[no subject]

[Mark Baker <mbaker -at- OMNIMARK -dot- COM>]

Florita Sheldon wrote


>Does anyone know where I can find any type of feasibility study or
productivity
>survey that shows the cost-savings within a business produced by a
technical
>writer and/or technical writing staff?
>
>The technical writing group that I work for is in danger of being dissolved
>unless we can come up with some "hard" evidence that our department is
valuable.


I know of no studies, and I doubt the contribution of tech writers could be
generalized in any meaningful way. The key to making the argument is setting
it in the right terms. To start with, technical writers don't produce
cost-savings for their employers. Rather, they are part of the cost of
making good products.

The value they add to a product is best understood in terms of reduced cost
of ownership. Cost of ownership is what it costs you to own and use a
product, as opposed to cost of purchase, which is simply what you paid for
it. For instance the cost of ownership of a car is much higher then the cost
of purchase because you have to pay for maintenance, parking, gas,
insurance, etc.

Appropriate documentation reduces cost of ownership for a product by
allowing the user to learn it quickly, use it properly, and maintain it
appropriately. Products with low cost of ownership can be sold at higher
margins than products with high cost of ownership, which is good for your
company.

To demonstrate your worth, demonstrate that your documentation lowers cost
of ownership for your product.
---
Mark Baker
Manager, Corporate Communications
OmniMark Technologies Corporation
1400 Blair Place
Gloucester, Ontario
Canada, K1J 9B8
Phone: 613-745-4242
Fax: 613-745-5560
Email mbaker -at- omnimark -dot- com
Web: http://www.omnimark.com


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