Writing support might come in handy

In fact, support in technical writing might be ideal

It happens more than once: a product is ready for its launch, but the accompanying manual is not. Somehow, the time necessary to write an up to standard manual was underestimated. At the very last moment, extra efforts are necessary to prevent a postponement of the product launch. How to prevent this? Writing support might indeed be the answer.

Whatever the reason(s) might be for a manual not to be on time, how does one address this issue? Postponement of the product launch is an option, but only as a last resort. This is especially so if the product itself looks fine. A manufacturer wants to stay ahead of its competitors.

Allocating extra resources to write the manual is the only way out. Then the question arises: should these “resources” come from within or from the outside? The answer to this question has financial consequences, of course.

However, asking one’s own people to make a manual also takes time, and therefore costs money.

External writing support

Generally speaking, asking for external writing support is a very good way out of the situation. When experts start providing manual writing support, one can be pretty sure that the timeline will be most efficient. But not only that: asking for any form of external technical writing also results in high-quality work – or at least, in the worst case scenario, sufficient quality. External experts, after all, are precisely that: experts. Because experts know how to make manuals, they can also leave out unnecessary details, thus bringing the costs down even more.

This does not take away the fact that the availability of experts is not a given. A manual writing company will help a customer as much as it can. Nevertheless, it could very well be the case that only multiple companies provide enough ‘manpower’ to uphold the original schedule.

That is why it is always a good idea to plan the production of the manual alongside the product itself. If it then turns out writing support is necessary, this will become apparent as early as possible. Early involvement leaves enough room to write a high-quality manual, whether internally or with the help of experts.