Improving Technical Writing skills for CAPA

[QE]

Dear all coves

I am a quality engineer and my manager says that he wants to see improvement in my technical writing skills for the CAPA files.

can you please advise ona book which can help me with the technical writing of the CAPA files.

-QE

 

[Ajit Basrur]

Dear all coves

I am a quality engineer and my manager says that he wants to see improvement in my technical writing skills for the CAPA files.

can you please advise ona book which can help me with the technical writing of the CAPA files.

-QE

Hi QE,

There are plenty of technical courses available on Technical writing - you could look out for one closes in your area. If you google, you will find it easily.

I am attaching an article of technical writing that I had downloaded from internet lately which you will find it useful. Btw, have you considered free wikiversity course on technical writing ?

 

[harry]

I have a different view. I think CAPA's should be written using only 'basic' or simple language. Technical writing is therefore irrelevant.

Coming from a place where English is a second language, my observation is that many people without a good foundation in the English language find it difficult to express themselves. The best way to improve ones skill in this area (if this is relevant) is to read more and write more (practice).

 

[Hodgepodge]

This website offers some fairly straight forward tips for improving your technical writing skills. http://www.docsymmetry.com/

It has been said, "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough". If this isn't true about your situation, then take the time to figure out how to explain the cause and corrective action in the simplest terms. Instead of explaining all the whys in a twisting, turning tale, just state the final why. For C/A, just state the action for the final why. (This, of course, does not take into consideration the possibility of multiple failures needing correction)

 

[Duke Okes]

I agree that technical writing is probably not the issue. A good CAPA can consist of phrases/bullets, not necessarily sentences. Correct thinking (logical, analytical) is more important than fluid language.

 

[Bev D]

It would be helpful for you if you understood exactly what your manager does not like about your current writing style in CAPAs.

For example, what I typically come across in poorly written CAPAs are rambling paragraphs that confuse the problem statement (which should be a short object - defect statement of the non-conformance or non-compliance) with a guess at cause or corrective action. Additionally I find that there is often a distressing lack of objective evidence of the problem in the CAPA.

 

[AnaMariaVR2]

I agree with those before me too. What I will add is just to keep in mind your audience.

Therefore, write to that audience as you speak to it in a logical, organized, clear & succinct way.

Simplify it: write as you speak!

 

[DrM2u]

Dear all coves

I am a quality engineer and my manager says that he wants to see improvement in my technical writing skills for the CAPA files.

can you please advise ona book which can help me with the technical writing of the CAPA files.

-QE

IMHO a course in communication techniques probably will not help much and would be a waste of time and money in this case.

The most confusion with CAPA is in the description of the problem. A poor probelm description can lead down the wrong track in root cause analysis and eventually to ineffective actions. My suggestion for describing the problem:
- state the requirement: 'the standard requires ...', 'the part specifications require ...', 'the work instruction specifies ...', etc.
- state the actual condition: 'data indicates that the process is ...', 'dimension A is measured at ...', 'the actual process is ...', etc
- review your statement and see if the gap is clearly identified: what is vs. what it should be; revise as necessary and continue only after it is clear.
- statements like 'bad parts', 'needs rework', 'operator error', etc are confusing

The next major area is the root cause analysis. This can be stated in text and/or graphical format. If you prefer text then I suggest something along the lines of 'this occured because this other thing occured because these two things occured at the same time because ...'. Make sure that the statements are true and verifiable (evidence!) and the logic is easy to follow by the reader.

One last thought: use simple words and terms instead of highly technical language. Remember, you are not the onyl one reading that CAPA and not everyone speaks QEish.

This is it for now.