Is Technical Writing "Boring" ?
One traditional complaint leveled at technical writing is that it’s “boring.” I obviously strongly disagree with that charge and I’ll explain why.
Personal Disclosure
But first a necessary personal disclosure: yes, I do love technical communication with a passion but that’s of course NOT the only thing in life that I like intensely.
For example, I also happen to love poetry and fiction, as well as movies, painting, architecture, running, history, etc.
But, in addition to all that, I take great pleasure in organizing technical information in ways that are easily understood, shared, and retained.
I think good technical communication is one of the most valuable “public good” items that any society can enjoy. It’s a national asset. I firmly believe that our world would be a much better place to live if there were more high-quality technical communication products and platforms around.
Back to the charge of “boring”…
Is it really boring?
Yes, in a sense, technical writing is perhaps boring. Why? Because by its very definition, technical communication needs to be CONSISTENT. Period.
If you have taken any creative writing courses, one of the first things the instructors stress is variety of expression. Fiction and emotional engagement needs a rich collection of words, metaphors, phrasing to keep our interest alive and help us visualize the “human drama” in question.
No-Drama Writing
But technical writing is “no-drama writing.” Actually, dramatic writing kept alive by inconsistent and diverse expressions can be deadly in technical writing. We do want our instructional manual for engine maintenance so consistent, so reliable that (yes) it should also be “boring” to a fault. That’s actually the hallmark of all excellent procedural writing.
Tech Writer or Communicator?
Many people think that technical writing is boring and has repetitive words. This might be true in some cases, but it’s important to know the difference between a Technical Writer and a Technical Communicator.
A technical writer is someone who specializes in creating manuals, instructional texts, specifications and other types of text that require specific detail and accuracy. A technical communicator is someone who produces content for marketing purposes – often with more flair.
So it all depends on what you want to do: if you want to create manuals or if you want to create marketing content – then go ahead!
Technical Writing Over 100 Years
Technical writing is a professional discipline that’s been around for more than 100 years. It can be seen in many different places, with its formatting applied to everything from instruction manuals and programming language documentation to medical reports and patents. In other words, technical writing may seem boring or not interesting, but it does serve an important purpose.
Some people may see technical writing as boring, but this is because they don’t understand the work that goes into it. For those who have a knack for explaining complicated topics in simple terms and are experts at handling details, technical writing may be exactly what they enjoy doing.
The “boring or consistent” question really depends on the person. Technical writers can find it boring if they’re not content writers themselves or if they’re not technical people themselves – but I’m sure there are other people who find it boring if they’re not technical people themselves, but that’s a different story.
The “boring or consistent” question really depends on the person. Technical writers can find it boring if they’re not content writers themselves or if they’re not technical people themselves – but I’m sure there are other people who feel the same way about technical writers.
I think that it’s difficult to generalize about whether or not people find a job boring or consistent, because everyone has different personality traits, interests, and work ethics.
Should Technical Writing Entertain Us?
Remember, technical communication’s aim is not to entertain us to engage us emotionally. That’s the domain of creative writing.
No. Technical communication aims to explain, train, and teach with ZERO errors. And to achieve that, it needs to be disciplined, and consistent. If it calls a widget “Part A” on page 1, it needs to refer to the same widget with the same label on ALL the other pages.
Thus I believe critics who accuse technical writing for being “boring” confuse the goal of this important niche of writing with that of creative writing.
