|
The Commerce of Content
|
Project Management | People Management | Business Management | Information Design Models, Processes, and Techniques | Home |
Originally published in the third quarter 1997 Issue of Technical Communication. Reprinted with permission.
by Saul Carliner
To be effective in our efforts to demonstrate value, technical communicators must first distinguish between quality¾ meeting requirements¾ and value¾ the perception of how effectively a product or service meets needs. Then, we must systematically collect data that tracks perceptions of value and, by reporting it to clients, molds their perception of the value technical communicators add. Kirkpatrick’s four-level model for evaluating training offers a framework for such an effort. Adapted to technical communication products and services, the levels are:
| 1. Reader satisfaction | Assesses how readers feel about a given communication product (a term that refers collectively to user’s guides, help, references, tutorials, brochures, newsletters, and similar products of a technical communicator’s work) and assessed through Reader’s Comment Forms and focus groups |
| 2. Reader performance | Measures the extent to which users can perform the main objectives and assessed through usability tests (for information that explains products, services, and policies), citations (for scientific information), purchasing behavior (for marketing information), and criterion-referenced tests (for training materials) |
| 3. Client results | Measures the extent to which the communication product met the business objectives and assessed by business measures (client refers to the executive who pays for our services; this person may work within or outside our organization) |
| 4. Client satisfaction | Evaluates how clients feel about the information development process in general and the experience of working with us in particular and assessed through performance reviews |
Data collection begins before the communication product is developed and continues long after its publication. Merely collecting data, however, does not ensure that clients will accept it; technical communicators must also share the data with clients at appropriate opportunities: in information designs, progress reports, post-mortems, annual reports, sales and publicity efforts, and informal communications. The data might not always tell the story we want to hear. We might not provide clients with data they want. We might learn that others can perform this work more effectively. Jobs might be lost when the data is poor. But ultimately, collecting data about value should establish our credibility and help us more effectively price technical communication products and services.
Project Management | People Management | Business Management | Information Design Models, Processes, and Techniques | Home
(c) Copyright. 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002. Saul Carliner. All rights reserved.
