The most important question that I get asked by wannabe Technical Writers, “To write about a product or application, shouldn’t I know the product or application well enough?”. True, you do but you aren’t expected to know about it right away. Let me explain. If you use an app such as WhatsApp I am sure you know how it works and if someone told you to write about it, you easily could. However this wouldn’t be the case if you join a company say such as as Tally Software and write about the Tally product. So what then? No need to panic at all. A Technical Writer is not expected to know the functionality of a product a company makes when he joins the company or is being introduced to the product or applicaiton. This is why Technical writers are trained by Project Managers, Developers and Testers of the application to learn the software. They are even given Beta versions of the software to take images and screen shots while preparing the User Guide or Knowledgebase.
Technical Writers are allowed to sit in meetings, conferences or product change sessions so that they are kept abreast of the changes to the software or product they are writing about. True that accuracy of the functionality of the product is of utmost importance when the User’s Manual or knowledgebase is released to the public but rest assured you’ll have support from the company that makes the product particularly when it comes to learning the functionality of the product.
So my best advice is to be both prudent and proactive. Normally at most companies there is a point of contact who is available (sometimes 24/7/365) to clarify your doubts or questions you may have about the product or application and it is in your best interest to make most of this contact.
I explain in detail how to learn functionality of an application in my Technical Writing course which is available for a free 30 day trial (during which time you can also complete the 3hr 11 min complete video course) on Skillshare. Do check it out.
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