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 21^st 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, method or whatever else interests you. But never stop aiming for better. Having the chance to apply a new skill makes the workday a lot more enjoyable and always enables you to do things faster/smarter/better than before.

Blogging has taken a back seat to training, but just for the next few days. See you next week! Happy Single-Sourcing Wednesday!

It was great to see so many technical writers and doc managers from all over Israel at the Author-it users meeting in Tel Aviv yesterday. Thanks again to Big Band for hosting! Tech-Tav was especially thrilled to unveil some cool new Author-it new plugins we currently have under development. With more than 50 in attendance, this meeting showed new and experienced users something new and gave everyone – from experienced programmers to newbie writers – a better understanding of the power and capabilities of Author-it.

Looking forward to seeing you all at the next event. If you missed the meeting but are interested in learning more about Author-it, call us!

Let’s say you’re looking to hire a new technical writer for your team. At the very minimum, you probably want a graduate of a technical writing course and minimal level of competence with an authoring tool such as Author-it, Framemaker, Robohelp or whatever tool your company uses. You will most likely add a few more requirements to your job ad, probably something like “minimum 3 years of technical writing experience” or “experienced Word user” before sending your ad out to the job-boards and Linked-in groups.

Disappointed in your applicant pool? I’m not surprised. When it comes down to hiring great technical writers, my experience has shown time and time again that the level of expertise someone has with a tool and how long they’ve been on the job has exactly zero correlation with how well they actually do their job.

So what are the qualities that hiring managers should be looking for in a new technical writer?  Here’s my Top 10:

1.   Technical know-how:  This does not necessarily mean a PhD in electrical engineering, but education or on-the-job experience in programming, IT, engineering, etc. would mean a candidate has an understanding of basic technology and how stuff works. The tech in technical writer has serious value.

2.   High level of integrity:  A must for someone with access to your company’s highly secretive product information. You don’t want your technical writer tipping off the media or the competition, so make sure you hire someone you can trust.