Ability to communicate well about technical topics in written English. Understand technical processes and effectively write about them in an easily readable format. Choose words wisely so that readers can understand the content easily.
Learning/improvement resources: 
Demonstrated by: 

A Skilled technical writer should be able to do the following:

  • Write clear text in English to describe technical information or technical tasks
  • Decompose technical information into fundamental, accessible concepts and terminology
  • Create communication in active voice
  • Document information according to the target audience.

An Expert technical writer should additionally be able to do the following:

  • Crosslink and reference prerequisite knowledge or terminology to maximize accessibility of written copy
  • Minutely review documentation
Related skills: 
Editing (English)
Marketing
Teaching/Training

Roles and Tasks that require this skill

Create a follow-up issue (Contributor task)
Open a new issue to deal with follow-up tasks from an existing issue
Duration: 20 minutes
Create a Tour (Contributor task)
Create a new tour that documents an administrative page, using the Drupal core Tours module.
Duration: 1 hour
Document steps to reproduce an issue (Contributor task)
Document the steps to reproduce a reported issue so a developer can work to fix it.
Duration: 1 hour
Documentation editor (Contributor role)
Edit and proofread Drupal documentation
Duration: ongoing
Documentation guide maintainer (Contributor role)
Monitor and validate changes to a documentation guide. Add new pages to the menu.
Duration: ongoing
Drupal.org content moderator (Contributor role)
Moderate content on the community-produced documentation and forums on drupal.org
Duration: 1 hour
Edit or review a documentation page (Contributor task)
Review, proofread, or edit a documentation page that has been flagged as needing attention
Duration: 20 minutes
Mentoring coordinator (Contributor role)
Coordinate mentoring activities across the Drupal project and community
Duration: ongoing
Resolve a Documentation issue report (Contributor task)
Fix a documentation problem that was identified in a Documentation issue report
Duration: 20 minutes
Technical Writer (Contributor role)
Create documentation about how to use Drupal, develop for and with Drupal, and contribute to the community
Duration: ongoing
Triage a Documentation issue report (Contributor task)
Evaluate and clean up an issue in the Documentation project.
Duration: 20 minutes
Triage an issue report (Contributor task)
Evaluate and fix up or close a bug report issue
Duration: 20 minutes
Write a change record for a Drupal core issue (Contributor task)
Create a page that documents a change made to Drupal core on an issue.
Duration: 20 minutes
Write a release note for an issue (Contributor task)
Write release notes that will be included on a Drupal release page.
Duration: 1 hour
Write an issue summary for an existing issue (Contributor task)
Find an issue that needs its summary updated/added, and write a summary for it
Duration: 20 minutes
Write or review a Contributor Skill page (Contributor task)
Fill in the details for a skeleton Contributor Skill page, or review one
Duration: 20 minutes

Roles and Tasks that may use this skill

Contributed module, theme, or distribution maintainer (Contributor role)
Help manage the software development, design, and issues for a contributed module, theme, or distribution
Duration: ongoing
Create a merge request for an issue (Contributor task)
Add or update a "merge request" (software fix) on an issue
Duration: 1 hour
Create a patch for an issue (Contributor task)
Add a "patch" (software fix) to an existing issue
Duration: 1 hour
Drupal core committer (Contributor role)
Perform final review and commit on community-suggested improvements to Drupal core
Duration: ongoing
Educator/Trainer (Contributor role)
Develop curriculum and facilitate trainings or courses that teach students about Drupal, best practices, and contribution.
Duration: ongoing
Handle or refer a support request in an issue (Contributor task)
Answer a support question, or refer the person to a more appropriate resource for support
Duration: 20 minutes
Mentor (Contributor role)
Inspire, enable, and encourage new core contributors. Work on the core tools and process for mentoring
Duration: several hours
Provide support via text chat (Contributor task)
Answer questions, provide suggestions and resources to another user through text chat.
Duration: 20 minutes
Provide support via text forums (Contributor task)
Answer questions on Drupal Support forums or Drupal Answers (Stack Exchange).
Duration: 20 minutes
Triage the Drupal core RTBC queue (Contributor task)
Review and update Drupal core issues that have been marked Reviewed and Tested by the Community
Duration: 20 minutes