JOSHUA PRENOSILBrought to you in cooperation with the Purdue Online Writing Lab

Planning and Organizing Technical Reports

Adapted from Technical Communication Today by Dr. Richard Johnson-Sheehan, Prof. of English, Purdue University

• Technical documents are often produced by many individuals. • To produce effective documents,

individuals must work together as a team.

• Teams go through four basic stages• Planning technical documents around

these stages helps create more effective deliverables.

The four stages of team formation:• Forming• Storming• Norming• Performing

The Four Stages

In the Forming Stage, the group:• Defines the project mission and

objectives• Identifies project outcomes• Defines responsibilities • Constructs a timeline• Agrees about how conflicts will

be resolved

1) Forming

In the Storming Stage, natural conflicts arise between team members.

To emerge from the period of conflict, team members must:

• Use the previously-agreed-upon conflict resolution models

• Meet with a plan and a purpose• Choose conflict mediators

2) Storming

In the Norming Stage, as the team zeroes in on its goals, it starts behaving according to group-determined norms:

• The team adjusts its objectives and outcomes

• Team members start fulfilling their responsibilities independently and communally

• Communication between team members is regular and productive.

3) Norming

In the Performing Stage, the team is working together to improve their process and product: •Team members wholly adopt their team roles•Individuals acknowledge and work with the strengths and weaknesses of their teammates•Team members review objectives, complete tasks, assess outcomes, and refine processes individually and communally

4) Performing

What does document planning look like when it considers the four stages

of team formation?

Technical Documents in Four Stages

Consider the following…

A group consisting of two graduate assistants, a professor, and an engineer agree to write a report evaluating the current methods for cutting pavement.

The document will need to include a review of current sawing techniques, an examination of pavement cutting research, and a recommendation for the techniques construction workers should use.

The Situation:

First, define the project’s purpose by asking:

1)What are we being asked to do?

2) What are we not being asked to do?

How should the group begin?

The pavement research group answered this way:

1)What are we being asked to do?

Review current research and practice and recommend sawing techniques that are practical and effective.

2) What are we not being asked to do?

Research new techniques & develop new technologies for pavement cutting.

How should the group begin?

Next, the most important question:

3) What is our mission statement and what are our objectives?

This question is the most important because it will determine the scope and sequence of the proceeding activities. The mission statement will provide cohesion for the group’s actions and serve as a guidepost as the group revises its goals later.

Questions to answer:

3) What is our mission statement and what are our objectives?

After considering their task, the pavement research group decided on the following mission statement:

“This research group will recommend a practical and effective pavement sawing technique that will improve the safety and longevity of Indiana roads.”

Mission statement

Composing your Mission Statement:“This research group will recommend a practical and

effective pavement sawing technique that will improve the safety and longevity of Indiana roads.”

• Notice that the main clause of the statement contains one verb.•The research group will do many other things as they work toward their goal, but, ultimately, they will recommend a sawing technique.•Simplicity and unity in the mission statement will help the group stay focused as it works.

Mission statement

Once the group composes a mission statement they can start aligning secondary objectives behind the primary one.The pavement research group set the following as secondary objectives:• Synthesize current research on pavement

sawing;• Survey contractors to find which methods

are most commonly practiced; and• Compare the cost and safety benefits of

different sawing techniques.

Secondary objectives

Once a mission statement and objectives have been determined, the team should ask the following:

4) What should our end products be?

5) Who are our clients? What are their values?

Questions to answer

For the pavement research group, the client was the board that allocates money and determines road policy. The engineer and the professor had worked with board members in the past, so they knew the values and mores of the client.

5) Who are our clients? What are their values?

4) What should our end products be?With the secondary objectives in place, answering the fourth question was easy. The group merely had to assign a deliverable and a deadline to each of the objectives…

Questions to answer

4) What are our end products?

Objective End ProductSynthesize Current Research

Summary of research on sawing techniques (by 5/28)

Conduct Surveys Conflation of survey data (by 6/4)

Compare Costs and Benefits

Cost/benefit matrix (by 6/12)

Draft Proposal Rough Draft (by 6/24)

Deliver Product Final Draft (by 6/30)

After determining the scope and sequence of each task, the team can consider the ancillary parameters of the project:

6) What are the physical, economic, political, and ethical factors that influence this project? How should we adjust to them?

Questions to answer

6) What are the physical, economic, political, and ethical factors that influence this project? How should we adjust to them?

In this case, the project was limited by time and funding, so, due to time constraints, the pavement research group had to narrow the scope of their inquiry.

Instead of synthesizing all of the research on pavement cutting, they could only synthesize the most commonly-read journals and publications. Instead of surveying all the contractors, they could only survey the largest.

Questions to answer

As the research group determined the scope and sequence of their task, they ran into some conflict. They debated how many publications and contractors they should consult as they gathered background information.

They argued about which sawing techniques were practical and feasible given current fiscal constraints. They even argued about internal deadlines. The group used the following methods to resolve their major disagreements…

Conflict!

All of these issues are essential to the successful completion of the project. How did the team decide to resolve each conflict?

Conflict resolution

Issue Method for Resolution

Which contractors to interview?

Majority Opinion

Which research journals to consider?

Majority Opinion

What should the deadlines be?

Consult mediator – INDOT project manager

What’s fiscally possible?

Consult mediator – board member

After the conflicts were resolved, the team began adopting their team roles and accomplishing the tasks necessary to the completion of the document:

Taking action

Objective End Product Who’s Responsible?

Synthesize Current Research

Summary of research on sawing techniques (by 5/28)

Professor, Graduate Student

Conduct Surveys Conflation of survey data (by 6/4)

Engineer

Compare Costs and Benefits

Cost/benefit matrix (by 6/12)

Graduate Student

Draft Proposal Rough Draft (by 6/24)

Group

Deliver Product Final Draft (by 6/30)

Group

Objective End Product Who’s Responsible?

Synthesize Current Research

Summary of research on sawing techniques (by 5/28)

Professor, Graduate Student

Conduct Surveys

Conflation of survey data (by 6/4)

Engineer

Compare Costs and Benefits

Cost/benefit matrix (by 6/12)

Graduate Student

Draft Proposal Rough Draft (by 6/24)

Group

Deliver Product Final Draft (by 6/30)

Group

Taking action

Quickly, the group realized that they would need to develop an ancillary plan to address the writing and revision responsibilities for creating the document.

The team decides to divide the document up by sections. Because they were writing a proposal, they knew their document needed to have five basic sections:

Taking action

Proposal Section Pavement Saw Proposal1. Introduction Explanation of the need for practical and effective

pavement sawing techniques2. Current Situation Current techniques

employed by contractorsResearch on current techniques

3. Recommendation Explanation of why one sawing technique is superior to other techniques, both for practical and fiscal reasons

4. Address to Detractors

Explanation of why this technique is preferable to the most feasible alternatives

5. Call to Action/Conclusion

Summary of the reasons why the technique is the best choice and a call to adopt it permanently as mandatory policy for contractors

The group decides to divide responsibilities along lines of expertise.

Taking action

Proposal Section

Pavement Saw Proposal Who’s Responsible?

Introduction Explanation of the need for practical and effective pavement sawing techniques.

Graduate Student

Current Situation

Current techniques employed by contractors

Research on current techniques

Professor/Graduate Student

Recommendation

Explanation of why one sawing technique is superior to other techniques, both for practical and fiscal reasons

Engineer

Address to Detractors

Explanation of why this technique is preferable to the most feasible alternatives

Engineer/Graduate Student

Call to Action/Conclusion

Summary of the reasons why the technique is the best choice and a call to adopt it permanently as mandatory policy for contractors.

Graduate Student

Taking action

Proposal Section Pavement Saw Proposal Who’s Responsible?

Introduction Explanation of the need for practical and effective pavement sawing techniques.

Graduate Student

Current Situation Current techniques employed by contractors

Research on current techniques

Professor/Graduate Student

Recommendation Explanation of why one sawing technique is superior to other techniques, both for practical and fiscal reasons

Engineer

Address to Detractors

Explanation of why this technique is preferable to the most feasible alternatives

Engineer/Graduate Student

Call to Action/Conclusion

Summary of the reasons why the technique is the best choice and a call to adopt it permanently as mandatory policy for contractors.

Graduate Student

The professor was the research expert, so she wrote the research section.

The engineer would be responsible for their findings, so he wrote the recommen-dation.

Taking action

Proposal Section Pavement Saw Proposal Who’s Responsible?

Introduction Explanation of the need for practical and effective pavement sawing techniques.

Graduate Student

Current Situation Current techniques employed by contractors

Research on current techniques

Professor/Graduate Student

Recommendation Explanation of why one sawing technique is superior to other techniques, both for practical and fiscal reasons

Engineer

Address to Detractors

Explanation of why this technique is preferable to the most feasible alternatives

Engineer/Graduate Student

Call to Action/Conclusion

Summary of the reasons why the technique is the best choice and a call to adopt it permanently as mandatory policy for contractors.

Graduate Student

Taking action

Proposal Section Pavement Saw Proposal Who’s Responsible?

Introduction Explanation of the need for practical and effective pavement sawing techniques.

Graduate Student

Current Situation Current techniques employed by contractors

Research on current techniques

Professor/Graduate Student

Recommendation Explanation of why one sawing technique is superior to other techniques, both for practical and fiscal reasons

Engineer

Address to Detractors

Explanation of why this technique is preferable to the most feasible alternatives

Engineer/Graduate Student

Call to Action/Conclusion

Summary of the reasons why the technique is the best choice and a call to adopt it permanently as mandatory policy for contractors.

Graduate Student

The graduate students helped out where appropriate.

Sometimes the roles of expertise are not as clear-cut as they were in this case. When such situations arise teams should ask these questions in order to determine what’s required for a role and how that matches up with team member strengths…

Taking action

• Does the role require someone who can keep track of objectives, questions, and decisions and communicate that information to team members?

• Should the person in this role be able to network with resources and people outside the team in order to bring in new information and fresh perspectives?

Taking action

Does this role require people-oriented skills?

Does this role require cerebral skills? • Does the role need someone who critiques

decisions and reasoning? • Does the role need an innovative thinker

who provides big solutions? • Does the team or role need a subject-

matter specialist whose expertise currently is not present in the group?

Taking action

After the rough draft of the document was complete, the team decided to revise it by exchanging sections and providing in-team feedback.

Initially, this system improved the document, but, at a team meeting, one of the graduate students said they felt that the document still needed some work. The team brainstormed ways to improve the quality of the document; Frances, the engineer, said she knew a technical writing consultant. She offered to contact the consultant on behalf of the team.

Improving performance

In order to improve the document, the team had begun refining the process by which they produced the recommendation report. Typically, improvement of performance happens in a four stage cycle:

Improving performance

Complete Tasks Assess Outcomes

Review Objectives Refine Process

The team completed the recommendation report, assessed their product, and refined the process by which they produced the report, keeping in mind the objectives and purpose of their activity.

Improving performance

Complete Tasks Assess Outcomes

Review Objectives Refine Process

1. Define your mission statement and objectives

2. Assign deliverables and deadlines 3. Determine your methods for conflict

resolution4. Match personal strengths/expertise

to team roles5. Refine your process by assessing

outcomes, changing procedures, reviewing objectives, and completing tasks

Keys to document success

Purdue University Writing LabHeavilon 226

Web: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/Phone: (765) 494-3723Email: owl@owl.english.purdue.edu

Where to Go to Get More Help

The End

PLANNING AND ORGANIZING TECHNICAL REPORTSAdapted by Joshua Prenosil and Allen Brizee from Technical Communication Today by Dr. Richard Johnson-SheehanBrought to you in cooperation with the Purdue Online Writing Lab