Single-Sourcing

After reading Lee-Ann Kastman Breuch’s article, “A Work in Progress,” one insight about single-sourcing and document review processes that I found interesting was that a technical writer relies on and collaborates with many individuals to accomplish tasks for an organization. When I tell people that my career goal is to be a technical writer, many of them think of the stereotypical writer who sits in a quiet room by himself writing all day. In reality, the technical writer has a collaborative or a social role for a business. Breuch states in her article that “in a single source environment, technical writers must negotiate social tensions and conflict as they work with others to create single source documents” (Breuch 344). This is an important point because technical writers do not spend most of their time writing up documents. Most of a technical writer’s time is spent interacting with other individuals. With the help of many individuals working on the same project, the process can become more efficient, and the documentation will be much cleaner and more easily readable for a nontechnical audience. Thus, Breuch points out at the end of her article that by adapting and making the transition to single-source environments, “technical writers can take a proactive role in shaping their emerging roles as collaborators and project managers” (Breuch 354). In other words, by working with people like engineers, subject matter experts, and other writers, technical communicators not only improve key future relationships, but also, they can show their significant value to a business.

Another significant insight about single-sourcing that I learned from the article was that it is much more beneficial for an organization to have each writer write small chunks on a specific topic or aspect of the document. Instead of having one writer compose the entire document or manual describing every single function for a product, it would be more efficient and helpful if writers break up the document into smaller sections. In this way, each writer can become a more knowledgeable technical expert about a specific aspect or function of a product. Breuch mentions in her case study that one writer likes working in a team environment to construct a document because “for each topic she writes, she has a deeper appreciation for the content” (Breuch 350). This is a crucial idea for the field of technical communication because working in teams allows individuals to learn as much as they can about one function of a product rather than having to take the time to learn about the entire product on their own. Plus, single-sourcing makes the document review process more efficient because according to Breuch, “the smaller chunks of text lead to greater scrutiny and increased feedback from reviewers” (Breuch 345). Hence, reviewers can be more efficient by spending more time critiquing and analyzing one small part of a document instead of giving minimal feedback on the entire manual.

Overall, Breuch makes some important points in her article about the present and future of technical communication. In general, the work of a technical communicator is gradually transitioning toward single-sourcing environments where technical communicators are emerging as significant contributors to a team and a business.