Back to the routines of school, work and all the other things that are not summer. It's always a little difficult to get back into the swing of things after the carefree days of July and August. But, it's always welcome to have a new beginning, a fresh start in the middle of the year.

Our profession is ever-changing. Sometimes, frankly, it seems a little beyond human capacity, the amount of new information, software, and technologies that we have to adjust to - let alone the actual products we need to learn so we can document them. But then again, we are super-human after all.

We manage to earn money doing something that most people assume is natural to everyone. Many people think they can write well enough to transfer information - abstract or procedural - from the product to the user. However, we know otherwise. Because we have the background, the expertise, and the desire to provide the best information we can, we all know that our work makes a difference to the products.

Most of the time, we go to work and try to interpret the designer's mental image of the product and the way it works for the user. We write the manuals, procedures, specifications and help for whatever it is that needs it. We fret about how the user will understand our words and images. We meet deadlines and make choices about how to deliver information - or transfer information within our company so the development cycle runs smoothly. We beg for the time we need with subject matter experts, or their managers.

All of the essentials of our jobs make us valuable to the company, and we need to show managers and executives that we not only contribute to the final product, but we're an integral part of the development process. It's not only about getting the information through to the user, it's reflecting back the needs of the user to the development team. Designing a product must include answering the questions a user has about the product before they get a chance to ask it.

You may call it intuitive design, and you may be trying to practice it as much as possible in your own job. My point here is that technical communication begins not so much with the user interface (or point of contact), it begins in the design stages. Good technical communication cannot make up for poor design, and as communicators, we're well equipped to say whether the design can meet a user's expectations of the product.

All I'm trying to say is that we are essential to our companies or clients, and we need to make sure that we are consulting at the right points in the development cycle. So, all you super-humans, have a great September!

Nancy