced writers or outsourced SMEs* Track and report* Deliver the project* Evaluate the projectChapter 6 Running a tech writing business* Finding jobs* Marketing yourself as a freelance tech writer* Other marketing avenues* Managing your clientsChapter 7 Managing technical training* How to do tech training* Training program components* Training needs analysis* Training development* Training delivery* Training delivery management* Training program communication* Training budget* Set the tone: fun exploration* Training evaluation

The Language of Technical Communication has a dual objective: to define the terms that form the core of technical communication as it is practiced today, while predicting where the field will go in the future. The choice of terms defined in this book followed two overarching principles: include all aspects of the discipline of technical communication, not just technical writing, and select terms that will be relevant into the foreseeable future.The Language of Technical Communication is a collaborative effort with fifty-two expert contributors, all known for their depth of knowleEA Digital (delivered electronically)e. You will probably recognize many of their names, and you will probably want to learn more about the ones who are new to you. Each contributed term has a concise definition, an importance statement, and an essay that describes why technical communicators need to know that term. You will find well understood terms, such as content reuse and minimalist design, alongside new terms, such as the Internet of Things and augmented reality. They span the depth and breadth, as well as the past and future, of technical communication.