http://tc.eserver.org/publisher/TechCom_Manager A listing of works published by TechCom Manager in the field of technical communication. en-us Copyright (c) 2005-08 by the EServer. All rights reserved. tclib-editorial@eserver.org (TC Library Editorial Board) webmaster@eserver.org (Geoffrey Sauer) http://tc.eserver.org/images/newlogo.gif http://tc.eserver.org/dir/TechCom_Manager http://tc.eserver.org/33700.html http://tc.eserver.org/33700.html In this article, I will identify some of the tools we have used to bring together contractors, writers, and clients for our projects. Often, to determine a tool’s value, I will use a trial version. Some tools are very valuable but cost more, while others are functional and free. Although I cannot recommend which tools are best for your organization, I do recommend trying those tools that might fit your needs. http://tc.eserver.org/33701.html http://tc.eserver.org/33701.html A Reduction-In-Force (RIF) or layoff is the easiest, fastest way to cut costs as companies trade immediate, short-term gains for long-term growth and performance. The detriment of this approach is wide-spread and lasting, yet management continues in this mode with greater frequency. More and more companies believe this policy just makes good business sense. But year after year, hard data and analysis disprove this notion. So let’s begin by examining some common myths about layoffs. http://tc.eserver.org/33702.html http://tc.eserver.org/33702.html For the past few years, the buzz phrase in interviewing has been behavioral interviews. In behavioral interviews, the interviewer asks the candidate what has been done in the past in order to extrapolate what will be done into the future: past performance indicates future performance. I’m suggesting that the behavioral interview could be more than a discussion about behavior—it could be a demonstration of behavior. Test driving candidates places a demand on the candidate to exercise his or her current ability while under scrutiny. Thus, rather than hearing stories about behavior, test drives allow you to observe behavior. http://tc.eserver.org/33703.html http://tc.eserver.org/33703.html If I were bringing in new people to an already existing group, I would begin by studying everything I could find about the strength, weaknesses, personalities, and interests of all the people who would be working together. One thing I know from putting together teams of students is that managers (whether in the classroom or in business) need to base teaming on the strengths of the participants and not on the weaknesses. http://tc.eserver.org/33704.html http://tc.eserver.org/33704.html To make alternative work arrangements operate at maximum efficiency, you might need to fine-tune your team’s schedule. As a result, this could be one of the most useful activities for retaining key people and keeping morale high. In my experience, nearly everyone who has an alternative work arrangement realizes the value it brings to their work and personal lives, and will go to almost any length to maintain it. For one thing, when it comes to driving fewer days to an office in this age of soaring gas prices, it’s like giving employees a raise. http://tc.eserver.org/32663.html http://tc.eserver.org/32663.html In many of today’s corporate work environments, the days of managing a group of people who all share a common physical location and the same work hours are waning. More often, work teams may be composed of people who work in either a company office or from home, in different cities, states, time zones, and countries. They may also work different hours or even different days. Knowledge work, such as technical writing, is ideally suited to these types of work arrangements since, in many cases, the work can be done anytime, anywhere -- unlike certain professions such as nursing or construction. Modern computer and telecommunications technology has made the world, or at least those parts of it with high-speed Internet access, one big potential office. This article article analyzes various types of work arrangements, the tools that make them possible, the benefits and potential pitfalls of these arrangements, and how to make them work. http://tc.eserver.org/32174.html http://tc.eserver.org/32174.html The work may start with the author, but to get it from the author to the end reader means it also has to go through an editor, copy editor, book designer, typesetter, printer, sales and marketing team, distributor, book buyer, and, eventually, a retail store. http://tc.eserver.org/32175.html http://tc.eserver.org/32175.html A newsletter for documentation managers. http://tc.eserver.org/32176.html http://tc.eserver.org/32176.html The purpose of this case study is neither to simply rehash the project nor to provide a pressure-cooker story that others can use as a comparative benchmark. This article looks at the decision points within the project and provides an analysis from a real-life, practical approach that other technical communication managers can use when called upon to engage in a rescue project of their own. http://tc.eserver.org/32178.html http://tc.eserver.org/32178.html Web 2.0 is hip, trendy, and reminiscent of catch-phrases from the Dot-com boom when just about anything related to binary was so “Now.” Experts are frantically pushing non-digital natives to get on board with Web 2.0 absolutely yesterday, if not sooner. The good news is if you’re reading this article online, there’s a good chance you have already been onboard with Web 2.0 principals for quite some time. The question is, have you been using them effectively? http://tc.eserver.org/32179.html http://tc.eserver.org/32179.html The move toward XML-based authoring in technical publications is a classic paradigm shift. It requires content creators to change their writing process and learn new concepts. http://tc.eserver.org/32180.html http://tc.eserver.org/32180.html As techcom professionals, we have been talking about authoring in XML for a very long time. At first, it was a lot of hype about a format that required major programming skills and had zero tools’ support, but that is now changing. Today, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of tools that support XML and a standard called DITA that is in constant development to support content publishing for different industries. As a result, more and more companies seem to be embracing this content format.If you are a writer or techcom manager who is encouraging your company to make this change, then what do you need to know to prepare? http://tc.eserver.org/32182.html http://tc.eserver.org/32182.html Content producers are about to live through interesting times, to adapt the popular saying, with the dawning of The Age of Content. Industry is discovering content as a commodity; the rules are changing, and fast. http://tc.eserver.org/32183.html http://tc.eserver.org/32183.html Success in a global marketplace requires translating content into multiple languages. Moving to a topic-based XML architecture, such as the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA), can help you control the translation process and save money. http://tc.eserver.org/32184.html http://tc.eserver.org/32184.html The average person engages in some form of negotiation on a daily basis. From time-management struggles to managing employees, work/life balances issues and even parenthood, opportunities to hone negotiation skills are everywhere. Improving your negotiation skills can mean greater peace of mind, increased harmony among the team, and the chance to advance personal and business relationships toward future success. http://tc.eserver.org/32185.html http://tc.eserver.org/32185.html Organizations are moving business documents to structured XML authoring -- a technology that was once reserved for only the bravest of technical publications departments. They are using new tools that make the transition much easier, even for completely non-technical authors, and they are reaping benefits that will drive structured authoring in XML across the entire organization. http://tc.eserver.org/32186.html http://tc.eserver.org/32186.html MS Word is not an XML authoring tool, no matter what your IT team believes. While Word may indeed understand and use some XML, it doesn't use XML in the way technical communicators need it to. Instead, it uses XML to transfer information back and forth between MS Office products. Useful? Yes. XML authoring? Not even close. http://tc.eserver.org/32188.html http://tc.eserver.org/32188.html This article defines the tasks and responsibilities for up to seven levels of information engineers, plus two levels of management. http://tc.eserver.org/32189.html http://tc.eserver.org/32189.html Once you start looking at your publishing process separately from your content and style considerations, you will have identified how your “End Game” impacts your production process. Then, you can take the necessary steps to eliminate it. http://tc.eserver.org/32190.html http://tc.eserver.org/32190.html Focusing on your professionalism could be the key to successfully managing your working relationships with SMEs. http://tc.eserver.org/32191.html http://tc.eserver.org/32191.html An interview between Diane Wieland, a technology writer in Indianapolis, and Scott Abel, publisher, The Content Wrangler. http://tc.eserver.org/32192.html http://tc.eserver.org/32192.html If the documentation is not being used and used effectively, it will never help the bottom line. The trick to increasing value with internal and external users is to identify areas where documentation can save time and money, to create agreement that the documentation can save time and money, and to ensure that the documentation does save time and money. http://tc.eserver.org/32193.html http://tc.eserver.org/32193.html Just the thought of dealing with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) can create stress in the life of any documentation manager. Some SMEs can be self consumed, preoccupied, distant, and even rude. But why do these behaviors exist? This article briefly describes how to interact with people who might be difficult to motivate and how to work with people who have priorities different from yours. http://tc.eserver.org/32194.html http://tc.eserver.org/32194.html Conference expenses are affected by a number of factors. Before you can even begin to justify conference expenses, you need to calculate what those expenses are. To do so, use the following Expenses Worksheet to develop a cost estimate for attending your selected conference. http://tc.eserver.org/32195.html http://tc.eserver.org/32195.html Spend enough time among the ranks of corporate culture and you are likely to hear many common catch-phrases like 'branding' and 'market differentiation.' These conceptual ideas can seem like mere marketing dogma reserved for abstract thinkers alone. Yet the savvy career-minded professional should turn a keen eye on these notions with a plan to incorporate a few basic principals into their annual objectives. Employing a few strategies for personal branding can help managers foster greater enthusiasm from their teams and provide the basic framework to help promote a positive self-image within an organization. http://tc.eserver.org/32196.html http://tc.eserver.org/32196.html When you think of the best manager you have ever worked for, you probably remember his/her ability to motivate you and your colleagues, his/her professional but personable demeanor, and the way his/her organizational skills matched the right person with the right responsibilities. In your management role, you strive to do all these things. However, to make the greatest impact, you must not only excel as a manager yourself, but also help the next generation of leaders develop their managerial skills. http://tc.eserver.org/32197.html http://tc.eserver.org/32197.html This year was an active one for the field of technical communication. New tools and technologies made their mark on our profession, while new pressures and business goals began to impact the way we see ourselves, our role in the organization, and our place in the communication spectrum. In this end-of-the-year report, Scott Abel, president of TheContentWrangler.com, takes a look at some of the year's most important developments in the field of technical communication and makes a few predictions of importance to documentation managers for 2007. http://tc.eserver.org/32198.html http://tc.eserver.org/32198.html As a retired teacher with many years of experience, I’m new to the world of technical writing. However, from what I’ve observed so far, all the world is not only a stage; all the world is also a classroom. http://tc.eserver.org/32199.html http://tc.eserver.org/32199.html Unless your organization is large enough to support dedicated organizational development and/or performance specialists, you will need to bring in a consultant to help you manage the real change. The change most people forget about, until it’s too late. http://tc.eserver.org/32200.html http://tc.eserver.org/32200.html Feedback is important to business, but no one needed to tell us that. As Technical Communications managers, we regularly see feedback in many forms: user feedback, customer feedback, internal feedback, external feedback, feedback from testing, and feedback in performance appraisals. As beacons of information communication in our organizations, we are responsible to communicate well and, by extension, possess a solid appreciation of and ability to respond to feedback. http://tc.eserver.org/32201.html http://tc.eserver.org/32201.html If you are a technical communications manager, chances are you are working for an organization that has existed for far too many years to be considered a start-up. And if your organization is relatively mature, then at this stage, the organization is also swimming, if not already drowning, in information. http://tc.eserver.org/32202.html http://tc.eserver.org/32202.html Implementing a content-management system may seem a little outside the purview of the technical documentation manager. But, according to JoAnn Hackos, managers and their staff can play a pivotal role in the success of a content-management project. In this interview, guest editor Scott Abel, publisher of TheContentWrangler.com, chats with Hackos about how to prepare for a move to content management and explores who needs to be involved in the process and why. http://tc.eserver.org/32203.html http://tc.eserver.org/32203.html Changes come fast for today’s manager. Whether it revolves around local issues such as staffing, attrition patterns, or larger structural concerns like corporate-wide modifications, change of any kind represents the single greatest challenge for leadership. On an individual level, change can be difficult to accept and harder to implement. Uncertainty can lead to irrational behavior and have a negative, cascading effect throughout an organization. For managers, adapting and facilitating change is a critical skill that requires agility, acceptance, and strategic planning in order to guide employees through a difficult transition, while still maintaining personal integrity and developing strong leadership qualities. http://tc.eserver.org/32204.html http://tc.eserver.org/32204.html Whether software documentation is designed for a company’s internal users or for a variety of end customers, one thing is for certain: Documentation that is well written, well structured, easily accessible, and thoroughly compliments the software it supports can play a significant role in a product’s overall success. And it doesn’t matter if the documentation stands alone or it is integrated with the product. As long as it is properly planned, developed, and configured, success is eminent. http://tc.eserver.org/32205.html http://tc.eserver.org/32205.html Who is writing all the documents that organizations produce? The typical answer: Anyone who has a keyboard. But not everyone with a keyboard has the skills required to create the quality documents that ultimately fall into the hands of customers and regulators. Nor does everyone who is asked to write these important documents have the desire—or time—to perform such tasks. http://tc.eserver.org/32206.html http://tc.eserver.org/32206.html Using a process called localization, language professionals translate the source document’s words and adapt its content to the needs and norms of the target country or market. Because language professionals can work only with what they are given, the document’s creator is partly responsible for ensuring the localization process is effective. After all, poorly written English cannot be turned into good Japanese. http://tc.eserver.org/32207.html http://tc.eserver.org/32207.html Effective communication is a manager’s greatest tool in rallying groups toward a common cause. From the annual department address to daily email, careful audience consideration is vital in determining how accurately audiences receive messages. Even the most engaging statements loose meaning when barriers to effective communication foster misconception and confusion. http://tc.eserver.org/32208.html http://tc.eserver.org/32208.html Lone writers are found across all industries, as junior- and senior-level employees, contract workers and direct employees. Sometimes, they’re not even the only writers in their company, but rather are the only writers in their division with either little to no contact — or little to nothing in common — with the other writers in other company divisions. http://tc.eserver.org/32209.html http://tc.eserver.org/32209.html What does it take to start your own technical-writing business? Chutzpa! Insanity! I began mine by getting a loan from my local bank for my first computer to set up a home office. It was a Micron desktop 386, the fastest computer in town! That was nine years ago. I now have a nice office, a sizeable staff, and all the work I can handle, most of the time. http://tc.eserver.org/32210.html http://tc.eserver.org/32210.html Just what kind of information about yourself and your company are you releasing for all the world to see? Shouldn't you know? Although it takes special forensic tools to access most hidden information in computers, some of it is in plain view without using tools to see it. This article is about one of the “plain view” instances: Information that Microsoft Word saves about you, your company, and the topic you are writing about – all of which anyone can see after accessing and opening your document. http://tc.eserver.org/32211.html http://tc.eserver.org/32211.html Conflict resolution is among the many tasks delegated to managers, yet it is often the most difficult to master. From individual performance appraisals to an all-out assault within a project team, managers are expected to not only have the wisdom of Solomon, but also the patience of a saint. Yet often, this skill is not cultivated, leaving many managers unable to adapt to instances that can bring even the best performing machine to a screeching halt. To help avoid this from happening, there are various tools and tactics that an organization can adopt to not only diffuse immediate threats to productivity, but also alleviate potential issues in the long run. http://tc.eserver.org/32212.html http://tc.eserver.org/32212.html Whether the documentation department has a staff of one or a team of 12, visibility within the company is a frequent concern. The reasons for this concern range from personal to professional. You want to be remembered when promotions and bonuses are handed out. You want new challenges to add diversity to your workload, and new projects to add skills to your resume. You want to defend your turf against budget cuts and layoffs during lean economic times. And you want to be more than an afterthought that lives in the back 40 of the cubicle farm. http://tc.eserver.org/32213.html http://tc.eserver.org/32213.html So you've got approval to hire a contract technical writer. Maybe it's for overflow work or a special project. Nevertheless, it is your responsibility and you want to do it right. http://tc.eserver.org/32214.html http://tc.eserver.org/32214.html Today's business climate of outsourcing, in-sourcing, virtual teams, and ROI-driven objectives can leave a manager at any level feeling powerless. Yet, we often see examples of those who can elicit unwavering support from their teams, driving highly effective projects, and getting the best performance from employees despite ever-increasing workloads. What is it about these individuals that makes them stand out as great leaders? http://tc.eserver.org/32215.html http://tc.eserver.org/32215.html One of the challenges of managing new writers is helping them discover and develop their writing process. Whether the new writers have just come out of school, or have recently 'fallen into' the field without the benefit of much training, they often experience the same problems in planning and composing -- which have their roots in how they learned to write. http://tc.eserver.org/32216.html http://tc.eserver.org/32216.html With our economy still on the down slope, it is difficult for technical managers to justify keeping an excessive amount of technical writers on their staffs, let alone hiring new ones. In many cases, managers feel they don’t even need writers, arguing that everyone has writing ability. Of course, today’s technical writers not only write, they also perform many other tasks: programming, web development, training, and so on. Add to that the fact that many are also highly trained and certified in other areas besides writing. http://tc.eserver.org/32217.html http://tc.eserver.org/32217.html You're the manager of your company’s emerging documentation department -- and your work has just begun. To create effective documentation for your customers, you not only have to build a sound team, but also build working relationships with all other departments in your company. http://tc.eserver.org/32218.html http://tc.eserver.org/32218.html The emotional components of burnout are trickier to deal with. By the time they start becoming noticeable to those around us, the core issues are so deeply rooted that the feelings can be difficult to overcome: http://tc.eserver.org/32219.html http://tc.eserver.org/32219.html It's in the numbers. Creating documentation is not an exact science, yet as communication leaders, we are expected to provide real estimates for how much time we need to document a project, or what we can produce given a predetermined timeline. http://tc.eserver.org/32220.html http://tc.eserver.org/32220.html How do you identify the many options available for localizing your products or materials, and how do you select the right ones for your company? http://tc.eserver.org/32221.html http://tc.eserver.org/32221.html When you first ventured into the tech writing ranks, marketing the department was likely the furthest thing from your mind. You already had work to do, so marketing was somebody else’s job. http://tc.eserver.org/32222.html http://tc.eserver.org/32222.html When you think of marketing, do press releases, brochures, presentations, direct mail, and web sites come to mind? Those pieces are certainly parts of the puzzle.But a lot must go on behind the curtain to make those on-stage pieces worthwhile. These often hidden goings-on are the leadership techniques of a successful documentation manager. The result is a documentation department that warrants the effort expended on marketing. After all, marketing succeeds only if services are reliable, communication channels are open, and products meet expectations. http://tc.eserver.org/32223.html http://tc.eserver.org/32223.html At first glance, technical communication (techcom) and technical marketing communication (marcom) appear to be very different genres. Where traditional techcom strives to help people use products, marcom seeks to make people realize they need products. Techcom instructs, while marcom persuades, and this distinction affects everything from the genre’s focus, to its content, and medium. http://tc.eserver.org/32224.html http://tc.eserver.org/32224.html The technical communications profession involves a unique mix of technical and communication skills, which is not easy to find. Most managers have had the experience of interviewing and subsequently hiring a candidate who later turns out not to be the right person for the job. This situation begs the question of how to identify which candidate is a good fit for a given position. The answer is that there are five key activities that make the difference between a successful hiring decision and a not-so-successful one. We have all been on both sides of the interview, and this article will attempt to make you, the interviewer, more successful. http://tc.eserver.org/32225.html http://tc.eserver.org/32225.html Whether you're a manager or not, consider the following check list the next time an interview is about to commence. As an interviewee, these actions might give you a competitive edge. As an interviewer, they might help set your standards on how you rate potential candidates. http://tc.eserver.org/32226.html http://tc.eserver.org/32226.html This article is a collage of ideas and experiences from some people who’ve made the leap from writer to manager. Although it’s not a step-by-step guideline, it provides some compelling insight as to what individuals might expect as they transition into the management ranks. Even if you are an experienced manager, you might find these ideas helpful.