Roles
The development of a manual or any other form of content generally involves several people or teams. Each make their contributions in the different phases of the project.
Technical Writer
The Technical Writer is specialized in authoring content in a short and concise manner.
One of the skills the technical writer brings to the project is a fresh perspective or view of the product, through the eyes of the end user. The technical writer is trained not to make assumptions about what the end user may or may not consider obvious, which a subject matter expert may find difficult to avoid.
The Technical Writer can quickly recognize the areas in which a user may experience problems, and adapt the content to maximize the end-user’s comprehension of the material.
On-Line Help Specialist
For self-help initiatives, the online help specialist is specialized in engineering an online help system.
Subject Matter Experts
Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) know the ins and outs of the product for which the documentation is written. The SME can be a system architect, programmer, consultant or business manager.
The contribution of the SME is to provide the technical writer with input and be available to answer possible questions.
Project Manager
In many cases there is also project leader, responsible for supervising the progress of the project and possibly evaluate and approve the developed content. In most cases, Penman provides project management for all initiatives unless the client prefers to manage the process.
