Open-Source Tech Writing: The Time is Now

We are all going to have to collaborate like never before. Everyone should select at least one area of interest and specialize as best they can. Then we will need to start meeting and sharing information. Immediately. There are several ways to do this, I believe.

Norris, Julie. 2moro Docs (2009). Articles>Collaboration>Technical Writing>Open Source

Learn How Much You Don’t Know

I’m amazed when I hear people say they learn nothing from others in the technical communication field. Some people have a lot of experience, so they feel there are few opportunities to learn from others. I believe they forget that often through discussions, we discover a new perspective or a new way to solve an old problem. Different approaches can also lead to new techniques and solutions.

Mueller, Paul. Answers for All (2009). Articles>TC>Community Building>Collaboration

Editors and Designers: 6 Ideas for Better Collaboration    

Demonstrates how collaboration between all involved in a project can improve the final product, improve the bottom line, and improve your own knowledge base. By understanding the point of view of your collaborators, you can present information better and be sure they understand your point of view better as well.

Hallmark, Erin and Marla Sowards. Intercom (2009). Articles>Editing>Graphic Design>Collaboration

Design Reviews and Posting Without Answers

In our design review sessions, a couple of members from our eight-person team share what they’re working on and ask questions about challenges they’re facing. We provide feedback and critique their project. If you’ve ever participated in a creative writing group, the design review works similarly. Team members use common sense and experience to guide their questions and reviews. Somewhat in contrast to a creative writing group, though, you don’t have to bring a finished piece to share.

Johnson, Tom H. I'd Rather Be Writing (2009). Articles>Graphic Design>Assessment>Collaboration

There’s No Crying in Agile!

When I’ve read Agile practitioner reports that tell tales of times when technical writers have left meetings and fled to cry, I am not just surprised but a little dismayed.

Gentle, Anne. Just Write Click (2009). Articles>Collaboration>Agile

How Soon is Now?

One common complaint a lot of technical writers have is that they aren’t included early enough in lifecycle of a project. The downsides are that by the time work hits your desk you don’t have a full picture of who the customer is, why they want whatever it is you are building, and how they want it provided to them. All of which directly impacts the information being created.

McLean, Donna. One Man Writes (2009). Articles>Project Management>Technical Writing>Collaboration

Top 10 Technical Writer Annoyances

The life of a Technical Writer is far from boring. Days spent typing away at a keyboard are often disturbed by the rigours of the corporate world. I was reminded of this earlier today when one of my team, a relatively new recruit to the world of technical authoring, discovered that occasionally being kept in the dark can be annoying. In honour of this momentous occasion, I offer to you for your delectation my own top ten ways to annoy a Technical Author.

McAndrew, Colum. RoboColum(n), The (2009). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Collaboration

Design Partners: Passing on the Knowledge of UX

The two main drivers for a successful relationship were to respect each other’s opinion and to use active listening to understand what the other was saying.

Richkus, Rebecca. Designing the User Experience at Autodesk (2009). Articles>Knowledge Management>User Experience>Collaboration

IxD and SMEs Working Together

An SME is someone who has been trained and has worked in the area that is being targeted for the new application. At Autodesk, we have found that pairing SMEs with Interaction Designers is the most efficient and successful way of meeting user centered design goals.

Hooper, Ian. Designing the User Experience at Autodesk (2009). Articles>Collaboration>Interaction Design>SMEs

Speed Racer: Collaborative Sketching Saves the Day

Give 3 designers 4 weeks to create multiple conceptual designs for 8 features and what do you get? If they are team of innovative designers you might get the designs and a new process. If they are a team of committed designers you might get the designs and an improved collaboration. We were lucky. We got all three.

Sherman, Melissa. Designing the User Experience at Autodesk (2009). Articles>Collaboration>Graphic Design>Case Studies

How to Incorporate Twitter into Your Presentation

I’m growing tired of presentations that are little more than lectures, so I’m going to experiment with more user-led techniques like this. Unfortunately, available wi fi at chapter meetings or conferences with participants who have computers or mobile data devices is pretty rare. But if you do have the opportunity, definitely try incorporating Twitter, even if only for Q&A at the end of your presentation.

Johnson, Tom H. I'd Rather Be Writing (2009). Articles>Presentations>Collaboration>Social Networking

Humility and the Effective Leader 

Are you staying humble, or have you crossed the line into arrogance? Spend some time thinking about this question and asking for feedback from those you trust on what they are observing in your behavior. And if you’ve crossed the line, call your executive coach to help you get back to humility.

Asmus, Mary Jo and Art Petty. Aspire (2009). Articles>Management>Collaboration

Managing International Assignments 

The traditional concept of an ‘international assignment’ is rapidly becoming a misnomer. Certainly the situation whereby an individual (with or without accompanying family) is sent to an overseas location for two or three years still occurs – despite the recent downturn in business. However, today there are all sorts of permutations of business activities that can result in business people working with international colleagues and clients. It may be that people are on short-term assignments (e.g. one to six months) in another country or that they are frequent business travelers visiting subsidiaries and clients or even that they are managers of long-distance teams working on developing new products for third country markets.

Cook, Richard. TC World (2009). Articles>Project Management>Collaboration>International

I Have an Idea! Forums for Design Conversations and Negotiations 

Working together in a group to produce a creative outcome is difficult—don’t let anyone tell you it’s not. A time or two, I’ve had that same feeling of being dumbstricken when participating in various forms of UX design brainstorming sessions.

Lepore, Traci. UXmatters (2009). Articles>User Experience>Collaboration

Choosing Media Strategically for Cross-Border Team Communications 

More and more organizations are establishing cross-border teams to take advantage of global talent and global markets. Location and time are no longer impediments to building the 'dream team' but in our rush to take advantage of these new media of e-mail, video conferences and the like we may not realize that there is also some learning for us to do on the cultural front.

Cook, Richard. TC World (2009). Articles>Multimedia>Collaboration>Organizational Communication

Tom Sawyer: A Crowdsourcing Pioneer? 

Most American schoolchildren are familiar with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, (Mark Twain, 1876) and, thanks to translators, many students around the world have also read Twain’s classic. In the book’s most famous scene, the protagonist Tom is assigned the task of whitewashing a fence. While his motivation is to avoid work rather than cost, he cleverly manipulates his friends and acquaintances into doing the work for him. Not only does he leverage effective “non-financial rewards,” but he even gets others to compensate him for the “privilege” of contributing to the effort. Could this be the first recorded instance of crowdsourcing?

Orr Priebe, Shelly. TC World (2009). Articles>Collaboration>Community Building

Authoring Teams Become More Geographically Dispersed 

Working with people from around the globe has become common practice for both authoring teams and technical documentation professionals. A recent survey conducted by SDL investigated the development of global authoring. The results were compared to surveys from 2007 and 2006. They reveal trends in working methods and shed light on the effects of globalization on global authoring.

Hurst, Sophie. TC World (2008). Articles>Writing>Collaboration>Teleconferencing

Professional Online Networks: The Bridge to Business and Information 

The world is a village – a village with nearly seven billion inhabitants, to be exact. Through modern travel and electronic means of communication, we’ve come closer to our friends and colleagues all over the globe. There’s no serious reason keeping us from working for customers in other countries, cooperating with partners on other continents, sharing information with peers from all around, networking with all the people we have met along our path during our entire professional and social life, something, that has lately become more popular than ever.

Starkmann, Angela. TC World (2009). Articles>Collaboration>Online>Social Networking

Holidays for Every Occasion 

At the time I’m writing this column, it’s that “happy” time in the United States between the Thanksgiving holiday in late November (the fourth Thursday of the month) and the impending Hanukkah, Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Well, the “happy” part is debatable, as this period has become characterized by the absolute chaos of shopping, the challenges of winter travel and the “holiday crunch” in the workplace to complete as much as possible before most everyone disappears for a week or two.

Edwards, Tom. TC World (2008). Articles>Collaboration>International

Challenging and Being Challenged: Westerners' Encounter with the Indian Culture 

Historically India attracted a lot of Western attention due to its different and complex culture, its spiritual philosophy and rich natural resources. Obviously, this attraction had both positive and negative effects. However, during the many centuries of colonization the country tried to safeguard its unique cultures and value systems. Nowadays, India as a country with a booming economy and a relatively stable democratic system looks even more promising to the West. All this explains the growing stream of foreign tourists, business people and researchers.

Groznaya, Elena and Pranjali Bandhu. TC World (2008). Articles>Collaboration>Regional>India

Listening: An Essential Skill for the Freelancer 

How often do you really, truly listen to what a client has to say? Probably not often enough. This post looks at why you should.

Nesbitt, Scott. ScottNesbitt.net (2009). Articles>Freelance>Collaboration

Crowdsourcing: Five Reasons It's Not Just For Startups Any More 

While Internet startups have had considerable success with crowdsourcing over the last few years, including with its more serious cousin peer production, it's only recently that they've focused on creating the tools and communities that can be readily consumed by enterprises.

Hinchcliffe, Dion. ebiz (2009). Articles>Collaboration>Online>Social Networking