Moving UX into a Position of Corporate Influence: Whose Advice Really Works?

Was documenting and evangelizing (i.e., explaining and advocating for) UX work considered to be a critical component of what it took to move UX into a position of corporate influence? It was in some companies, but not in others.

Anderson, Richard I. uiGarden (2007). Articles>Management>User Experience>Workplace

My Paper Tiger is Purring

You know the adage that says it takes 21 days to create a habit? Practice has definitely established a new habit for me: It now feels comfortable to pick up a piece of paper and decide-on the spot-whether to throw it or keep it. And I'm thrilled to report that I'm throwing a lot more away the first time, rather than picking it up, putting it down, picking it up, putting it down. Who needs that kind of up and down exercise!

Book, Ruth. STC Central Iowa (2001). Articles>Workplace>Time Management

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

Nip It in the NUB (Neo-Usability Bashing)

Lately in some quarters it's cool to bash usability. This is a bit different from the 'Never heard of it and don't need it' kind of opposition many of us have encountered in our careers. The Neo-Usability Bashing (NUB) argument goes something like this: Usability is so '90s, so software-application centered. In this brave new networked world, usability's outlived its worth. On the Web, people aren't 'users' as they were when they were using a spreadsheet or a word processing application, they're 'searchers,' 'game-players,' 'shoppers,' etc.

Donahue, George. Usability Professionals Association (2000). Articles>Usability>Workplace

Our Stake in Struggle (Or Is Resistance Something Only Others Do?)    

Encourages critical organization scholars to develop our stake in struggle in at least three ways: (a) by examining how the structure and practice of our own work enacts relations of power and resistance (i.e., reflexive, empirical study of organizational dynamics in higher education), (b) by considering how our experience of knowledge labor implicitly shapes our representations of organization (i.e., reflexive analyses of the relation between the process and products of scholarly production), and (c) by more explicitly accounting for our role as cultural agents in representing organizational life and inducting students into it (i.e., reflexive analyses of the relations among the labors of teaching, researching, and theorizing power and resistance).

Lee Ashcraft, Karen. Management Communication Quarterly (2008). Articles>Management>Organizational Communication>Workplace

Painless Ways to Improve Colleagues' Grammar

Instead of confronting individuals, raise all staff members' awareness. Use humor to help people recognize errors and remember correct usage.

Writing that Works (2003). Articles>Workplace>Style Guides

Paper at Its Peak: The Myth of the Myth of the Paperless Office

Anyone who writes for a living can, like me, describe a long love-hate relationship with paper as the conveyer of the written word. There's something physically appealing about putting pen to paper, as there is about picking up and reading a well-produced bound document.

Garrison, Ronald W. Carolina Communique (2007). Articles>Workplace>Business Communication>Paper

Perception at Work    

A technical writer is not respected; information providers and reviewers do not understand the importance of documentation; my deadlines are not given priority. Do these statements sound familiar? Are there any solutions to these woes that will help us deliver the best output to the end-user?

Lawrence, Prema. International Journal for Technical Communication (2006). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Workplace

Plasma Screens: The Dynamic New Wave in Internal Communications  

Informing an organization's employees about key messages is essential to creating and maintaining an efficient and effective work force. To help your employees stay informed, consider broadcasting your organization’s news on plasma screens that are accessible to all employees.

Sacharen, Chani H. and Ettie Gilead. Intercom (2006). Articles>TC>Workplace>Workflow

Practical Tips for Merger Communication

When two companies merge, the complexities, emotions and often sweeping changes behind the deal can hinder effective communication to key stakeholders. Yet a well planned and implemented communication strategy contributes to the very success of the merger itself. How can you overcome the obstacles to developing and delivering on a merger communication strategy?

Fagan-Smith, Barbara and Ruta Skelton. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Financial>Workplace

Practitioners as Students: What We Can Learn About Teaching Usability  

This paper presents the results of a study that contributes to our understanding of how to conduct and manage usability in the workplace. The study’s participants provided the dual perspective of practitioners working in industry and who are simultaneously enrolled in graduate studies. Recommendations for industry and academia are offered. The results have implications for helping technical communication professionals prepare for their expanding role in user-centered design.

Levine, Barbara J. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Education>Usability>Workplace

Preparing Communicators for Contemporary Challenges: Organizational Communication in the STC Curricula  

What should organizational communication courses contribute to an STC curriculum synthesizing technological and critical literacies? We argue for a strong theoretical component as a way of setting technical competencies and organizational roles in critical perspective. We illustrate the importance of a theoretically-informed synthesis in extended examples from a recent co-op experience at a major government lab. The changing role of technical communicator can be viewed in terms of changing models of organization and communication with implications for STC curriculum design and real-world practice.

Sotirin, Patricia. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Communication>Workplace

Provide Detail

While parts of a document should be concise, provide detail whenever it may help the reader. Computer documents often have less total space constraints than paper documents, so the cost of providing extra details may be small. In fact, sometimes providing details can cut the cost of writing the document by saving time from writing summaries.

Bricklin, Dan. Good Documents (1998). Articles>Writing>Workplace

Putting Limits on Subject Matter Expertise

At nearly every conference I attend someone is talking about the need for Subject Matter Expertise for Business Analysts. The rationale is that someone versed in the language, ideas, and systems of a given organization or product will ask better questions and elicit better requirements from stakeholders.

Vincent, Cameron. BA Collective (2007). Articles>Business Communication>Workplace>SMEs

The Real Value in Sarbanes-Oxley

Companies are finding unexpected business and IT benefits in compliance.

Melymuka, Kathleen. ComputerWorld (2006). Articles>Documentation>Legislation>Workplace

Resistance: Would Struggle by Any Other Name Be as Sweet?    

Management in professionalized workplaces is often characterized as Mtrying to herd cats. Having grown up on a dairy farm, the characterization never made much sense to me. Cows and sheep earn our disparaging remarks because they are easy to push around. Their occasional resistance seems counter to their character. But cats are also easy to herd; just have milk. Cats may walk by themselves, but they quickly all choose to walk in the same direction following the pail. Cats may quickly resist getting pushed in common directions, but they are easily pulled there. Got milk, got cats. Are cats more autonomous than the herds? Has resisting cats led us to overlook how easy they are to herd? Resistance comes to us as a term growing out of workplaces that tried to push and direct. Resistance was at least a pushing back; sometimes it was an organized pushing for another direction.

Deetz, Stanley. Management Communication Quarterly (2008). Articles>Management>Workplace>Cultural Theory

Resources on E-Learning for Training and Performance Support

A comprehensive collection of links to e-learning resources online for workplace training.

Carliner, Saul. Saul Carliner Studio (2003). Articles>Workplace>Education>Online

Responses to 'Following the Doctor's Orders'  

This article presents reader responses to a hypothetical dilemma published in the February 2000 issue of Intercom.

Intercom (2000). Articles>Workplace>Ethics

Responses to 'In the Company of Lawyers'  

This article presents reader responses to an ethics case published in the March 2002 issue of Intercom.

Bryan, John G. Intercom (2002). Articles>Workplace>Ethics

Responses to 'In the Gyres'  

In the September/October 2000 issue, Intercom printed a hypothetical dilemma entitled 'In the Gyres.' A summary of this story is reproduced, followed by reader responses.

Bryan, John G. Intercom (2000). Articles>Workplace>Ethics

Responses to 'Who's Policing the Policy Makers?'  

This article features reader responses to a hypothetical dilemma printed in the April 2001 issue of Intercom.

Wiles, Debbie. Intercom (2001). Articles>Workplace>Ethics

Responses to "Alienation"  

In the April 2003 issue, Intercom printed a hypothetical dilemma by John G. Bryan entitled 'Alienation.' A summary of this story appears in the box on this page; reader responses appear below. The responses do not reflect the views of STC's ethics committee and may have been edited for length.

Bryan, John G. Intercom (2003). Articles>Workplace>Ethics>Security

Revive Employee Publications with New Technologies

You would think that if the humble print employee newsletter hasn't been killed off in the Internet explosion of the past decade, then it must have more than just its reputation going for it. It must actually meet a fundamental business need to inform and engage a workforce.

Schmidt, Belinda. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Business Communication>Workplace>Newsletters

The Rules of Digital Engagement

For contract web workers, consultants, and freelancers who work with far-flung collaborators, multiple clients, and constantly shifting teams, the rules of digital engagement--the way we interact with each other and resolve conflict in virtual space--are constantly changing. As we adapt to new ways of collaborating, we must also learn how to communicate effectively, set expectations, and build team confidence in an evolving work environment.

Follett, Jonathan. List Apart, A (2008). Articles>Web Design>Collaboration>Workplace

Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance: Five Lessons to Reduce Cost and Effort

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires every publicly traded company, large or small, to establish internal controls and procedures for reliable financial reporting. Although the Securities and Exchange Commission has extended the deadline for small businesses and foreign entities, these organizations need to begin planning. But as they do so, they can apply valuable lessons learned by large businesses that paved the way to Sarbanes-Oxley compliance (and spent on average of $10 million to do so). Here are the top five lessons learned that will help you reduce the cost and level of effort for achieving compliance.

Nelson, Adam. ComputerWorld (2006). Articles>Documentation>Legislation>Workplace