Before writing any document, it is essential that a technical writer understands thoroughly not just the topic itself, but also the purpose of the document or assignment and the intended audience. Sometimes, previously written documents will provide information that the technical writer can use to frame the given work.
Technical writers work closely with technicians, engineers, developers, managers, and, occasionally, customers to ensure that the delivered product meets all requirements. Often, technical documents have more than one audience and therefore need to serve more than one level of technical expertise.
Well-formed technical documents follow common publishing guidelines. That is, documents should normally contain standard sections such as front and back covers, a table of contents, an introduction, glossary, and index; there are many situations, however, in which authors may choose to omit some or all of these standard conventions. Some technical writers include a section describing the formatting conventions used in the document, although this is generally considered unnecessary unless the formatting conventions are so unusual that the reader would be unable to grasp them intuitively. In such a situation, the technical writer would do better to reformat the document using standard formatting conventions. Usually, technical writers follow the formatting conventions described in a standard style guide; the Microsoft Manual of Style and the Chicago Manual of Style are two well-known examples.
Instructional or how-to documents are written in the present tense using the second person. Technical writers avoid using the passive voice, although it is not always possible to do so (and, in fact, may be requested by the customer).