{"id":12750,"date":"2024-08-20T14:47:32","date_gmt":"2024-08-20T09:17:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/razorpay.com\/learn\/?p=12750"},"modified":"2024-08-20T14:56:30","modified_gmt":"2024-08-20T09:26:30","slug":"empathy-in-technical-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/razorpay.com\/learn\/empathy-in-technical-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Empathy is Crucial for Effective Technical Writing"},"content":{"rendered":"

A couple of weeks ago, I had ordered an English-language magazine on Blinkit. However, (perhaps due to unavailability) they decided to send me a different language edition, which I then returned. When this happened a second time, my frustration had reached its peak. Here\u2019s an example of the empathy demonstrated by Blinkit support staff (Or is it AI? Anyway a thought for another day!)<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Blinkit's
Blinkit’s Response to User Complaint<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nicely handled, Blinkit, albeit a bit repetitive.<\/span><\/p>\n

They apologised profusely and made me feel that they understood my disappointment and wanted to truly help me. That\u2019s exactly what empathy is.<\/span><\/p>\n

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person. It means putting yourself in someone else’s shoes to see things from their perspective.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Usually, this is a key quality that support staff demonstrate (as seen above). But I believe it is also extremely important for a tech writer!<\/span><\/p>\n

Many people think tech writing is just stringing together a bunch of words. Copy-paste content from the product spec, slap a couple of screenshots, format the document a bit to make it look pretty, and it is done. However, they couldn’t be farther from the truth.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Image credit lies with the original Owner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tech writing is about understanding the user\u2019s journey, frustrations, and needs and then creating content that meets their requirements, and enables them to achieve their goals.<\/span><\/p>\n

And that\u2019s where empathy comes in.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let me give a simple example. A technical writer has documented an API. The authentication information is available, the endpoint and methods are listed, and sample codes and parameter descriptions are present. However, there are two issues:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Mandatory fields have not been called out distinctly in the request parameters.
    \nImpact: A developer using this API documentation is surely going to be in a fix. They would have to do trial and error to figure out which parameters are actually necessary and which are optional.
    \n<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Error and troubleshooting information is missing.
    \nImpact: If something goes wrong, the developer will need to contact the official support team or review community forum discussion threads to find a solution.
    \n<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    These are things that seem small but often have a huge impact on user experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

    How Does Being Empathetic Help?<\/span><\/h2>\n