At LavaCon 2011 on Nov. 13, Scott Abel pointed out that if you cannot demonstrate an ROI for your work, then you are at a high risk of having your work eliminated or outsourced.

My paraphrase: If you are perceived as a cost center, and not as a revenue generator, then you can expect to be cut at the next convenient opportunity. 

Of course, we can all think of irrational counterexamples, but the basic principle remains. If you want a company to pay for your work, you must prove you provide value beyond what you are paid. 

In his presentation Sunday morning at LavaCon, Scott Abel persuasively argued that technical communicators must become focused on math, science, and metrics. I agree with this point entirely, and it’s one I endeavor to practice. However, I would caution that he or she who defines the metrics is the one who can control the results of the metrics.

For example, giving up traditional editors and spell-check were mentioned as options, because they are seen as offering close to zero return on investment (ROI). However, for some companies, having documentation of impeccable quality is of paramount importance if they want to sell their software. For complex auditing or financial software, certain prospective buyers do indeed sit down with the software docs and read hundreds of pages cover to cover. Obtaining a metric about the importance of doc quality in such cases is difficult, which is perhaps one reason technical communicators have disdained metrics. And, certainly, of course, there are sites and software for which editing does indeed provide zero ROI.

Properly considered metrics are important. If obtaining an actual metric is impossible, then you can consider creating a model for it (or maybe just making a guess, so long as you know it’s that). But don’t ignore potential metrics simply because the numbers are difficult to prove or obtain.

My social and entertainment time has been fairly limited, but I have been fortunate enough to take a look at Austin’s famous Sixth Street.

Not all of the music is necessarily the style that I prefer. But to have so many options in such a short distance, performed by musicians with such obvious skill and style, is an amazing treat.

Tonight, I wandered by the stately Driskill Hotel. I took a seat in the lobby and peered at the grandeur of the place. It reminds me a bit of El Camino Real in El Paso. 

Thanks to a contest offered by TECHWR-L and LavaCon, I won a free admission to the LavaCon Conference on Digital Media and Content Strategies in Austin, Texas.

I’ll be live-blogging, taking photos, reporting, and having a great time. My fellow contest winner Roger Renteria will be doing the same.