Technical Writing Process Analysis

The three main steps of the technical writing process are: pre-write, write, and rewrite. Pre-writing will lay the foundation and/or provide guidance on the topic by gathering information about the topic. I can then determine the purpose on whether the motivation is communicated external or internal. In this particular scenario I will be creating a user manual and I believe this manual will be communicated as an external motivation because it will be presented to perspective and existing customers. Then I will determine my goals behind the communication, which would be to instruct and inform my audience.
The audience receiving the instruction manual will be tech-savvy and/or have some knowledge in using similar software applications; therefore
I will keep the content mid-to-high level in technical understanding. I will be including definitions of technical terminology that will be used in the user manual. After determining the type of audience, the data I will gather about the software will be formulated in more detail by listing out the following: who, what, when, where, why, and how.
Prewriting Techniques
Who Customers
What In-depth information about the software (which I need to figure out)
System requirements
How to install
Software updates
Special software features
Troubleshooting
Additional information about the software or online help
Additional service or support hot-lines
Frequently asked questions

Where My company
Why To support customers in purchasing and using the software
How Create a step-by-step manual using Microsoft® Word

Mind mapping is the most effective way to expand ideas and additional perspective on a topic.
Organizing the information gathered from mind mapping and placing it into an outline are the following steps. I can then begin to draw out the structure and order of how the user manual will read by creating a flow chart

The next step in the technical writing process is writing the document. I will write out a draft with all the information I gathered, keeping in mind the objective and to what type of audience I am communicating to. The draft will allow me to organize the document and keep the content relevant to the topic, so that the material is easy to follow and understand. The look and feel of the document is definitely something to consider. I will format the document accordingly to add visual elements, visual flow and highlight key information for the reader.

Once the draft is complete the final step in the main three technical writing processes is rewriting the document. Rewriting will allow me to make changes, revisions and reorganizing the document as needed. Also add information or details missed in the draft. Finally, fine tune the sentence structure and its phrases to avoid unnecessarily complex words and
wordiness.