#29349
Manage the Document Life Cycle for the Important Documents on Your Project 
Not all documents require a full lifecycle, but if you understand the nature of building documents, you will be better able to plan for the time required to complete them successfully.
Mochal, Tom. TechRepublic (2005). Articles>Project Management>Documentation
#23793
Managing a Company-Wide Policies and Procedures Project 
It takes skills in three different areas to manage a company-wide policy and procedures project. First, people must be organized and motivated to participate. Executive support is critical here. And the persons actually performing the tasks must be the ones to document it. Second, the project must be clearly defined and tracked. The document creation and review process must be structured simply, to take full advantage of the documentation team’s limited time. Finally, the information published must be accurate and controlled. Work processes should be analyzed before the procedures are documented, and published procedures must be distributed to specified manual holders.
Creps, William B. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Project Management>Documentation>Policies and Procedures
#30139
Managing a Documentation Project from Both Sides of the Atlantic
Most of us struggle every day with keeping the lines of communication open between developers, subject matter experts (SMEs), customers, and writers. Sometimes you can circumvent these difficulties by simply walking upstairs or across the hall and chatting with the appropriate person. But what happens when it's not a staircase or hallway separating you but a very large ocean? The best way to keep an overseas project on track is to put together a writing team in the most convenient location; meet at least once with the development team; and set up your communication channels early.
Morgan, Sharon. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Documentation>Collaboration>Online
#22621
Managing and Documenting Your Project, XML Style
Here are links to the listings described in Managing and Documenting Your Project XML Style.
Fisher, Timothy. XML Journal (2003). Articles>Documentation>Project Management>XML
#28416
Managing Content in Regulated Industries
Global organizations, particularly those in regulated industries, have to juggle a wide range of competing priorities. They must have thorough documentation, clear internal and external communication, audience-appropriate marketing materials and many types of “fine print” carefully crafted. That means that many different departments, sometimes spread across geography, must be involved in all layers of the business. In a regulated field, multiple touchpoints mean multiple opportunities for triggering a regulatory error.
Giovanis, Kristen. tekom (2006). Articles>Documentation>Localization
#26402
Managing Customer Feedback on User Documentation
Customer-feedback concerning product documentation is an 'artifact' of value. Product/project management depends on documentation groups to play an active role in closing the feedback acceptance and incorporation cycle to the best satisfaction of the sending-customer.
Parameswaran, Jaya. Usability Interface (2005). Articles>Documentation>Usability
#30518
Managing Documentation Projects in an International Environment: The Supervisor's Role
The technical publications department of a major corporation is always a complex environment. When this environment also involves dealing with the issues of an international company and almost daily interaction with international counterparts, the opportunities and challenges are greatly increased. Joining a large-scale, ongoing publications project under these conditions requires quick learning and the rapid acquisition of new skills. For a project of this type to succeed, a supervisor must successfully solve a unique set of problems and is rewarded with enhanced opportunities for growth and professional development.
Chapman, Stephen C. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Documentation>Management>International
#19832
Managing Documentation: From Hard Copy to Repository
New technologies have added to the complexity of today’s documentation management. Documents have grown beyondpaper into compoundfonns that can include audio and video segments, and may exist only in electronic form. This documentation can capture much of an organization’s knowledge and wisdom. But often, these intellectual assets are lost because the organization lacks a formal knowledge management system. Many professional communicators already manage their documents from creation through delivery, but stop short of archival. This paper explains how to plan for efficient document production so that intellectual assets become available for easy retrieval and reuse.
Sharp, Michael V. and Beverly M. Bruns. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Documentation>Single Sourcing
#27872
Managing Multilingual Documentation
The author discusses the importance of integrating translation early in the documentation process to avoid translation problems. Explore how multilingual documentation also has an impact on writing style, layout, review procedures, and a variety of other elements.
Dehaes, Christel. Intercom (2006). Articles>Documentation>Localization
#31719
Managing SMEs - Part 1: A Primer for Success
Just the thought of dealing with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) can create stress in the life of any documentation manager. Philip Rastocny provides in-depth insight on how best to deal with SMEs.
Rastocny, Philip. Writing Assistance (2006). Articles>Management>Documentation>SMEs
#27974
Managing the TWI Mailing List: As Tough as it Gets
The success or failure of any mailing list depends entirely on its members - as in how effectively can they contribute on the list or how diligently can they enhance the quality of ongoing discussions. If you watch closely, the level of discussions combined with the maturity of posters is what characterizes these mailing lists to a large extent. For instance, take a firsthand look at Technical Writers India mailing list or TWI, as it is popularly called.
Prabhakar, Rahul. Blogspot (2006). Articles>Documentation>Technical Writing
#30521
Managing Your Documentation Monster: Project Management for the 90's
If you've ever had trouble figuring out what your boss wants or needs, and how to deliver the project in a timely manner, this is the demonstration for you! From a nuts and bolts approach to developing an iron clad project plan, to managing the process and marching the completed project in a timely and professional manner, this demonstration covers a lot of ground in a short time. Tips, tricks, and checklists will be available to each attendee.
Glick-Smith, Judith L. and Karen A. Steele. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Documentation>Project Management
#28138
Review: Managing your Documentation Projects 
Documentation projects require a significant amount of coordination and planning, and managers often find themselves faced with the challenge of successfully integrating a range of new elements including international legal requirements, new players, budgets and scheduling demands to make a product successful. Most often they look around for solutions to develop an effective strategy for their documentation projects that places control in their hands.
Kudesia, Saurabh. International Journal for Technical Communication (2006). Articles>Reviews>Documentation>Project Management
#24902
Experts in document design will analyze your document for organization, page layout, writing style, and use of graphics. Each document analysis lasts approximately 30 minutes. You must have a ticket for this session and bring a document to be evaluated.
Brogan, Barbara B. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Documentation>Assessment
#29067
Manuals for the Elderly: Which Information Cannot Be Missed?
Elderly people seem to encounter more problems than people from other age groups do, when using consumer electronics products and their accompanying manuals. This may be due to the absence of some kinds of information. In this study the effects of the absence of different information types in instructions on action performance were explored for different age groups. Younger (aged 20-30 y.) and elderly (aged 60-70 y.) participants installed a VCR with the help of the manual, while working aloud. The absence of goal information, consequence information and identification information in the instructions proved to have a negative effect on task performance, especially for the elderly participants. When one of these information types was missing in the instructions, the elderly performed more actions incorrectly than when the information was stated explicitly.
Van Horen, F.M., C. Jansen, A. Maes and L. G. M. Noordman. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2001). Articles>Documentation>Usability>Elderly
#20696
Manuals in Extreme Programming
Here's a bit of a rant I wrote some time back, talking about how to write the manuals for an XP project by using writers as part of the team. It's a serious proposal, written with tongue a bit in cheek.
Jeffries, Ron. XProgramming.com (2001). Articles>Documentation>Programming
#24766
Mastering the Mayhem: How to Manage a Hypertext Help Project
Two main forces affect a Help project: absurd deadlines and a complex web of hypertext files. Those responsible for managing such projects often ask: How do I gain control of all these forces? When do I need to start the project? How do I gauge its progress? Our demonstration will show how to successfully manage a Help project. We will illustrate how WordPerfect Domestic Documentation Services solves management problems using a timeline, checklist, and tracking database.
Calhoun, Deirdre and Wendy Fritzke. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help
#22860
Maximizing Windows Help is more than just converting printed documentation to Help. Help users want easy access to information so that they can complete their tasks expeditiously. A Help topic should contain information that adresses one subject, has one objective, and answers one question. To maximize Windows Help, chunk information and use hyperlinks. The use of macros can enhance how information is accessed.
Smart-Wycislo, Nicole Y. and Patryce Moshay. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help
#27593
Microcontent refers to small, granular, and possibly representative (that can provide a summary of or a navigation to a larger set of information) bits of information, typically available on the Web. An example in the domain of journalism might be headlines and news summaries, small bits of content that can be used on a front page of the news with links to more in-depth articles. The definition has grown in scope as much as in its application.
Albing, Bill. KeyContent.org (2006). Articles>Documentation>Content Management>Technical Writing
#24923
Media of the Future: Web? Paper?
Will the long-predicted demise of paper ever come true? Discusses the effects of the Web on documentation.
Redish, Janice C. 'Ginny'. Intercom (2005). Articles>Documentation>Online
#22602
We are all against bonded labour and slavery. I ask you: are software professionals (including technical writers), better off than slaves and bonded labourers?
Kamath, Gurudutt R. IT People (2003). Articles>Documentation>Project Management
#23398
A problem that sometimes occurs, when authors ask my advice about the method of presenting an instruction, is that they use words that I think will not necessarily be understood by people whose mother-tongue is not English.
Farrington, Gordon. TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>Documentation>Writing>Technical Writing
#20722
Method to Evaluate Manuals and Online Help
In these testing times when time to market for software is constantly diminishing, the demand to make manuals and online help targeted, faster, cheaper and better is a tall order. While methods and tools are being constantly developed to help us do our work faster, and better, measuring the quality of the written word remains a deficient arena. Technical Communications gurus advocate methods like surveys and usability to make better end products. However, this requires good infrastructure and management support to carry out. This paper provides a method to evaluate technical manuals and online help for software products. It discusses how you can gauge a manual’s quality and suggests a method to quantify its effectiveness. It is cheap to implement and is customizable for your organization. All you need is good knowledge of your audience, and some faith and persistence!
Santhanam, Raji. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Documentation>Assessment>Help
#23736
Methods for Documentation Testing in Technical Publications Quality Assurance
Traditionally, verification of documentation procedure accuracy follows a standard model: technical communicators prepare a draft, which is submitted to subject matter experts for review. This process hinges on a number of factors that can adversely affect the quality of the review. Higher quality reviews are conducted by staff tasked specifically to test and review the draft procedures, and supply specific feedback by means of an established procedure. A well-established method of documentation testing provides several benefits to an organization. These include customer satisfaction, reduced costs, improved overall product quality, and improved document draft correction.
Lippincott, Richard J. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Documentation>Quality>Assessment
#21040
Microsoft "Longhorn" Help Highlights
Microsoft’s specification for 'Longhorn' Help represents a major revolution in user assistance development for the Windows platform. Instead of simply refining the technical infrastructure of Help (windowing, links, search, etc.), Microsoft has given a good deal of thought to the needs of both Help authors and end-users.
Ellison, Matthew. WritersUA (2003). Articles>Documentation>Operating Systems>Microsoft Windows
