Engineering knowledge.
Clear documentation.

Turning engineering knowledge into usable manuals

An industrial machinery manufacturer had relied on its engineers to explain equipment during installation. Local staff recorded those explanations in their own notes. When the company began winning contracts in Europe and other markets, it needed formal operating and servicing manuals.

I gathered information from requirements documents and technical drawings. I visited factories to see the machinery operate and interviewed the engineers who knew it best.

Those conversations required trust. The engineers had spent years developing and servicing the machinery, while I was still learning how it worked. I explained that the manuals would carry their expertise to the people using the equipment. My role was to organize that knowledge and make it clear.

I combined the written sources, my observations and the engineers’ practical knowledge into operating and servicing manuals. I wrote for readers without formal engineering training, explaining technical terms without losing their meaning.

Creating a common reference for software teams

The country branches of an international company had no official documentation for its software product. When a customer reported a problem, a designated engineer at headquarters took the call and passed the issue to the appropriate engineer. Solutions and improvements found in one country did not routinely reach the others.

My task was to create documentation that teams worldwide could use. I brought the country teams together to share their knowledge. I also met with software architects to understand the product and contributed advice during software terminology meetings.

I built the centralized documentation from scratch and created a dedicated terminology database. The shared documentation removed the need for an engineer whose working day had been devoted to taking and routing those calls.