Project Management is the discipline of planning, organizing, and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives.
#23652
Estimating Time and Cost for Policies and Procedures Projects 
Estimating time and cost for a policies and procedures project can be an adventure in guessing and a ticket to grief. However, planning with a detailed checklist and list of assumptions can you help create a more realistic estimate, please your client, and protect your sanity and pocketbook.
Escoe, Adrienne. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Documentation>Project Management
#13117
Ethical Insights on XML and Single Sourcing
Newer, more efficient technology for developing and disseminating information is rolling our way at a rapid pace. And, as always, we’re ready and eager to give new technology a try. Today, we’re investing in XML. But what is the ethical impact of this investment? And how should it aid the quest to align processes with technical capability? This paper focuses on the ethical accountability inherent in XML deployment and proposes an ethical platform for investing in this new technology.
Wiles, Debbie. STC Proceedings (2001). Presentations>Content Management>Ethics>XML
#19796
Ethics and Rationality in Information-Enriched Decisions: A Model for Technical Communication
Although experienced decision makers depend on valid and reliable information, exactly how information plays into decisions is not always clear. Because decision making is an information function, technical communicators can make important contributions in decision-support roles. Decisions that are effective, efficient, and ethical must be rational. That is, we must be able to determine and present good reasons for our actions. Information relates to good reasoning and thereby affects the best decisions.
Carlson, Patricia A., Susan B. Dressel and M. Jimmie Killingsworth. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Management>Ethics
#31587
Evaluating and Managing Surveys
While surveys aren't the only research tool available to HR managers, they are the most useful one when 'hard' numbers are needed on how many people see things a certain way and when it's important to track differences among subgroups or improvement over time.
Sinickas, Angela D. Sinickas Communications (2004). Careers>Management>Assessment>Surveys
#30269
An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Automated Templates
Automated templates are an alternative to traditional supporting information for helping users perform complex tasks. In this study users performed tasks with and without wizard to trial and error, printed manuals, and online the use of automated templates. Results suggest that if fakes help, and examined the use of supporting information some time for users to learn to use automated templates, but in performing complex tasks. We also considered once they do, the templates help users perform tasks more whether automated templates serve an educational successfully and more quickly.
Bayer, Nancy L., R. Darren Carleton, Susan Goetchus, Robert Krull and Rick S. Sapir. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Document Design>Content Management
#31598
Everything in Moderation: Using Content Units to Manage UX
I’ve found that separating client requests into content units removes uncertainty and offers clearer direction, while helping your client recognize each individual request as a deliverable, requiring assignments and responsibilities. To do this, I follow a four-step process that helps delineate what content units each section of a Web site must cover—as opposed to content that acts as filler, or filler units.
LaFerriere, Keith. UXmatters (2008). Articles>Project Management>Planning>User Experience
#31747
These are exciting times and we have a great opportunity to finally leverage technical communications into the spotlight. The value of information is finally being properly realised, and we are ideally placed to help any organisation make the most of what information they have and help them understand and create the information they really need.
McLean, Gordon. One Man Writes (2008). Articles>Content Management>Content Strategy
#20343
The Evolution of Knowledge Management within NCR Corporation
As information is requested and accessed more and more frequently, we search for better/quicker ways to share knowledge; particularly within the corporate Information Technology environment. One new initiative which is beginning to receive a lot of attention at NCR Corporation is Knowledge Management. This paper will examine Knowledge Management as an internal business process for information management, specifically for capturing best practices within the Information Technology division, from a process improvement approach. This paper is geared toward technical communicators with little or no experience in Knowledge Management as a business process.
Babilon, Maria Guiao and Mary Ann Kabel. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Knowledge Management
#10301
Evolution-Revolution: Toward a Strategic Perception of Technical Communication 
Although we tell ourselves that technical communication is important to the bottom line of organizations and all of the business literature reinforces our convictions that information is strategic to business success, few of us feel 'strategic' to the organizations we work for.
Carliner, Saul. Technical Communication Online (1996). Careers>Management
#20235
Content management systems are only as good as the content they manage. Garrity explores the care and feeding of low-budget clients who need high-quality content.
Garrity, Steven. List Apart, A (2001). Design>Content Management>Single Sourcing>Web Design
#10235
Exactly What Is Content, Anyway?
Not too long ago, one of the key people behind a substantial e-commerce operation confidently assured me, 'Content is not a consideration for our site. We just sell stuff – we don't publish content.' CRINGE!!! This statement reflects a sadly limited understanding (a profound misunderstanding, actually) of the nature and role of content in online media. Content is a broad term, with broad implications. It includes far more than article-style material.
Gahran, Amy. Contentious (2001). Articles>Content Management>Theory
#20764
Excuses, Excuses, Excuses: A Manager’s Guide
Sometimes it seems your employees spend more time thinking of excuses than actually working. In this workshop, you’ll learn how to respond to common excuses and how to avoid them in the first place.
#23790
Contrary to first impression, an 'executive dashboard' is not found in a CIO’s car. Rather, an executive dashboard, also known as a manager dashboard, executive cockpit, or digital cockpit, is a child of what in the 1980s was referred to as the Executive Information System (EIS).
Kirtland, Alex. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Management>User Interface>EPSS
#31693
Review: Exploring Leadership Conversations
Gail Fairhurst's book (2007) on discursive leadership is a highly welcome Gcontribution to the endeavor of establishing discourse analysis as a substantial approach to management communication. It presents a range of theories and methodologies for doing research on the central topics of leadership and on the crucial activities in management, such as instruction, mentoring, and performance appraisals. As a linguist doing research on management meetings, I would like to comment on the contribution that the book may make to theory and training in the fields of communication and management, and I wish to make some suggestions about the way forward for empirical research on discourse in management settings.
Svennevig, Jan. Management Communication Quarterly. Articles>Reviews>Management
#24772
Extensible Markup Languages and Traditional Abstracting and Indexing Strategies
Object oriented coding languages are used to more accurately label and search for content embedded in electronic texts. An object can be a graphic, a row of specific data housed in a table, a written text, or any other piece of information that conveys meaning. XML, XLink and RDF are second-generation object-oriented coding languages and tools derived from SGML. I illustrate how these object-oriented languages can effectively deploy the indexing techniques and systems traditionally used by information professionals.
Applen, J.D. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (2001). Articles>Content Management>Knowledge Management>XML
#23135
How to extract content from a portion of a PDF document.
Baker, Donna L. PlanetPDF (2004). Articles>Content Management>Document Design>Adobe Acrobat
#26590
FACE Considerations in Upward Influencing in an Indian Workplace
This study is a first attempt at using Speech Act Theory (SAT), as a way to analyze and explain how upward influence (UI) strategies are performed. Based on SAT and considerations of face, as explained by Brown and Levinson (1987), this study tries to explain UI strategies used by members within an Indian workplace. We carefully selected six examples of UI to demonstrate how SAT can be useful in analyzing UI strategies. We found that even the slightest change in the anticipated degree of willingness or receptivity of the receiver necessitates a change in the strategy to be adopted. Violations of sincerity conditions and/ or inappropriate threats to face create infelicitous conditions and may lead to failed attempts at UI.
Kaul, Asha and Charlotte D. Brammer. Association for Business Communication (2005). Careers>Management>International>India
#29280
By crossing the characterizing facets with constraints, you are combining the subjective needs of the project stakeholders with the objective constraints of the project in a way that ensures all points of view are fairly considered. It also ensures that a project requirement is not included or excluded simply because one person yelled louder than the others.
Polansky, Adam. Boxes and Arrows (2007). Design>Project Management>Collaboration
#28551
Facets Are Fundamental: Rethinking Information Architecture Frameworks
This article presents three problems with existing information architecture frameworks. First, they are too focused on organizing information based on topic. Second, they treat facets as a supplemental form of classification. Third, they conflate the organization and representation of information. Analysis of these three problems suggests that information architects should provide navigation systems and user interfaces'based on an underlying framework of faceted classification'that allow users to flexibly navigate through complex information spaces in the service of particular tasks and goals. To this end, this article introduces a faceted classification framework, and provides an example of a model framework, called 'Facets are Fundamental' (FaF). The purpose of the FaF framework is to explicitly designate faceted classification (rather than a hierarchical classification) as the starting point of the IA development process. Both of these approaches encourage information architects to employ non-topical methods for organizing and representing information.
Crystal, Abe. Technical Communication Online (2007). Articles>Information Design>Project Management
#29115
Family Business Members' Narrative Perceptions: Values, Succession, and Commitment
The purpose of this article is to investigate the values, succession, and commitment issues found in a convenient sample of 26 family-owned businesses. An organizational commitment scale is used to determine the level of commitment of family members and its relationship to specific demographics variables. Family business stories were also developed using Narrative Paradigm Theory and then evaluated by this sample. Significant relationships were found between commitment and the variables Studied. Content analysis of the story evaluative narratives suggests similar content themes across family-owned businesses.
Barker, Randolph T., George W. Rimler, Evandro Moreno and Thomas E. Kaplan. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2004). Articles>Management
#22970
Fast Track to Web Accessibility in 5 Steps
Sometimes you don't have the time to sit down and plan out the ideal Web site. Maybe you've just recently been appointed as your organization's webmaster, or have recently been assigned to oversee accessibility operations at your organization, and you discover that your Web site has gaping holes in its accessibility. Rather than panic, you should start with the biggest problems and work your way through the site until you have fixed all of the accessibility errors. After you've 'plugged the holes,' then you can start thinking about a new design, but not until then. This workshop presents a 'fast track to accessibility' that prioritizes your tasks of sorting through and fixing your site's accessibility problems.
Bohman, Paul. WebAIM (2003). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Project Management
#22023
Born to lead or learn to lead? Truth is -- no one knows for sure. But there is a small industry of writing, teaching, and speaking built on the proposition that you can at least talk about it. Studies by the Center for Creative Leadership and the Honeywell Corporation suggest that, after direct experience, the second source of learning about leadership is conversation with others.
Breen, Bill. Fast Company (1996). Articles>Management>Collaboration
#30442
Featuritis (or Creeping Featurism)
Featuritis or creeping featurism is the tendency for the number of features in a product (usually software product) to rise with each release of the product. What may have been a cohesive and consistent design in the early versions may end up as a patchwork of added features. And with extra features comes extra complexity.
Soegaard, Mads. Interaction-Design.org. Articles>Usability>Interaction Design>Project Management
#28506
A Few Good RSVP Tools: Online Registration Options for Free Events
When you're planning a free event, it's hard to justify paying a lot of money for online registration software--but email or Evite can be frustrating. Happily, other choices exist. We talked to seven nonprofit technology experts about useful and affordable (or free!) options for collecting RSVPs for free events.
IdealWare (2006). Articles>Project Management>Software
#27458
Fifteen Steps to Select a Content Management System
These are suggested steps to research Content Management System options for your organization, large or small. They can take you from knowing nothing about CMS to final vendor and product selection. Even if you are replacing a CMS with a new tool, you should follow these steps in the CMS lifecycle.
Doyle, Bob. CMS Review (2004). Articles>Content Management>Assessment
