Morphing Through the Decades

By Gwaltney Mountford

As the 40th anniversary of the East Bay Chapter of STC draws near, the editors asked me to write about technical writing 40 years ago. Alas, at 15, I didn't even know such a profession existed.

Saturday Night Out

I didn't stumble into technical writing until 23 years ago, but I have been associated with data processing since 1970. The tools then were quite delightful: huge mainframes, dumb terminals, data entry forms, punched cards, input/output (I/O) counters, where you dropped off your punched cards and picked up your printouts—usually with a little red wagon. Punched cards were a challenge—especially if you dropped the pack, or if a trickster added a punched card with a picture of a cockroach. The I/O desk was better than the water cooler for picking up the latest gossip or maybe a date for Saturday night.

In 1979, I got my first technical communication job. We still had mainframes and dumb terminals, though I no longer got to play with the punched cards. And we had word processing, of sorts. The software I used was called Script VS. When I first saw HTML, I thought "Time-warp! Time-warp! They've brought back Script VS!" Actually, it is more like "Grandson of Script VS," since the HTML codes are more sophisticated.

Tech Writers Then and Now

In 1981, as manager of user training and documentation, I had my first encounter with real technical writers.

How were they different from the technical writers of today? In basic skills and process, not much. Organizational, analytical, and verbal—but not visual—skills were key. The process was similar: identify audience, purpose, scope, and organization of the document; research, write, and verify content; illustrate, publish, and distribute the guide. Missing was formal usability testing.

A major difference between then and now is the tools. Then, the company was starting to use Wang word processors. Some writers learned it and wrote their documents on Wang. But there were those who felt that word processing was too secretarial. They wrote their documents longhand and gave it to a word processor to key into Wang (and then had to review it for accuracy).

We cut out screen examples and other illustrations and pasted them into the document (Exacto knives and glue stick were important tools for us). We sent the master to the production department who copied it and put it into binders. The graphics department provided covers. For quick reference guides, they did the page layout as well.

Doing It All

Large shops still have this breakdown of job functions, but I haven't seen it since the early 90s when the personal computer changed my job description. Suddenly, my computer could do it all. Layout, design, graphics, and publishing have been the norm for me for 10 years and it is hard to remember a time when someone else did it. The change required new skills, such as visual communication, and more technical ability to "program" macros and troubleshoot problems. But it also gave me more control and the freedom to execute my ideas for better communication without relying on someone else's opinion.

Which brings up what I think is the biggest change in technical communication over the last 20 years: our perception of the profession and what we, as technical communicators, have to offer. We have broadened the definition. We no longer provide only user guides, system references, and reports. We identify communication gaps and find the solutions to fill them, whether the gap is between the company and the client, the developer and the user, or within the development team. We have a clearer understanding of what constitutes successful communication. We enter the process early and provide our expertise to develop user-centered products. And we have been training our companies (or at least trying to) to help them better understand the value we add to the company, the product, and the client.

Looking back, I realize how much fun this profession has been and how much I've learned because I'm in it. Looking forward, I am aware of how exciting the possibilities are.

The Devil Mountain Views -- Jan/Feb 2002
(ebstc.org/newsletter/front.html)
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