Response to Collaborative Post

To me, the emphasis on "specific" in the post nails technical writing. In a lot of writing, the audience is vague, so a lot of "fluff" may be necessary to catch readers attention. When writing to a specific group, the writing can be tailored to the group. No basic explanation of terms is necessary. For example, a doctor writing a document on a particular illness to present to other doctors in his field will have to do a lot less explaining of terms than if he was presenting to high school students. Basically I think the key to technical writing is "specific"...specific purpose, specific audience, specific instructions.