Communication and collaboration are crucial elements for the success of any individual and team effort. The first chapter of the book Technical Communication provides insight into the aspects of technical communication and its importance.
I discovered that technical communication addresses two main tasks: assisting people in learning about certain phenomena or how to do a certain task. Additionally, technical communication can make others strengthen their attitudes, change them, or even take particular actions. I also found that technical documents reflect organizational culture, are made in collaboration and have distinctive elements, including a particular reader, clear instructions on resolving an issue, design, images, and words. Finally, I discovered that technical communication was a valuable skill in the workplace since it allows people to read and produce technical documents.
When collaborating with my colleagues and other students, I have had many different experiences. The negative collaboration experience concerned the lack of willingness of certain members of the team to contribute to the joint work (Markel & Selber, 2021). These people did not share their ideas because the team engaged in active brainstorming, and every time they tried to present their perspectives, they were interrupted by other people. Essentially, the lack of control was the cause of the people’s lack of involvement, but the problem could have been prevented if speaking, in turn, had been adopted. The positive collaboration experience involved a school project over Zoom where everyone contributed their particular share. The project’s success was due to the clear distinction of roles within the team and the presence of one leader who supervised and coordinated everyone’s actions.
I believe that a successful collaboration in an online setting must be based on planning and strategy. Essentially, it is important to allocate specific roles to all members and plan all meetings to avoid scheduling problems. Any possible conflicts must be solved with the help of one leader who is trusted by everyone. Additionally, to achieve success, a group needs to rely on collaborative tools such as Zoom and shared online documents.
Technical communication fosters collaboration between people by helping individuals to enable others to learn, make decisions, and act. Technical communication skills let people be more valuable as professionals and affect their ability to work in teams.