The Results Are In—Metri-Mark 2003 Documentation Manager’s Survey

Metri-Mark, a marketing research and consulting firm, recently released the results of their 2003 Documentation Manager’s Survey. If you don’t have time to read the entire survey, allow me summarize it.

More than half of the respondents say they work in the “high tech” industry (51.8%) and are most concerned about the “quality” (34.2%) and the “accuracy"(35.6%) of the content they create. No big surprises there! They say their bosses don’t include them as early in the development process as they should— sometimes (47.3%) or never (20.2%)—but, that’s okay because they feel appreciated (51.8%) and are fairly compensated (47.7%). A third of the repsondents say they make an annual salary of US$80,000 or more per year (33.8%); only 3.1 say they take home less than US$40,000 annually. While 35.1% of the respondents say they “single source” the content they create, a nearly equal percentage (35.3%) say they’re just thinking about it. One-fifth of respondents are currently utilizing structured writing methods supported by XML authoring tools, while 41.9% are still pondering the possibilities.

Overall, the data presented in the Metri-Mark survey is interesting, but that’s about it. It should be much better organized and professionally formatted for ease-of-use, especially given the audience (technical communicators and documentation managers). The data collected is of limited value, except (perhaps) to the company that paid for the survey. Hmmm…

Filed under: Technical Writing