#23385
How Do You Believe You Add Value to the Development of an Information System?
In recent months, as part of my doctoral research, I have been interviewing technical communicators, users and developers of information systems to try and find out if in fact the work of a technical communicator is of value to those developing and using information systems. The interviews demonstrated clearly that technical communicators do add value. This was further confirmed in Paris where I discussed my work with technical communicators at the Comtec '97 conference. The following discussion encapsulates some of the comments from participants at Comtec '97 and the interviews I conducted.
Fisher, Julie L. TC-FORUM (2003). Articles>Collaboration>TC
#28631
How Employees Fight Back Against Workplace Bullying
Adult bullying at work is a shocking, terrifying, and at times shattering experience. What's more, bullying appears to be quite common, as one in ten U.S. workers report feeling bullied at work, and one in four report working in extremely hostile environments. Workplace bullying is repetitive, enduring abuse that escalates over time and results in serious harm to those targeted, to witnessing coworkers, and to the organizations that allow it to persist. Bullying runs the gamut of hostile communication and behavior and can consist of excluding and ignoring certain workers, throwing things and destroying work, public humiliation and embarrassment, screaming and swearing, and occasionally even physical assault. What makes workplace bullying so harmful is its persistent nature. Exposed workers report that bullying goes on and on, lasting for months and--in many cases--even years.
Lutgen-Sandvik, Pamela. Communication Currents (2007). Articles>Business Communication>Collaboration
#29546
How Important Is It To Streamline Communication
Today's organizations must contend with increasingly complex communications environments that feature a wide array of communications methods. Employees, business partners, and customers communicate with one another through infinite combinations of phones, voice messaging, e-mail, fax, mobile clients, rich-media conferencing and other communication gadgets. One thing that is very important is proper communication. Whether you use the age-old snail mail or an email, the key to success lies in effective communication. One should get clear message as to what exactly is required or told by you. It is very important to streamline communication whether you are conversing in person or through an age-old snail mail, email or over the phone.
ArticleMuse (2007). Articles>Communication>Collaboration>Minimalism
#24496
During scientific researchers' collaborations, authors draw on many extratextual resources (social, intellectual and empirical) which are deployed in their texts.
Bazerman, Charles. WAC Clearinghouse (1991). Articles>Scientific Communication>Collaboration
#26996
How Product Teams Benefit from Usability
Product teams can leverage usability in three simple ways. First, usability can disambiguate requirements. Second, it can push a product closer to perfection with a small investment. Finally, usability helps product teams inform the organization about potential and expected support issues.
Rhodes, John S. Apogee (2006). Articles>Usability>Collaboration
#31526
How to Avoid Networking Faux Pas
It's no secret that networking is a key factor in career success. And failing to keep an active network can hinder your employment prospects if you suddenly find yourself in the job market with no contacts or references. As a professional communicator, you already know how important connections are. But a network must be continually nurtured, and you may be neglecting yours unintentionally. Here are 10 common networking mistakes and tips to avoid them
McDonald, Paul. Communication World Bulletin (2003). Articles>Collaboration>Community Building
#22837
How to Become a Value-Add Technical Communicator to Scientists, Engineers, and Technical Staff 
At one time or another most technical communicators have had to work with scientific/technical professionals who were the authors of their own research projects or product documentation. As a group, engineers more so than scientists do not view writing documentation as a critical (though perhaps important) part of the product or their job description. The technical publications team in Motorola’s RISC Systems Engineering Division has adopted seven strategies developed by the author that will help get engineers, programmers, and other technical professionals clamoring for the services of technical communicators. This paper addresses these seven strategies.
LeVie, Donald S., Jr. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Collaboration>Engineering
#30808
How to Convince Others of the Importance of Documentation
If you've been a technical writer for long, chances are you've had to convince someone of the importance of documentation. It just comes with the territory. People often don't see the value of writing technical manuals. So how do you convince them?
HelpScribe (2008). Articles>Documentation>Collaboration
#30829
How to Entertain Technical Writers 
I've often wondered what it would be like to throw a party and invite only technical writers. While we are a diverse bunch, we definitely share some common interests, pet peeves, etc. If you ever happen to arrange such a gathering, here are a few ideas for keeping your guests entertained.
Helpscribe (2008). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Collaboration
#30774
How to Get Out of a Slump, and Handle Pressure Situations Calmly
It turns out that you can get out of a slump or handle pressure situations comfortably by merely changing your facial expressions. I have been trying this over the past several days and have been completely stunned with what happens.
Johnson, Tom H. Tech Writer Voices (2008). Articles>Collaboration>Workplace
#26922
How to Get the Most Out of Conferences
Conferences are what you make of them. If you’re not sure why you’re going, or what you want to get out of the experience, you’re unlikely to get it. This essay gives one perspective on conferences, and how to make them more valuable and engaging experiences. I think in general professional conferences take a very conservative approach to training and education, and it demands that attendees take more responsibility for getting value from the experience than should be necessary.
Berkun, Scott. ScottBerkun.com (2003). Articles>Collaboration
#26916
How to Give and Receive Criticism
Good feedback is rare. It can take a long time to find people who know how to provide useful criticism, instead of simply telling you all the things they think are “wrong” with you or whatever you've made. A good critic spends as much energy describing what something is, as well as what it isn’t. Good criticism serves one purpose: to give the creator of the work more perspective and help them make their next set of choices. Bad criticism uses the opportunity provided by someone else’s work to make the critic feel smart, superior or better about themselves: things that have nothing to do with helping the recipient of the critique.
Berkun, Scott. ScottBerkun.com (2006). Articles>Collaboration
#30214
How to Organize Educational Meetings for Community and Professional Organizations 
Successful meetings are the end result of a∆ careful planning process. To successfully organize an educational meeting for a community or professional organization, you need to follow a series of steps.
Carliner, Saul. Tieline (2007). Articles>Collaboration>Community Building>STC
#26914
Coming up with good ideas is hard enough, but convincing others to do something with them is even harder. In many fields the task of bringing an idea to someone with the power to do something with it is called a pitch: software feature ideas, implementation strategies, movie screenplays, organizational changes, and business plans, are all pitched from one person to another.
Berkun, Scott. ScottBerkun.com (2006). Articles>Collaboration
#22099
How to Revive a Zombie Content Management System
Without care and attention, a CMS can slide into a state of living death. Such systems can be revived by implementing a number of practical (and non-technical) activities.
Robertson, James. Step Two (2002). Articles>Content Management>Collaboration
#26908
How to Run a Brainstorming Meeting
The most important thing about a brainstorming session is what happens after it ends. No matter how poorly you run a brainstorming meeting, some decent ideas will surface. But depending on what happens after the session, those ideas may or may not impact anything. So while you can read books and take courses on better brainstorming techniques, the most important thing is figuring out how the brainstorming session fits into the larger decisionmaking process you or your team has.
Berkun, Scott. ScottBerkun.com (2006). Articles>Collaboration
#31872
How to Succeed As a First-Time UX Manager
In my last column, I suggested that being a manager of UX is no better—and no worse—than being a great designer or user researcher, but the roles are very different. In fact, as the book The First 90 Days [1] points out, the skills that make you successful as an individual contributor are not the same skills you need as a leader.
Nieters, Jim. UXmatters (2008). Articles>User Experience>Management>Collaboration
#20070
How to Win Information and Influence Technical Experts
Working with technical experts can be difficult, but it is an essential part of every technical writer’s job. Establishing an effective relationship with the technical experts assigned to your project and maintaining that relationship throughout the project and beyond requires some special techniques: getting off to a good start, winning their confidence, winning their respect, making them understand your situation, making the experience pleasant, helping them look good and establishing an efficient working relationship.
Winsberg, Freya Y. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Collaboration
#26620
Humanising Technology: the Studio Lab and Innovation
The central thesis of the report is that in the emerging digitally networked society, the creative arts and cultural institutions are mutating by forming a constellation of productive relationships with the science and technology research system, industry, humanistic and social science scholarship, and with emerging new structures of civil society. This apparently rising density of communication suggests the need to rethink some aspects of the relationship between cultural support policy, innovation and research policy, and the still nascent but interconnected set of concerns about the requirements for widespread creative participation in a 'techno-sphere' increasingly shaped by fast-changing digital media technologies.
Century, Michael. AHDS Performing Arts (2006). Articles>Collaboration>Multimedia
#24119
"I Sent You the File as Plain Text!" And Other Lies
Procedures for how to send a file as RTF or plain text in the body of an email.
Stieren, Carl. Simware (1998). Articles>Collaboration>Online>Email
#14697
Identity and International Online Communication
St.Amant discusses the tendency of online communication to obscure a person's identity and suggests ways people can ensure clear communication with individuals of other cultures.
St. Amant, Kirk R. Intercom (2001). Articles>Collaboration>International>Online
#30319
If You Want Something Done Right, Don't Do It Yourself
When you get fed up and do decide to blaze your own trail, don't forget to take some friends along with you. You never know when you're going to run into a wild past participle that you need help taming.
Allen, Jennifer. Boston Broadside (1992). Articles>TC>Collaboration>Workplace
#23434
Impressions from German/American Projects
Differences in culture add problems, as we learned during several months of work with four mixed German/American project teams.
Thiele, Ulrich. TC-FORUM (2000). Articles>Collaboration>International
#28176
Improving technical reviews, when subject matter experts, or SMEs, review content for technical accuracy, is a challenge every technical communicator faces sometime during their career. Every year, journal articles are published, presentations are made, and discussions are initiated on this very topic. Most of them conclude that SMEs are difficult. It's your job to bribe, cajole, or coerce a better review out of your SME. I don't agree.
Idoura, Alexia. Carolina Communique (2004). Articles>TC>Collaboration>SMEs
#18758
Improving the Writer-Developer Relationship
Many technical communicators work in environments where their contributions and value-add to business are not well understood. This perpetuates a lack of respect for the technical communication profession on the part of the technologists with whom we work. By improving our overall work processes and practices, we can change the perceptions of those around us for the better, improving our relationships and increasing the quality of our contributions. We can also begin to see technical communication as a practiced profession equal in importance to the professions of the technologists with whom we work.
Colvin, Richard D. and Virginia Beecher. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Workplace>Collaboration
