Improving Your Work Teams by Identifying Individual Styles  

Effective teams develop a synergy that cannot be estimated or measured, but is an end result of successful projects. This synergy can be contributed to effective communications and insightful task and resource assignment. By identifying team membership styles, and applying these styles to individuals in a team, all team members can contribute to the increased synergy and ultimate success of a project. Tools to achieve this effect, as well as practical examples to demonstrate it, motivate participants to reuse style identification methods.

Fay, Brenda and Dan Fay. STC Proceedings (1996). Careers>Collaboration

In Praise of Applause  

The author calls for a return to public recognition--rather than just a quick e-mail acknowledgment--of people's accomplishments. Legg presents the benefits of public celebration: It opens positive communication, builds self-esteem, inspires others, and shows and gains respect. She also deflates many of the perceived obstacles to public praise, and encourages readers to use their communication skills to acknowledge others.

Legg, Kathy A. Intercom (2000). Careers>Workplace>Assessment

Increase Your Impact on Proposal Preparation  

To succeed in the 1990s, technical communicators must become more financially precise and increase their impact on procedures. These capabilities are especially critical during preparation of new business proposals. This workshop focuses on techniques and tasks that can increase the technical communicator’s ability to contribute while they reduce preparation time and cost. The techniques presented in this workshop have been successful in producing both commercial and government proposals.

Allen, Lori A. and William C. Wiese. STC Proceedings (1994). Careers>TC>Proposals

Independent Consulting in Technical Communication

The number of technical communicators working as independent consultants has increased remarkably over the past decade - may you call this a trend?

TC-FORUM (1998). Careers>Consulting>TC

Independent Contracting Opportunities and Issues in Asia/Pacific  

As a U.S.-trained writer based in Singapore in recent years, my experiences and observations revealed significant opportunities that technical communicators working in the Asia/Pacific region can take advantage of as well as issues they are likely to need to come to grips with. My emphasis will be on Southeast Asia.

Kurtz, Jerry. STC Proceedings (1996). Careers>Consulting>Regional>Asia

Independents' Success Depends on Business Skills  

I went independent in 1990 as a technical writer/instructional designer, and I now teach technical writing in corporations. My business has grown steadily, albeit slowly, in these thirteen years. I learned quickly that independents are businesses first and technical communicators second. Our work may feed our souls and pay the bills today, but if we ignore business matters, our practices will ultimately fail. It is not enough to be 'technically' smart— independents must be savvy in business to succeed in any economy.

Frick, Elizabeth G. 'Bette'. Intercom (2003). Careers>Consulting>TC

Indexer Wants to Retrain

With such a considerable portion of our collective mindshare devoted to information management products these days, it's no wonder that you're lost in terminology and technology. And it's no wonder that so many of us are confused.

Byrne, Tony. CMSworks (2004). Careers>Content Management>Indexing

Industrial-Strength Technical Communication  

In the nineties, if an employer took one glance at your résumé and started to fall in love with you, it probably had a lot to do with your long list of software tool skills. Nowadays, most employers couldn't care less about tools. It's all about industry experience.

Davis, Doug. STC (2007). Careers>Resumes>TC

Influencing the Uncooperative

Even when the other side in a conflict seems unwilling to change, you can still exert a positive influence. Kenneth Kaye, author of Workplace Wars and How to End Them (AMACOM, 1994), assesses stalemates realistically: 'You're the only one you can change--and even that guy, you don't have all that much control over.' But to the extent that you're able to overcome the frustration of dealing with an uncooperative opponent, Kaye suggests several steps for improving the situation.

Hard at Work. Careers>Management

Information Architecture: A Rose by Any Other Name...

The efforts to define our field and our role are understandable by-products of our economic times and of forces in our contexts of practice. What are the pressures behind this quest for definition? What are the options (and potential advantages) of refusing to pigeonhole ourselves?

Stott, Lynn. Boxes and Arrows (2004). Careers>Information Design>Professionalism

Information Architecture Institute Job Board  

The IAI Job Board lists job postings related to information architecture, as well as information design, interaction design, user experience, and HCI.

Interaction Design Association (2005). Careers>Job Listings>Information Design

Information Architecture: Where Does It Fit?

It seemed five years ago that 'information architect' was becoming a popular, fancy name for tech writer. Have all of the information architects of the late '90s morphed into usability specialists with a special emphasis on the Web? Or have they gone back to being 'learning products engineers' and 'technical writers'?

Lizak, Samantha. STC Williamette Valley (2004). Careers>Information Design>Web Design

Information Design and Becoming a Business Partner  

The information age provides great opportunity--and threat--to technical communicators. By understanding more about the general domain--specifically the relationship between communication and information design--we have the opportunity to become valued business partners to our employers and clients.

Knemeyer, Dirk. STC Proceedings (2004). Careers>Information Design>TC

Information Development at Rockwell Software – Part 1: Organizational Issues and Work Process  

Establishing and maintaining good relationships with internal customers is essential for technical writers. In our case, engineers are our internal customers and managing professional relationships with them can be challenging. At Rockwell Software, writers are matrixed into engineering organizations. This diffuses technical writing’s presence, but it gives us access to information we might not have if we were in a separate department. Given this organization, we have found that establishing personal relationships with engineers before focusing on work helps ensure our success. Finally, usability testing serves as a place where engineers and writers can focus on the success of their product as a whole.

Butler, Scott A., Eric J. Grabowski and Myron M. Shawala III. STC Proceedings (1998). Careers>TC>Collaboration

Information Format Trends

On-demand printing, easy low-cost Web storefronts, and simple payment processing provide unprecedented methods and opportunities for technical writers to produce small, focused documentation for specific audiences. Seemingly all that is missing is the motivation.

Meyer, Gordon R. Usable Help (2003). Careers>Information Design>Writing>Technical Writing

Information Product Development Process Quality: Vision, Process, and Implementation  

Two members of the management team from LSI Logic Storage Systems' Technical Publications Department review how their team developed a vision statement and an information product development process based on that vision statement. The workshop provides participants opportunities to learn about the value of vision statements and production processes as well as to begin developing these materials for their own organizations. Participants will also share ideas on how to maintain process integrity through customer focus, team feedback on product and process quality, and strategic continuous improvement. Participants will receive materials that enable them to draft their own vision statements, information product development processes, and continuous improvement team operating practices.

Burroughs, Dia H. and Randy Clark. STC Proceedings (2004). Careers>Management>TC

Information Technology and Organizational Change    

The profession of technical communication is in transition. While a few might argue that we are in danger of being swallowed up by large, institutional realignments, it seems more likely that the future workplace (as characterized by Senge, among others) will put communication, culture, and collaboration at the center of work. However, in order for the profession to exploit these opportunities, we must understand the impact of integrated information technology (IT) on organizations. I summarize the interaction of corporate culture, leadership/management, human resources, and advanced networking and web-based applications (more commonly called an Intranet) for the successful integration of new IT products into an established and well-defined organization. Background research for this paper was conducted as part of an Army Summer Faculty Research and Engineering grant.

Carlson, Patricia A. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2001). Careers>Business Communication>Technology>Collaboration

Information Technology and the Emergence of a Worker-Centered Organization    

Barbara Mirel's narrative highlights the interplay of profit, power, and personalities in a software engineering project. My response's purpose is to widen the perspective on the story. More specifically, I contend that information technology (IT) enables positive change in today's workplace. Rather than being techno-centric, the re-visions currently being brought about by IT will place the knowledge worker of the 21st century at the center of design and engineering considerations. I support my claim by identifying four trends in organizational management that will afford human factors and usability engineering a better seat at the table in the not too distant future. They are (1) requirements for next-generation IT applications, (2) improved understanding of culture and context in the workplace, (3) recognition of knowledge management and human capital, and (4) fostering strategic leadership beyond resource management.

Carlson, Patricia A. Journal of Computer Documentation (2000). Careers>Workplace>Technology

Informational Interviews

Informational interviewing, a.k.a. networking, is a very effective way to learn and make contacts, in not just technical writing, but any field you are considering as a career option.

Blair, Jennifer. STC West Coast Canada. Careers>Interviewing

Inspections: Part of the Quality Evolution  

Inspections are apart of the rebirth of Total Quality Management directed at customer satisfaction. Although inspecting documents takes extra time and fortitude, the rewards far outweigh the investment. A formal inspection process improves the quality of documents and reduces costs over the long term. Through early defect detection, inspections have proven their value time and time again. In this workshop, we will share inspection process guidelines used at Bull Information Systems, and raise issues related to inspections.

Alicee, Audrey L. and Leigh A. Wales. STC Proceedings (1996). Careers>TC>Quality

The Interdisciplinary Rodeo: How to Wrangle Diverse Professionals Without Getting Gored  

Interdisciplinary work is complicated by communication and collaboration problems. Technical communicators can serve as effective interdisciplinary team facilitators if they predict and prepare for the linguistic and political problems many interdisciplinary teams encounter. Effective preparation includes preliminary research to define key terms and identify political concerns. Interdisciplinary team facilitators must also establish their own role on the team and help other members understand the benefits and difficulties of interdisciplinary collaboration. Finally, facilitators must establish a system to archive the work of the team.

Adlin, Tamara. STC Proceedings (1996). Careers>Management

Interesting Times, Interesting Measures

We've been living in 'interesting' times, as the saying goes, and many of us feel that we've had about as much interest as we can tolerate, thank you very much. Chapter meeting attendance has been down and the popularity of technical presentations has decreased, while the popularity of career cafes and career management days has increased. In any conversation between three technical communicators, at least one is unemployed, about to be unemployed, or thinking about a career change.

Bailie, Rahel Anne. MetroVoice (2003). Careers>TC>Planning

Internships: Getting Your Foot in the Door

Through internships and other practical experiences outside of the traditional employment situation, both students and employers benefit. Students benefit by gaining some work experience that they can put on their resume and employers benefit from lower cost in workforce for a particular project. Most colleges and universities recognize internship experiences related to a student's chosen field of study for credit. These are structured experiences or contracted experiences monitored by a supervisor on the job site and from the school.

Gillis, Tamara. IABC (2006). Careers>Internships

Interview Basics

There are four parts to any interview: Opening (small talk), information giving, information taking, and conclusion. Before you go into an interview, know your: job strengths (writing, media contacts); managerial strengths (organized); personal strengths (energetic); weaknesses.

Raperto, Marie. IABC (2006). Careers>Interviewing