Technical Manual Review

Accompanying PowerPoint presentation

 

 

Technical Editing: The Practical Guide for Editors and Writers, is a manual written by Judith Tarutz, a senior technical editor at Hewlett-Packard. This book, published in 1992, reads as a hybrid of both pure technical documentation and academic handbook. The book's technical parts consist of standard technical writing issues such as best writing practices, guides to concision, and the finer points of documenting programming code. Reviewing the book on a purely textual basis reveals nothing out the ordinary. Reviewing the book using Lester Faigley's social rhetorical approach, however, reveals Tarutz to be an effective, proactive advocate of professional writing.

A concept that stands out immediately is Tarutz's definition of the professional writer. At the very beginning of the book, she defines the practice of professional writing and what it means to be a professional writer. Most notably, Tarutz takes exceptional care in distinguishing between technical writing and technical editing. The very title of the book, Technical Editing: The Practical Guide for Editors and Writers, places emphasis on the term "editing." She explicitly states in pages xxi-xxii that "by reading this book, you'll learn how to…help technical writers…[and] work with writers…If you're a writer, this book will help you if you're called on to pinch-hit as an editor or perform peer edits." To paraphrase Tarutz, this book is meant for editors rather than writers.

Tarutz's distinction between the terms "writer" and "editor" reveals her emphasis on the professional writer's active role in the workplace. Though none of the articles in the Tim Peebles student textbook examined writer behavior explicitly using the terms "writing" and "editing," professional writers are indeed at their most proactive in the workplace when acting as editors. To act as an editor is to act as an "articulator." Jennifer Slack et al describe articulators as "technical communicators [who] are theoretically situated in the process of articulating meaning just as prominently as are the sender and receiver….technical communicators are authors, even when they comply with the rules of discourse that deny them that recognition" (93-94). Tarutz pushes this activity-intense definition further by stating that "editing is a craft. Practicing a craft means recognizing and transcending its constraints" (4). By this definition, editing necessarily involves full engagement into the workplace and its culture.

Having established the specific definition of the professional writer, Tarutz goes on to describe behavioral attitudes that the editor should adopt in certain situations. Such adaptation is crucial to the editor's success. This ideology reflects Susan Regli's in that the technical editor is a social actor in the workplace. In several chapters, and most notably in Chapter 6: Types of Editorial Reviews, Tarutz describes situational contexts that technical editors will likely encounter in their careers. Some of these contexts include "development edits, preliminary edits, production edits, and proofreading" (67). For each context, Tarutz describes the different purposes, processes, and audience concerns. The categorization of behavioral approaches per situation emphasizes the editor's social role in the workplace. Regli calls these different stages "problem spaces," and the technical editor must be able to use communication to "enable the different spaces in different minds to interact productively with one another" (75). This recognition of workplace spaces is the first step toward a technical editor's enculturation.

Tarutz's instructions are dedicated to helping editors situate themselves into their work environment. This process of workspace adaptation and role realization is best described as enculturation. Chris Anson and Lee Forsberg break down the enculturation process into three stages: expectation, disorientation, and transition/resolution. Tarutz's book aims to minimize the first two stages in order to attain transition/resolution sooner and establish a more entrenched authority in the workplace.

Chapter 5: Working with Writers: Ten Lessons I had to Unlearn is a section dedicated to promoting acceptance and embracement of the editor via team building. Anson and Forsberg's expectation and disorientation stages show up here in the form of "myths," myths about the relationship between product creators and editors. These myths, Tarutz explains, are heralded as fact because "most writers have had a bad experience with a bad editor or have heard bad things about editors, so they approach editors cautiously and skeptically" (54). Tarutz debunks these myths by compartmentalizing the expectation and disorientation stages into smaller, more conquerable steps. One of these steps, titled "How to Deal with Sensitivity (the Writer's and Yours)," dispels the myth that "writers and editors are natural enemies." It reads like a Mars/Venus Romance guide—what he says, what he means, what she says, what she means. This "wooing" guide helps the tech writer understand how to transmit their comments—practice their job—in such a way that nurtures respect and teamwork while strengthening ethos. In the following example, Tarutz suggests editorial tactics one should take to build camaraderie:

The editor writes: Save this for tutorial.

" 'Save' [is used] instead of 'move' because this chapter was edited so heavily. 'Save' indicates the paragraph had merit. 'Move' would have implied yet another major change. It's the same amount of work, but slightly less demoralizing" (57-58).

Tarutz even admits to using smiley faces (a tactic which I also use with great success :-) ) when giving suggestions about a product or document under editorial review (53).

These examples of recommended conduct, though seemingly minor, have far-reaching and lasting effects on professional writing. They impart the wisdom that Faigley spoke of, that "individual acts of communication define, organize, and maintain social groups" (50). "Show writers you're both on the same team," Tarutz advises, so that you may better "win a writer's respect" (55). Writers won't be the only ones impressed. Engineers, business clients, and even management will be more likely to encourage the technical editor's authority. Thus, Tarutz's book not only outlines useful writing practices but also helps the editor enculturate into the corporate culture smoothly.

Since Tarutz's book is a field guide of sorts for the technical editor, there is a chapter dedicated to the survival of the profession: Chapter 16: Is Editing Becoming Obsolete? Again, Tarutz's stance is proactive, and she encourages the technical editor to be proactive as well in order to avoid obsoletion. "Be active on the project team," she writes. "Know the product and make suggestions for improving the product. Demonstrate that you're part of the writing team, not a production coordinator" (367). Tarutz suggests that technical editors can fortify their position in the workforce by using knowledge of audience, knowledge of the writers, and knowledge of the corporate culture to enhance their value as a communications asset. I can personally attest to the truth of this advice: learning new multimedia skills allowed me to cooperate more effectively with programmers and developers, and the content of my writings and edits became more lucid.

The Peeples text emphasized the professional writer's social roles in a myriad of ways, but the most succinct statement appeared in the form of a premise in the very last writing prompt in the book, on page 441: "Professional writing is a profession, and its health as a profession requires that it have advocates within both academic and workplace institutions." This is where Tarutz shines. In chapter 16 of her book, she calls for her readers—the future generation of professional writers—to "persuade your managers" of their value to the company as editors and writers. All the advice given in her book gives the reader the means to strengthen their role, their ethos in the workplace by defining the professional writer as a social actor, recognizing rhetorical situations, and encouraging teamwork development. In promoting her idea of the profession, she ensures the profession's health. Most of all, she shows her readers that by making others' lives easier, you are in effect making your own job easier. Afterall, as Tauritz says, "if you're not contributing anything worthwhile—or can't show the writer that you are—then why bother to edit at all?" (54).

Works Cited