Managing Multiple Deliverables with a Small Staff  

Managing multiple deliverables with a small staff is a discipline unto itself, different from those departments where each writer has specific responsibilities. In this environment, each member is required to have multiple skills and the flexibility to jump from one project to the next quickly. Because of the demands, heavy training costs are often incurred, and the involvement of other departments is mandatory, all of which makes management support essential. It is an exhilarating, often exhausting environment, but the rewards are multiple skills, a wide variety of assignments, and the satisfaction of being part of a tightly-knit, highly-productive team.

Beadle, Diane. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Collaboration>Workflow

Managing SMEs - Part 2: Selling the Concept to Management

Part 2 switches the focus to members of your management team and what you can do to sell your team’s professionalism. Also included are hints on how your writers can individually sell themselves to gain cooperation from SMEs.

Rastocny, Philip. Writing Assistance (2007). Articles>Management>Collaboration>SMEs

Managing the Communication Between Writers and SMEs  

The development of a modern software product is a complex process involving a variety of disciplines, including that of the technical writer. It is essential that the writers establish close relationships with all other groups in the process and that they build effective and efficient systems of communication between them. The job of the writing manager is to ensure that the writing team obtains the information it needs in a timely manner and that the group interacts effectively with other groups in the process. This can be achieved by a blend of intergroup communication, background research, documentation and schedule planning and a well organized documentation review process.

Morgan, Sharon. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>TC>Collaboration>SMEs

Managing Virtual Teams: Getting the Most from Wikis, Blogs, and Other Collaborative Tools--Interview with the Authors

I talk with Katherine (Kit) Brown, Brenda Huettner, and Char James-Tanny about their latest book, Managing Virtual Teams: Getting the Most from Wikis, Blogs, and Other Collaborative Tools.

Brown, M. Katherine 'Kit', Brenda P. Huettner, Char James-Tanny and Tom H. Johnson. Tech Writer Voices (2007). Articles>Collaboration>Content Management>Podcasts

Many Heads Make Work Right

Writing is popularly considered a spontaneous exercise, and often is. Spontaneous writing, however, does not always result in high quality results.

Aiyyangar, Ramesh. Indus (2002). Articles>Writing>Collaboration>Technical Writing

Mediating Group Dynamics through Tabletop Interface Design  

Our tabletop research efforts at Stanford University have focused on how tabletop user interfaces (UIs) might respond to and even influence a user group's social dynamics.

Morris, M.R., Piper, A.M., Cassanego, A., Huang, A., Paepcke, A., and Winograd, T. Stanford University (2006). Articles>Collaboration>User Interface

Merging XML Files: A New Approach Providing Intelligent Merge of XML Data Sets  

As XML becomes ubiquitous so the need for powerful tools to manipulate XML data becomes more pressing. Merging XML is particularly tricky, but often necessary to consolidate data feeds from heterogeneous systems, or to synchronize submissions of XML fragments which make up a larger document. An automated mechanism for defining and controlling such merges has been developed and is demonstrated to provide a consistent, adaptable and resilient solution to this problem. Integration into an information pipeline allows limitless customization.

La Fontaine, Robin. DeltaXML.com (2001). Articles>Information Design>XML>Collaboration

The Methodology of Participatory Design    

Technical communicators have lately become interested in participatory design as a way to structure and guide their research and development efforts, particularly in online media. But attempts to use participatory design - in technical communication and elsewhere - have been hampered because participatory design has typically been seen as an orientation or field rather than a methodology with its own methods, techniques, and acceptable range of research designs. In this article, I work with a range of participatory design sources to describe it as a methodology useful for technical communicators. After providing the historical and methodological grounding for understanding participatory design as a methodology, I describe its research designs, methods, criteria, and limitations. Finally, I provide guidance for applying it to technical communication research.

Spinuzzi, Clay. Technical Communication Online (2005). Articles>Collaboration>Methods>Participatory Design

Monitoring Communication in Partnering Projects

This report is a summary of a two year research project carried out by the IT byg group at BYG. DTU for the Danish government agencies Erhvervsfremmestyrelsen and By- og Bolig-ministeriet. The objectives were to collect data on the use of IT by the PPB housing consortia, a development project to test out various innovations, to map communications between the partners, and compare IT usage with their original proposals. Data was collected on communications in housing projects in the period June 1999- Aug 2000. The original PPB proposals were made in 1994/5 but there have been breaks in the flow of projects, and information technology has gone through much change since then. Use of Email has taken over from post and fax, and Project Webs have been developed in most consortia. Consortium members' policies have dominated the choice of management and logistics software, restricted compatibility in the consortia, and limited willingness to share data. Greater involvement by the client, and more sharing of equity, would have encouraged adoption of common IT systems and created more trust for data sharing between partners. PPB projects have allowed consortium members to test out new technologies but, in general, the IT systems used have been similar to those which the larger firms use elsewhere. Vertical integration has been limited by lack of experience and technology in smaller firms. In future, access to Project Webs from mobile devices should help use by all partners from any location. In all the projects studied, and in spite of the introduction of Email and Project Webs, the ratio of non-IT communications to IT varied from 0.8 to 4.6. When problems need to be solved rapidly there appears to be a tendency to revert to traditional means of communication - meetings, telephone and fax.

Howard, Rob and Ernst Petersen. ITcon (2001). Articles>Collaboration>Community Building>Government

The Most Non-Boring Article About The UPA Board Ever

A quick overview of the Usability Professionals Association Board--what functions it performs, how it's structured, and who's currently performing what role.

Sherman, Paul J. Usability Professionals Association (2006). Articles>Usability>Collaboration

Moving Between Academe and Industry: Lessons Learned  

The author discusses her transition from academic professor to corporate worker and back to academic professor. She compares and contrasts some fundamental differences between these environments on the dimensions of teaching, research, collaboration, problem solving, and ethics. She describes some of the lessons she learned as she moved back and forth across these environments. She concludes by suggesting that, however large these transitions seem, they are transitions we routinely expect our students to make when they migrate from school to work.

Levine, Barbara J. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Collaboration>Industry and Academy

Moving to Single Sourcing: Managing the Effects of Organizational Changes    

Argues that the move to single sourcing often requires changes within teams as new skills are introduced and members' roles shift. Points out that while some changes may threaten the stability of the team, managers can anticipate and prevent problems.

Bottitta, Jeanette, Alexia Prendergast Idoura and Lisa Pappas. Technical Communication Online (2003). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing>Collaboration

Multilingual Knowledge Management Empowers Global eBusiness  

With the penetration of Internet technologies into global business operations, employees at every level are collaborating across multiple geographies.

Sargent, Benjamin B. ZDNet (2001). Articles>Knowledge Management>Collaboration>Online

The Nature of the Interchange Between Editors and Authors

Editors, if allowed to interact with authors on a level above the comma, could often help authors negotiate new meaning as authors struggle to translate their ideas into writing.

Document Design (2001). Articles>Collaboration>Editing

The Need for Technical Communication in IT Departments

Although many would not believe such to be true, there is a vast amount of communication that must be done in the IT world. This is even truer when the IT organization is involved with a regulated industry (e.g., pharmaceutical). In general, procedures and practices that went into the development, installation, and use/maintenance of a system require documentation and the communication of outages to the user community are also important. Among the more specific areas are help documentation, user instructions, code comments, installation instructions, and maintenance procedures/schedules. When a problem arises, it is often necessary for the IT professional to explain exactly what happened and provide the resolution in a coherent, layman-termed method, whether it be verbal or written (or both). Unfortunately, not all IT professionals are capable of doing this.

Mardekian, Beth. MetroVoice (2004). Articles>TC>Technology>Collaboration

Negotiation Techniques

Most of us are involved in negotiating in some form or other on a daily basis. Here is a look at the process of negotiation and tips you can use to improve your technique as you progress through the process.

Harris, Kerri. Writing Assistance (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Collaboration>Workplace

Net Collaboration on the Cheap

Web conferencing without corporate support -- how to take advantage of ways the 'net can facilitate meetings in real life.

Shoemaker, Nancy. Carolina Communique (2008). Articles>Collaboration>Online

Network Your Way to a Seat at the Table

Many IABC members are hungry to get a seat at the corporate boardroom table. They want to be influencers. If you want to pull up a chair with the "C" level folks, networking is key. Networking is not asking, "Do you have work for me?" Networking is building long-term, mutually beneficial relationships.

Susman, Karen. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Articles>Collaboration>Community Building

Networking With Our Peers  

Technical communication is a broad field—its practitioners perform many different tasks in many different industries. Technical communicators may write technical documents, design multimedia presentations, create Web pages, or illustrate mechanical designs. And they may perform these tasks in industries such as aerospace, biotech, computer software, or agribusiness. To effectively network with your peers, you need to find your communities of practice.

Grice, Roger A. Intercom (2004). Articles>Collaboration>Professionalism

Networking Your Way to Success

You don't have to spend hours making cold calls or squander money on invisible advertisements in order to find new clients. In fact, savvy businesspeople--technical writers included--know the best way to expand your client base is by leveraging the resources you already have. You might ask, "What resources?" Well, pull out your personal address book. This database of contacts--friends, relatives, and co-workers--is a gold mine when prospecting for business. By knowing how and who to ask, you can soon have as much business as you can handle!

Chroust Ehmann, Lain. TECHWR-L (2008). Articles>TC>Community Building>Collaboration

NetWorks or, How to Make Professional Connections When You Live and Work in the "Sticks"

NetWorks is an association of people involved in public relations, technical/computer documentation, marketing, fund raising, planning and development, training, journalism, editing, video production and publishing. We have a common interest in sharing ideas, information and resources.

Olander, Karen Wise. Boston Broadside (1992). Articles>TC>Collaboration>STC

The Newest Online Communication Tool: Collaborative Web Pages Anybody Can Edit

A wiki is a web site that anybody can change. You may have already visited a wiki without even knowing it. Wikis are poised to become one of the most important online communication tools we’ve seen in a long time. While blogs are justifiably getting most of the attention paid to the online world these days, wikis are quietly weaving their way into both the external and internal communication world.

Holtz, Shel. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Web Design>Collaboration>Wikis

Newsletter Co-Registration, and other Partnerships

When someone signs up for my newsletter, I list some other newsletters they might be interested in on my site's thank-you page. People can simply check a box next to the other newsletters they want to receive, click one button, and they're done. The publishers I partner with do the same for me, listing the Excess Voice newsletter on their sign-up thank-you pages.

Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2006). Articles>Web Design>Collaboration

A Newsletter Competition Where Everyone Wins  

A competition where everyone wins—is it too good to be true? Not if the STC Newsletter Competition Committee (STCNCC) has anything to say about it.

Ames, Andrea L., Cheryl Disch and Helen T. Hegelheimer. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Collaboration>Community Building>STC

A Newsletter Competition Where Everyone Wins  

A competition where everyone wins--is it too good to be true? Not if the Society for Technical Communication (STC) Newsletter Competition Committee (STCNCC) has anything to say about it. This year we implemented the second phase of a three-year plan to increase participation and maximize constructive feedback in the annual STC Newsletter Competition. In this discussion session, the STCNCC would like to see judges and editors meet to discuss the effectiveness of the competition and the committee’s plan to improve it. Participants are invited to consider ways to improve the competition in the future.

Ames, Andrea L. and Cheryl Disch. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Collaboration>Community Building>Newsletters