Abstract
Procedure manuals, narrowly conceived, implement institutional policy as it affects more than one department. Such writing requires detailed procedural auditing, composing job instructions, coordinating paperflow and forms use, as well as general operational, financial, and information-processing systems analysis. Resulting procedures serve as a form of company “legislation” settling interactions between departments, in an ongoing process of updating and managerial decision-making which creates a promising career possibility for the technical writer.