Technical writing in the management-systems world

Abstract

It is argued that the management world is becoming more aware of the value of documenting controls for the administration and operation of organizations. That awareness unfortunately does not include the fact that many of these management-system writings-writing that are meant to get things done-are ineffective as well as inefficient. Writing mechanics tailored to the discipline of systems writing developed at the Grumman Corporation are described. They stem from the view that systems writing must be tailed to the system reader's communication needs, where the thoughts and words used in the systems document are not only properly selected and arranged, but are written in the easiest-to-read manner.