Tech-to-Nontech Briefs

Abstract

Engineers must routinely write technical documents for other engineers. However, since engineers are the ones who design a company’s products and processes—and since the technical expertise and responsibility associated with those products and processes link back to engineering—engineers are also called upon to explain, review, and disseminate technical information to a variety of non-engineering audiences. As Fig. 18.1 reveals, engineers are positioned at the center of a communication network with message lines (channels) extending to a multifaceted array of personnel types and areas. A number of these lines fall into the category of technical to nontechnical or tech-to-nontech exchanges.