Knowledge management has become an important aspect of almost every business nowadays – and it’s clear why. But what could be challenging to some knowledge managers is keeping their systems in check. This is when technical writing can be incredibly useful, so here’s everything you need to know about the importance of technical writing in knowledge management.

What Is Knowledge Management?

To put it simply, knowledge management allows businesses and organizations to identify, create, capture, acquire, share, and leverage information and knowledge. In this case, the said information or knowledge is viewed as a valuable asset. Knowledge management is mostly performed with the help of knowledge managers and knowledge management systems.

Knowledge management systems help categorize, capture, use, and analyze knowledge used within your business for different processes as well as for decision-making. This kind of knowledge transfer lets you easily share information between your departments and teams. With a knowledge management system that is set up correctly, you can train employees more effectively, make your activities more cost-effective, improve productivity, and so on.

What Is Technical Writing?

Technical writing is a style of writing used mostly for formal or official documents, instructional manuals, policies, business procedures, and more. In other words, it is a very broad term, but at its core, technical writing is about gathering the right technical information and writing it down for documentation and other purposes.

Jean Cornish, an expert from the writing services reviews site Trust My Paper, says, “Some businesses make sure to have at least one in-house technical writer while others think that anyone can do the job. This is far from reality. Technical writing requires certain skills to be done correctly. Moreover, it plays an important role for businesses of all kinds as it allows companies to keep documentation in check, organize business processes, and more.”

How Are the Two Connected?

So, how exactly are knowledge management and technical writing connected? Both work with information or knowledge, so both technical writers and knowledge managers often have to perform extensive research to collect relevant data that they can then use. But beyond that, technical writing is essential for successful knowledge management.

AI and machine learning allow knowledge management systems to develop into more accurate and highly-functioning programs. However, categorization is still often lacking in quality, especially considering that there are new laws and policies being introduced every day (e.g. GDPR, privacy regulations). This is why technical writers are so important for knowledge management.

These are professionals who can use their skills and experience to provide more comprehensive descriptions and instructions than a machine ever could. Technical writers use techniques such as the Pyramid Principle to create more accurate documentation for knowledge transfer. With more high-quality documentation, your overall knowledge management will improve too.

What Are Some Best Practices to Follow for Technical Writing?

Harris Park, an expert from the custom writing reviews site Supreme Dissertations, explains, “Ideally, you will want to hire at least one technical writer to work on your knowledge management. However, if you don’t have the resources to do so just yet, you can start learning technical writing skills yourself.”

To help you get started, here are some technical writing best practices to follow:

• Outline Your Text: Before you start writing, it’s a good idea to first make an outline of the text you are about to write. Structure is extremely important for technical writing, so the best thing you can do is organize all of your information beforehand. You can also format your text for easier readability with the help of paragraphs, subheadings, bullet-point or numbered lists, and so on. Also, keep in mind the layout you might have to follow depending on the type of text you are writing.
• Be Reader-Oriented: Always put your reader first and foremost. Don’t expect your audience to have prior knowledge on a particular subject unless this is very basic knowledge. If you refer to particular concepts, explain them or link to resources that explain them. Don’t skip steps in instructions or guides. And, of course, use simple and clear language that your audience can understand. Too much jargon can be intimidating and confusing.
• Combine Text with Visuals: Though you are a technical writer, you still need to consider situations when you will have to supplement your text with visuals. In some cases, it’s simply not enough to have just the text. This is when you will have to combine text with visuals (e.g. photographs, illustrations, infographics, schemes, or even videos). If a process you are describing is particularly complicated or nuanced, a visual you include might be better at explaining it than your text.
• Review Your Text at The End: One thing you should always do when you have finished writing your text is review it. Check that all of the necessary information is included and that it is structured in a logical and clear way. Make sure that there are no grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors and that your wording and word choice are all right. Make the final changes before you submit your work to your organization’s knowledge management system.

Conclusion

To sum up, your knowledge management strategy can definitely benefit from technical writing. Use the information in this article to help you get started and begin implementing technical writing into your knowledge management by hiring qualified technical writers.

~~~

Frank Hamilton has been working as an editor at an essay review service. He is a professional writing expert in such topics as blogging, digital marketing and SEO. He also loves cooking and speaks Spanish, French, German and English.