Time-Consuming Email Communications

Our documentation and advertising bureau mails five emails with attachments on the average per day to different customers, partners and other service organisations. The sizes of the attachments vary roughly from 50 KB up to 2 MB. About 60% of our emails with attachments don't create any problems with the addressee. However, 40% need additional attention. This fraction causes communication problems.

Thiele, Ulrich. TC-FORUM (2000). Articles>Collaboration>Correspondence>Email

Tips for Negotiating

Negotiation is a part of life, though we may not always think of it in conscious terms. Although this article is written from the perspective of a consultant bidding on a project, the concepts of negotiation apply to many situations where you are trying to reach agreement with someone.

Snyder, Carolyn. Usability Professionals Association (2005). Articles>Collaboration

Together Everyone Achieves More!

The highest priority for team members is achieving the team’s goals. There may be team members who have strong personalities, possess highly specialized skills, and commit themselves to a variety of personal objectives—but the most important thing is the success of the group. To function effectively, members of a team must be flexible, trust one another, and wholeheartedly support every member of the group in its progress toward achieving its goals.

Laurent, J. Suzanna. STC Central Iowa (2001). Articles>Collaboration>TC

Tools for Distributed Development

When it comes to working on distributed teams or one with global development partners spread around the world, you need to use every tool you can to make interaction easier.

Mawdsley, Jason. Dr. Dobb's Journal (2007). Articles>Collaboration>Technology

Top Ten Worst Things SMEs Say or Do

In this podcast, I interview Brenda Huettner about strategies for overcoming the top 10 Worst Things Subject Matter Experts Say or Do.

Huettner, Brenda P. Tech Writer Voices (2007). Articles>Interviews>Collaboration>SMEs

Toward a Theory of Goal Detection in Social Interaction: Effects of Contextual Ambiguity and Tactical Functionality on Goal Inferences and Inference Certainty    

The inferences individuals make about others' goals is an integral, but neglected, aspect of empirical and theoretical work on social interaction. An original theoretical framework is proposed to account for interindividual agreement and certainty of goal inferences. Two experiments applied the framework to explain how contextual ambiguity and tactical functionality affected agreement and certainty. Results generally support hypotheses regarding agreement, such that goal inferences converged (i.e., interobserver agreement increased) as the context and tactic became more compatible, yet results largely do not support hypotheses for inference certainty, as the only significant effect that emerged was that certainty was higher in unambiguous than ambiguous contexts. A reconsideration of the theoretical framework on goal detection is discussed and implications are advanced.

Palomares, Nicholas A. Communication Research (2008). Articles>Collaboration>Rhetoric

Training Options and Team-Oriented Techniques  

After instituting training programs requiring 10 to 20 percent of every person's work week, Motorola reported that plants reinforcing the training received a $33 dollar return on investment for every dollar spent. The demand for training in new computer applications is growing. Selecting computer training options requires (1) an analysis of cost to benefits and (2) teamwork for preparing the materials and delivering the training. Some training techniques that work include knowledge mapping, pilot testing, and team training.

Feinberg, Susan G. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Collaboration

Trans-Atlantic Roundtable  

Intercultural experts offer their insights about working with colleagues from specific cultures. Included is a table presenting various cultural differences that communicators may experience.

Pejovic, Jean and Marie-Louise Desfray Beaujouan. Intercom (2006). Articles>Collaboration>International

Transferability of Long File Names

If you use Win95, NT, Mac, or any other operating system that allows long file names, are you aware of the problems that can arise when files are transferred to Win 3.11 or DOS? The problems particularly affect files that have long file names in which the first eight characters are the same, e.g. 'minutes of 20 Sept meeting' and 'minutes of 14 Nov meeting'. The problem arises as soon as a file is opened in an operating system that allows only eight characters in the file name, suffix excluded.

Gärdegard, Karin. TC-FORUM (1998). Articles>Collaboration>Operating Systems>Microsoft Windows

Transforming Your Chapter through Corporate Bingo  

As a chapter President, starting the Transformation process can seem a daunting task. Once you have the committee in place, directing its efforts can leave you with even more questions. Not sure what to do next? Look to the corporate Bingo card to help set your course. While the blocks of the corporate Bingo card generate chuckles, smiles, and even more jokes, it also provides direction, guidance, and some thought-provoking considerations for your chapter's transformation.

Guess, Suzanne. STC Proceedings (2005). Articles>Collaboration>Community Building>STC

Trust and Zeal in Open Source Advocacy

People who are unfamiliar with open source generally don't like evangelists--at all. This is particularly true for managers who may take the same disdain to evangelists that they take to salespeople and marketers.

Bacon, Jono. O'Reilly and Associates (2005). Articles>Collaboration>Open Source

Two Time Zones Beat as One: A Model for International Project Management  

Challenges abound when a documentation team is based in two countries, works with software developers in four countries, and produces documentation for use by engineers in many countries. Differences in language usage, cultural perspectives, time zones, holiday schedules, and educational backgrounds are only a few of the difficulties to overcome.

Auten, Kathlyn, Joan L. Kellogg and Sudha Seshadri. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Documentation>Collaboration>Online

Usability Team Structures

There are two basic alternatives for structuring a usability/UCD group within an organization: members of the group can be centralized in a single department, or, members can be distributed among development teams.

. Usability Body of Knowledge (2007). Articles>Usability>Project Management>Collaboration

Use Body Language to Deliver Your Message  

One of your most effective means to communicate with team members may not involve words. See why senior editor Matthew Osborn believes body language can say it all.

Osborn, Matthew. TechRepublic (2003). Articles>Collaboration>Communication>Workplace

User Interface Should Be a Team Effort

Let's say you've got a clear set of requirements; the users have been defined, the features are associated with user tasks, marketing has done a competitive analysis and everything is good to go. Now what?

Ferlazzo, Ellen Lawson. Sprezzatura Systems (2002). Articles>User Interface>Collaboration

Using Customer Loyalty as a Platform for Teaching Written, Oral, and Team-Based Business Communication  

For many students, their role as customers is their most significant interface with the business world. They understand, at some level, the organizational importance of building customer loyalty for the success of companies. Building on that understanding can provide a context that amplifies their knowledge of business and reinforces the value of effective communication. Using the organizational goal of building customer loyalty as a framework for class discussion and activities gives instructors a real-world rationale that brings the world of business into communication courses. This fresh approach shows you ways to focus student writing, presentations, and group process assignments around the theme of evaluating and improving customer loyalty.

Timm, Paul R. Association for Business Communication (2004). Articles>Education>Writing>Collaboration

Using Student Management Teams to Improve Technical Writing Courses  

In this article, the authors describe the student management team (SMT) teaching concept, used to build appropriate teamwork competencies, and explain how they implemented an SMT in their technical writing course.

Mutschelknaus, Ina L. and Mike Mutschelknaus. Intercom (2000). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Collaboration

Using Tools in a Fast-Cycle, Flexible Environment: Solutions and Tips for Working with Associates at Other Locations   

Technical communicators today often work with associates at locations across the city, state, country or world. Electronic tools can facilitate communication. At Unisys Corporation, we use Portable Document Format (PDF) files, networked DocuTech printers, networked and shared PC hard drives, and Microsoft NetMeeting for training. We have also addressed human concerns about sharing equipment, files, and jobs by helping people find a positive motivation to share.

Peterson, Delores S. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Collaboration>Online

UX Community

To all of the bloggers who have written about UXmatters and people who have sent email messages and comments, thank you for warmly welcoming UXmatters to the UX community. We've been gratified by the high level of interest in and enthusiastic response to this Web magazine. There seems to have been some pent up demand for a publication that covers the breadth of user experience for digital products!

Gabriel-Petit, Pabini. UXmatters (2005). Articles>User Experience>Collaboration

The Value of Employee Participation in Strategic Planning    

A strategic planning and measurement planning project was undertaken by an 800-employee Maintenance department of a major Canadian gas transmission company to establish a stable direction and performance guide. Employee morale was so diminished from six years of constant reorganization and downsizing that the newly appointed vice-president was skeptical that the department would be able to meet its new goals unless a highly participative process was used. The project therefore was designed to use an input-reaction process between employees and managers to create a shared vision, strategic plan, and measurement system. Past projects of this nature had involved management personnel only and often goals were not achieved because few employees felt motivated by the "top-down" directives. This process produced a motivating vision, a highly doable performance plan, and a well-accepted measurement system within the allotted project schedule.

Holbrook Mort, Gail M. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2001). Articles>Management>Collaboration

Video: The Basis Of Video Conferencing

Video is a Latin word that means 'I see'. This technology includes, capturing, transmitting and replaying visual media. Video is actually the technique of turning a series of still images into moving images and the technology to do this varies through time. Video has come a long way from the black and white images that used to move much like a fast slide show just a couple of decades ago. Live video was made possible with the invention of the 'Vidicon', which was the heart of the video camera. This was first used in television cameras in the large television studios. Today, video cameras come in various shapes and sizes to match the work they are required to do. Small video cameras that fit into the palm of your hand are the most common and inexpensive cameras that produce very high quality images that can be stored on discs or video tape.

Shakir A. Ezine Articles (2007). Articles>Collaboration>Videoconferencing>Online

Virtual Communities and Team Formation

With the growth of global computer networks, virtual communities have become an important new way for people to interact. People are beginning to realize that networks are not only affecting the way businesses operate, but also our everyday lives [7]. One of the simplest examples of a virtual community is online chat. Through a chat application, one can participate in diverse discussions with numerous people, many of whom are strangers.

Zhang, Yanru and Michael Weiss. ACM Crossroads (2003). Articles>Collaboration>Online

Virtual Teamwork: Tools and Techniques for Working Together Online

Working together online can be as productive and satisfying as working together face-to-face, and, under some circumstances, even more so. Virtual teamwork is definitely more economical, especially when team members are not all in the same building. With the appropriate selection and use of freely available web-based technologies, virtual teamwork can even make face-to-face meetings more effective.

DeKoven, Bernard. Intranet Journal. Articles>Collaboration>Online

Visual Mapping: A Multidisciplinary Communication Technique  

As members of multidisciplinary teams, technical communicators often are faced with the challenge of understanding products before the writing process begins. As a result, teams of this nature must be able to communicate and verify their understanding, and revise that understanding accordingly as their project progresses. “Visual mapping” is a term used to describe a technique that uses off-the-shelf graphics or flowcharting tools to capture knowledge about products, to communicate that knowledge, and to collaborate with other members of the team. The technique is not limited to technical communicators, but can be used by anyone within a development environment, including management, developers, human factors engineers, technical communicators, and visual designers.

Hutcheson, Tracy D., Frederick Fusilero, Humberto Gutierrez-Rivas and Kevin M. McBride. STC Proceedings (2002). Articles>Collaboration>Methods