Pushing syrup through a straw

In times of bots and Information 4.0, technical communication has become more significant than ever. Yet, the rising expectations are rarely met with extra resources for TC departments. Operational strategies are much needed for times when content exceeds capacity.

Text by Rahel Anne Bailie

Inhaltsübersicht

Pushing syrup through a straw

Image: © aydinynr/istockphoto.com

Technical communication teams produce a great deal of content. Content management experts estimate that on any large website, only 20 percent of the content is persuasive (marketing) content; the other 80 percent is informational content (technical, training, support, etc.). Despite the crucial role that information content plays in the grand scheme of things, technical communication teams often find themselves overworked and under-appreciated. They are downsized, "right-sized", and otherwise squeezed until they are unable to cope with the vast amounts of content they are expected to produce.

Capacity problems

When demand exceeds capacity, this is most commonly due to one of two issues: product changes and resource changes.

Product changes

A change to product size or composition creates a discrepancy between capacity and demand.
  • More product complexity
    The complexity of a product often ...