We wish you and your family a happy, healthy and safe Purim holiday. Hope you enjoy the video!
When I first heard the name Gerry McGovern, I thought he was the guy who lost the 1972 presidential election to Richard Nixon:
But he’s actually someone whose blog I’ll be sure to read from now on. In his post Documentation is the New Sales, he gives some great examples showing how and why good documentation increases sales and how the use of the web has changed the way we - as doc mangers - need to approach our customers’ needs.
This guy is brilliant. OK, maybe I just think that because he agrees with what I’ve been preaching for years, but you have to admit that our joint theory does make a whole lot of sense: Great documentation leads to more sales and more repeat customers. Poor documentation can, and often does, have the opposite result.
Do you agree? If not, why?
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I recently had a conversation with someone about how the profession of technical writing, which was practically unheard of 20+ years ago, has grown and blossomed in recent years and will only continue to grow. Why? Because years ago, everyone knew how to use a telephone - just plug into the jack and dial. There were hardly any consumer electronic devices that were not self explanatory. Remember your first microwave? Here is a picture of the one I grew up with:
(Hey, I just realized the keypad looks remarkably similar to the touch screen on my new Samsung Galaxy phone!)
Your old microwave probably had a start button and a dial or selection option to set the time. If it was really advanced, you might have had the option to select your power as well. But it definitely did not have a popcorn button, frozen entrée button, or delayed start and auto-cook options. My first microwave’s instructions could have easily been written by the temp answering the phones. But documentation for today’s and tomorrow's consumer products and enterprise technologies require an understanding and knowledge not only of “how stuff works” but also why. Here's Corning's idea of...
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A few months ago, I challenged job seekers to stand out from the technical writing crowd by putting together a Flash or Animoto presentation to help them learn new skills and differentiate themselves in a crowded market. I got a few responses to my challenge, but I felt this one was really worth sharing. Just this week, Yitzchak (aka Superhardworker) sent me a Flash video that outlines his reasons why he thinks we should hire him as an entry-level technical writer. If you want to make an impression, follow his lead and do something creative and different. Check out his Flash movie and make sure you click “View Full Screen” to see what I’m talking about.
Kudos to Yitzchak for rising to the challenge! There are many applicants for every job and it is up to you to grab the attention of the hiring manager and get yourself a chance to show off your talents.
Stay tuned for more super stuff next week.
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It is not always easy to get motivated to get to a class or teach yourself a new technical writing tool. But it’s so important to stay fresh and current with the latest trends and breakthroughs. I try and spend one hour of each day reading and exploring new technologies. What do you do to ensure you stay in front of the eight ball? There are some great resources for e-learning, networking, and sharing technical writing and doc management knowledge that you can take advantage of without ever leaving your desk.
Here are some that I recommend:
- TECHWR-L
- The Content Wrangler
- Lynda.com
- VTC.com
- Various Linked-in groups including: Documentation and Technical Writing Management, Technical Writer of Writers, and ITW
- Author-it
I’m curious to know which other online learning sites you utilize. Leave me a comment below and let me know, I’ll be sure to check them out.
And along these same lines, i.e....
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I’ve been super busy for the past few days tweaking and preparing my plans and getting ready for three full days of training at NICE. Monday morning, the technical writing team was working in Word and Framemaker in the same old fashioned way they have been since 1998! But come Thursday afternoon, when our training session is complete, they will be creating modular content in their very own Author-it CMS.
Training and moving a big team of writers is a challenge, but when people walk in the door with good attitudes and ready to learn, lots of good things happen. I am excited for everything we achieved today and am proud to be part of helping this fantastic team move forward into the 21st century.
The dynamics of training a team from one company, where three different authoring tools are currently deployed, is interesting. And even though some people work in the same building with other writers, some had never met each other before they walked in the door today. In just a few short hours, I began to see a shift from ten largely independent content herders into a team of fearless knowledge managers. Understanding the power of your content when shared is truly inspiring.
If you have not taken the time to learn something new this year, I urge you to try it. Find a course (online or human) or teach yourself a new writing concept, tool...
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Chances are that between email, smart phones, instant messages, SMSs and company cell phones, your employees are essentially available to you 24/7. But that doesn’t mean, as managers, that we should be taking advantage of modern technological advances to invade people’s private time.
I promise you that there never was and never will be a true documentation emergency. Nobody will die, no lives will be ruined and no major documentation disaster will occur between Friday evening and Monday morning (or for those of us in Israel, between Thursday night and Sunday morning). We have a 40-45 hour workweek for a simple reason and that is because that’s all most people can handle and still be happy and productive.
It’s fine once in a while to call upon your team to go the extra mile and put in overtime during the weekend or late at night. But please, do not do it too often or your employees will resent both you and the job. In my time in this industry, the majority of the people I have seen burn out of a job have done so from the extra hours and non-stop “emergencies” dumped on their heads. Many leave the field or take extended breaks between jobs just to recover from a bad management experience. The added expense to a company of recruiting, hiring and training a new employee (not to mention total time lost) in place of keeping...
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