Technical Communications Poll: Demonstrating the Value of Tech Comm

A few days ago, TechWhirl discussion list member Keith Purtell posed an issue that comes up regularly in the technical communications community–how do we begin “Convincing management of the value of documentation?”  Such discussions usually generate some great debate on the discussion list, and more and more, in media outside the list.   Tech comm  and content luminaries such as Mark Baker, Jack Molisani, Scott Abel, Sarah O’Keefe, Val Swisher, and even us here at TechWhirl, have been discussing the changing nature of our field, what we need to do to become “players” in the organization, and what the trends are for how technical communications as a field can move forward.

List members have provided some great practical advice for Keith in his situation, as well as at least one tweetable moment.  We think it’s very healthy to see much of the community discussion turning to questions of strategic value and the future.  So we’ve posted a new technical communications poll that asks what methods you  use to demonstrate the value of technical communications. ROI or customer satisfaction metrics? Internal reporting? Nothing or something else we haven’t mentioned? We invite you to take a minute and vote–multiple answers are allowed–and post a comment to add to this essential discussion.

And we encourage you to read or view the blogs, articles and recordings  posted by some of the folks in our global community:

• Tech Comm’s Place in the Choir, Mark Baker, Every Page is Page One
• Webcast: The Changing Role of the Professional Technical Communicator: What’s Next, featuring Sarah O’Keefe, Val Swisher, Scott Abel and Jack Molisani
• Technical Communication 2012: Our Biggest Challenge Is Thinking Differently About Being Different, Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler
• Integrated Technical Communications: A Map to Better Understanding, Anna Parker-Richards
• Integrated Technical Communications: A Strategy for Technical Communicators, Connie Giordano and Al Martine

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