Once in a great while I attend a conference and hear something that changes the way I think. That's what happened last week at the STC Summit, where Ellis Pratt gave the talk What Should Technical Communicators Do When Products “Just Work”?

In this article I focus on the last part of Ellis's talk -- the part that made me say "Whoa." You can find a summary of the entire talk -- well worth reading -- in Sarah Maddox's blog.

Ellis stepped through a history of technical communication, the upshot of which was this: Over the last couple of generations people's attitude toward technology has changed dramatically. Before, technology was a little bit intimidating, and people were afraid of breaking it.

Many of us built our careers writing technical content that served this audience very well: its tone was reassuring ("Don't worry, I won't let you break it") and mostly authoritative ("Do what I say and you'll be OK.")

Today, Ellis says, it's different. People regard technology as something that "just works." When it doesn't work, they're apt to throw it away rather than trying to solve the problem. When it does work, they're inclined to tinker and make it do things the manufacturer never intended.

For today's audience, the old-style content falls flat. Reassuring and authoritative no longer resonate.

Does this mean that technical writers are obsolete? Only if we refuse to change our stripes. In a world where technology "just works," Ellis says that someone still needs to:

• Explain unfamiliar concepts. People still need to be introduced to new technology before they feel comfortable using it.
• Explain how to tinker and hack. I see this more as after-market content than traditional product documentation. But as technology vendors embrace social media platforms like blogs and customer forums, this kind of content will become mainstream.
• Differentiate our employer's product from its competition, and help keep it from becoming a commodity. We accomplish this by adding value beyond the product's features and capabilities -- for example, a social media presence that provides friendly and timely responses to customers' questions and complaints.

Like most speakers at the Summit, Ellis is upbeat about the future. Even though our traditional style of communication has to change, we technical communicators still have the core skill set to create new-style content.

Do you agree with Ellis (and with me) about the ways in which the tech comm landscape has changed? What role will technical communicators fill in the future, and what kind of content will we create? What's your experience with creating this new style of content?