Why Flow Is the Secret Ingredient in Technical Communication
When we talk about technical communication…. whether it’s a paper, a manual, or a presentation… the conversation usually centers on accuracy, clarity, or formatting. But one element often gets overlooked: flow.
Flow is the invisible thread that carries your reader or audience from one point to the next. It keeps them engaged even when your visuals aren’t perfect or your grammar isn’t flawless. People will forgive clunky sentences or even the occasional typo if the overall narrative carries them forward. But without flow, even the most technically precise content falls flat.
What Do We Mean by Flow?
Flow isn’t just about smooth sentences. It’s about structure. It’s about whether your ideas connect in a way that makes sense and leads your audience to a resolution. Flow is what allows us to suspend disbelief in fiction… and it’s equally essential in technical communication.
The challenge is moving from a collection of ideas to a story. That requires narrative structures, and fortunately, technical communicators don’t need to reinvent the wheel.
Three Narrative Structures That Work in Technical Writing
Linear: Begin at the start and move toward an end. Think troubleshooting steps or a sequence of instructions.
Circular: Return to the place you started after exploring a problem. Postmortems often fit this mold.
Parallel: Explore multiple threads or problems that ultimately converge at a solution. Ideal for complex systems or comparative analyses.
Borrowing from Literature: Plot Structures
One useful tool is the Freytag curve (often called the dramatic arc). Even if you’re writing about routers or safety protocols, this structure applies:
Beginning: Set the stage.
Rising action: Present challenges, obstacles, or failures.
Climax: The “aha” moment… the root cause, the key design decision, or the breakthrough.
Falling action: Implement fixes, weigh alternatives, or resolve secondary issues.
Resolution: Show the outcome, lessons learned, or final state.
This isn’t just for novelists. Engineers naturally think in problem-solution terms. That mindset aligns perfectly with narrative structure.
Applying Flow in Practice
1. Troubleshooting and Postmortems
These practically write themselves into a narrative. The failure is the setup. The troubleshooting process builds tension. The discovery of the root cause is the climax. The fixes—temporary and permanent—form the falling action and resolution.
2. Design Changes
Harder to shape but still doable. The current system sets the stage. Rising action includes goals, risks, and obstacles. The climax is the proposed design. Falling action covers alternatives and deployment strategies. Resolution shows how the change positions the system for the future.
3. Protocol or System Explanations
The toughest to narrativize. These often turn into information dumps that bore audiences. Instead, frame them around problems. Start with what the protocol solves rather than how it works. The climax is the primary solution. Falling action addresses secondary problems. Resolution shows how everything ties back to the original challenge.
Better Questions, Better Flow
Instead of asking, “How does this work?” ask:
What problem does this solve?
What risks are involved?
How can failures be detected or avoided?
These questions not only clarify your thinking but also pull your audience along the narrative arc.
The Takeaway
No matter what kind of technical communication you’re creating, flow is your best tool for engagement. Start with a problem. Build tension by breaking it into pieces. Deliver a solution at the climax. Resolve secondary issues in the falling action.
When your writing flows, your audience follows—whether you’re explaining a failed router, a new design, or the inner workings of DNS.
