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Region 4
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NORTHEAST OHIO CHAPTER
SOCIETY FOR TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION
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Lines and Letters
Volume 23, Issue 2, October 2006
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Our October meeting in Independence will feature discussions on topics of interest to local technical communicators. We have used ideas from your survey responses to come up with a list of subjects sure to interest you. A different topic will be discussed at each table, and facilitators will lead and guide the discussions. This is your chance to ask questions of your peers and hear what others are doing in these areas.
Share your opinion and gain others’ insights into:
- Content Management
- Portfolios and Interviewing
- Lone Writers
- Graphic Design and Graphics Packages
Date: Thursday, October 12, 2006
Time 5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. CIC SIG meeting in the Impulse Lounge
6:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Registration and networking
6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m . Dinner and table discussions
Place: Holiday Inn, 6001 Rockside Road, Independence, OH
Menu: Entree: Chicken Marsala or Vegetarian Pasta
Both entree choices include caesar salad appetizer, tiramisu torte dessert, and beverages (iced tea, coffee, tea).
Cost $20 Students and Members, $30 Non-members
Please note: The chapter is billed per registration. If you register but do not attend, you will still be expected to pay for the meeting.
Register by Monday October 9 by sending an email to: programs@neostc.org
For more information and to prepay using PayPal, see http://www.neostc.org/calendar/20061012.html.
We look forward to seeing you!
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- 10/9/2006: Last day to RSVP for the October meeting.
- 10/11/2006: Webinar: Designing Business Forms: A No-nonsense Approach.*
- 10/11/06: American Medical Association event. Communication Intelligence:
How to Make People Listen, Understand and Agree with You (Most of the Time). For more information, see, http://guest.cvent.com/EVENTS/Info/Summary.aspx?
- 10/12/2006: Deadline for NEO STC Competition entries (the deadline has been extended). More information.
- 10/12/2006: Monthly NEO STC Meeting: Your Turn to Talk.
- 10/25/2006: Webinar: Ten Ways to Increase Your Value as a Technical Communicator.*
- 10/27/2006: Central Ohio STC Professional Development Mini-Conference. See http://www.centralohiostc.org/conferences.html for details.
- 11/2 to 11/4: Region 5 Conference. For more information, go to the conference
Web site: http://www.region5conf.com/
- 11/8/2006: Webinar: Choosing the Right Usability Technique (to Answer the Right Question).*
- 11/14/2006: World Usability day. See the Northeast Ohio Chapter of the Usability Professionals’ Association (NEOUPA) for local events.
* Note that the chapter is not sponsoring these Webinars. If you would like to host a seminar, please e-mail us.
Reminder: If you RSVP but do not show up for a meeting, it costs the chapter money — we have to pay upfront for meals. Please remember to let the Programs Committee (programs@neostc.org) know in advance if you have registered but cannot make it to a meeting.
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WritersUA is currently conducting its sixth annual Skills and Technologies Survey. This popular survey is designed to provide the user assistance community with a snapshot of the skills and technologies we most value in our software development work.
If you specialize in the area of software user assistance, please take a few moments to contribute.
This is a one-page survey, and results will be posted mid-October. See http://www.writersua.com/surveys/skillstech06/survey_form.html
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The Education Committee is looking for volunteers to host the following upcoming STC Webinars.
October 11, 2006
Designing Business Forms: A No Nonsense Approach
Presenter: Nathaniel Lim
Level: All levels
Filling out forms is a part of life. Job applications, tax forms, health insurance claims... the list of common forms goes on and on. The design of a form determines how clean and complete the data on it becomes. This presentation focuses on the basic designs of hardcopy forms, common design pitfalls, use of white space, placement of instructions, and logical flow. Examples of good and bad forms will be presented.
Nathaniel Lim is a fulltime, senior technical writer for IMPAC Medical Systems, where he writes release notes, training manuals, installation procedures, and online help for cancer registry software. He is also a guest lecturer for the University of California Santa Cruz Extension in its Case Report Form Development class and a speaker at various STC events.
October 25, 2006
Ten Ways to Increase Your Value as a Technical Communicator
Presenter: Holly Harkness
Level: All levels
This presentation will explore 10 ways you can use your talent and expertise to provide important services to your employer. It will also discuss how to market those services more effectively within your organization. For each area, suggestions on how to supplement your skill set are included as well.
Holly Harkness is the technical communications manager at Mirant, an independent power company in Atlanta. She is also the current president of the Atlanta Chapter STC.
If you are interested in hosting a Webinar, please contact Denise Kadilak (denise.kadilak@blackbaud.com) for more information. For a list of all STC Webinars, visit the STC Web site.
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By Renee Murray (zimrood@yahoo.com)
NEO STC's September meeting highlighted a diversity of overwhelmingly positive perspectives of being a technical communicator. The panelists were from the software, automation, and self-service and security industries. Parker Hannifin kindly sponsored the meeting at their beautiful high-tech offices in Mayfield Heights.
Because I am a new member of NEO STC and September's meeting was the first I have attended, I am a bit nervous about writing this newsletter piece for such an accomplished group of individuals! When Stephanie asked me if I would write this review article about the tone and feel of the evening, the first word that came to mind was "positive." I found people I encountered impressive and energetic. Everyone I met seemed to have found the ideal career. Whether a new technical communicator, or a seasoned one, each spoke enthusiastically and optimistically about their work experiences. The people with whom I spoke greeted me with a wonderful openness and shared with me their unique technical communicator experiences. I encourage all new members to attend these meetings.
The five panelists for the evening were:
- Dannette Bennett of Foundation Software
- Monica Lusk of TMW Systems
- Kathleen Ruggeri of Rockwell Automation
- Andrea Robinson of Hyland Software
- Brian Smith of Diebold
Kris Henige of Parker Hannifin was the panel moderator.
Each panelist discussed their company's culture, the software used in their industry, their individual experiences getting to their current positions, and the work that they perform. Each of the panelists presented a different technical communicator perspective. As managers, team leaders, administrators, and documentation professionals, their positions are challenging and non-static.
The cultures of each company discussed sounded to be employee and technical communicator friendly. Whether it was the work performed, the flexible schedules, the daycare onsite, or the co-workers and teams, each company seemed to be interested in providing a healthy and satisfying working environment to their employees. Every company represented sounded like a fantastic place to work.
The panelists discussed some of the software, databases and tools currently used in the industry:
- Microsoft Word
- WebWorks ePublisher Pro
- Adobe FrameMaker
- Arbortext Epic Editor
- Adobe Macromedia RoboHelp
- Madcap Flare
- TechSmith's SnagIt
- OmniGroup software
- XML
- HTML
- BB Script
- Oracle
It was interesting to hear what software, databases and tools the industry-diverse panelists used. The discussions about enterprise content management showed how large industries are attempting to achieve continuity and compliance in locations all over the world with a diversity of employees and users. The information architecture discussion was interesting because this topic seems to be an industry-wide necessity. Each company is attempting to provide information to large groups of people and is discovering that the means to provide this information in a user-friendly and easily navigational way is of essence to success. The technical communicator profession is clearly growing and developing and everyone is learning and changing at the speed of new technology.
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By Denise Kadilak
The NEO chapter of the STC hosted a Software Saturday
workshop on September 23, inviting Alan Houser, president of Group Wellesly, to
instruct us on how to work in the structured version of
Adobe’s FrameMaker and
introduce us to DITA, the
Darwin
Information Typing Architecture. The all-day workshop included lessons in
the basics of structured authoring, a brief look at EDDs (Element
Definition Documents), an overview of DITA, and a look at Adobe’s new DITA
application pack.
We spent the first half of the workshop in structured
FrameMaker, working with elements and attributes, experimenting with the Structure View window, and learning about the structured authoring options included in the program, such as importing EDDs and validating documents. The afternoon session began with an introduction to DITA, the origins, application, and arrangement of the architecture. Alan next guided us through a short demonstration of the new
FrameMaker DITA
Application Pack that Adobe released in early September. Using a computer
classroom at the Cuyahoga Community College, Alan installed both FrameMaker 7.2
and the application pack on all the participants’ computers, allowing us to
create structured documents using the sample templates included in the program
and application pack. We also worked with DITA maps, adding a DITA document we
created to an existing map.
Although Alan did touch on the EDD required to compose in
structured FrameMaker and the structured application necessary to generate
output, both topics were largely ignored for this workshop. Creating EDDs and
structured applications are by far the most complicated part of working in
structured FrameMaker and too large of topics to be addressed satisfactorily in
a one-day introductory-level workshop.
As a whole, participants familiar with other workshops
conducted by Alan may have found this one a little less focused, but any
randomness really had more to do with, ironically, the nature of structured
authoring than with the instructor. The vastness of the structured
environment makes trying to cover everything in one day impossible. Formal
training courses on the subject usually take five days and cost thousands of
dollars. Understanding the difficulty of his task, Alan tried to keep
participants focused on learning how to author in a structured environment and
away from the development side of the process, but general curiosity about the
process and repeated questions about the template governing element use,
led us off track every now and again. Even so, the workshop provided a wonderful
introduction to this topic. Most importantly, it emphasized (and exemplified)
the importance of need-analysis and planning before making the move from the
unstructured environment into structure. Although the advantages may be many, the
move is difficult.
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By Stephanie Webster (swebster@tmwsystems.com)
Have you noticed how much is going on in the chapter, and we’re only into October? Hopefully you have found an event or lesson you can participate in, learn from, or mentor someone else with.
We began the year with a great start, with a panel discussion on what technical communicators do in the Northeast Ohio area. Special thanks to Parker Hannifin for both hosting the meeting at their facility and also sponsoring the event with monetary contribution! Based on the evening's conversation, we're pleased to follow up at the October 12 meeting with round table discussions on specific topics of interest (sign up now at http://www.neostc.org/calendar/20061012.html).
Great thanks to our community volunteers who are striving to make this year a non-stop educational value for you. If you have any suggestions for what you'd like to learn or how we can help you grow in your career, please don't hesitate to contact a board or committee chair to pass along your ideas (refer to the NEO STC Officers page on the community's web site for contact information). Among STC technical competitions, webinars, Software sessions, monthly meetings, and networking luncheons, there's something out there for everyone!
I’ve been so glad to hear comments from members already on how interested their company is in what NEO STC is doing from the reports you bring back to the office! This is how we can grow as a community, and individually within our careers. By giving feedback on what you need to increase the value in your job, and how your office values you, we as a community can offer more opportunities for you!
As I stated earlier, thank you to everyone who has already pitched in and is continually working hard! NEO STC is strictly run on a volunteer basis and can always use more help! Just as the leaves are starting to change, everyone's lives are continually changing and moving. Working with NEO STC is a great way to boost your networking skills and your confidence, and support others in your community. If you are interested in helping to organize an event or with a single task, please send me an e-mail.
I'd love to hear your story of what you are learning and how you are growing through NEO STC this year! Please let me know or better yet - share with other members in a Lines and Letters article of what the community is doing for you!
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Jeanette Evans (jeanette.evans@sbcglobal.net)
We are still working out the details of the $500 scholarship that we plan to offer technical communication students in the near future. The plan is to pattern our application and process on what is done in other chapters and on the international level. Please stay tuned for details.
Several other academic-relations projects are in the works. Please feel free to email me if you would like to help with one of these projects or want more information.
Student Poster Sessions at 54th STC Conference
Help us get the word out to students who might submit. Submission deadline is November 1. Notification deadline is December 1. The poster is to show any innovative work in communicating technical content, managing a technical communication group, producing and publishing content, researching content, or promoting the profession.
The 54th Annual STC Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is May 13-16, 2007. To submit a student sends a .pdf of the poster to Beth Bailey, the student Poster Session Coordinator, at ebaileyL@verizon.net.
Poster proposals submitted will be reviewed by a panel of both academics and practitioners and will be selected on criteria such as knowledge, experiences, research results, and best practices.
YSU Campus Visit
We are planning a campus visit. STC member Shannon Siwicki is organizing this activity, planned for this spring, to promote student relations with our NEO STC chapter and to provide information about work in the profession.
Please let us know if you would like to join her. This is a great opportunity for a graduate of YSU or anyone else willing to share information about the field and work with students.
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By Jeanette Evans (jeanette.evans@sbcglobal.net)
In the first part of this review in a previous Lines and Letters, I gave my version of a big picture summary of what is in Ann Rockley’s Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy. I also attempted in part one to put the book into a larger context of what enterprise content management (ECM) means and what Ann Rockley is saying about the content part of ECM. With that context in mind, in part two, I want to get into more detail of what is in the book.
Of concern to me is that the book was published several years ago. Is the information in the book still current? Yes, the book covers concepts that are basic and still apply. However, to address the issue that related technologies change and concepts need to adapt with time, the Web site at www.managingenterprisecontent.com provides a vehicle to give updates on current information while preserving the basics. With the basics in the published book and the current information on the Web pages, you can get a good introduction and overview on the subject.
What is the Big Deal (Where is the
Challenge?)
Imagine an organization with many
information products in many languages using multiple media. How can you keep all this content accurate and current? How can you use current tools best to achieve the goal of providing customers with accurate and current information? That is the challenge.
As stated in the book "too
often, content is created by authors working in isolation: … walls are erected among content areas: … which leads to content being created, and recreated, and recreated, often with changes or differences at each iteration: … with a unified content strategy] organizations can rely on content being the same wherever it appears."
Is It All About Reuse?
Reuse is certainly a key element as
shown by the statement in the book that "content reuse is fundamental to a successful unified content strategy" and the example in the book about how the same content, in this case on the subject of time tracking, can go into three information products:
training, user documentation, and help.
The book has another example on reusing the same product description in a brochure, operations guide, and e-commerce site. It was easy for me to relate to these examples and see how reuse would be the ideal way to go.
The Web site and book provide
theoretical examples. The ideal would of course be real-world examples, but for now, this is the best there is to show how the idea of reuse works. The idea
is a good one.
Accepting that reuse in not a new
concept, the author points out that many industries have been using reuse to improve quality and consistency as well as realize reduced development time and maintenance costs. The books shows how models identify what type of reuse is appropriate.
Reuse can take on these forms: opportunistic, systematic, locked, derivative, nested.
What Are the Significant
Concepts?
On the Web site are examples of
these significant concepts:
- Analyzing your content — The
example shows an analysis of information products that span an owner’s guide, quick reference card, quick start guide, press release, Web site, brochure, product package, and label package insert. The analysis shows what pieces can be reused including the company logo, contact information, product description, setting up the equipment, testing, and solving problems.
- Sample model — The sample
model gets into the granular analysis to include semantic, element type (container and element), base element (XML, Word, FrameMaker), and architectural (product sheet, brochure, Web site, e-catalog).
- Separating content from format — The Web site shows an information model for a product description to span a show catalog, brochure,
press release, and Web site.
These three concepts are explored in the book and are key to an understanding of the unified content strategy proposed.
An Overview on Developing the
Strategy
The overview of implementing the
unified content strategy covers these phases:
- Analysis: Involves identifying
the pain in an organization, analyzing ccontent life cycle and performing a content audit, and envisioning the unified content life cycle.
- Design: Covers design of
information models, definition of metadata, desgn of dynamic content and workflow and plan for change management processes.
- Selecting tools and technologies: Involves picking the tools that is best for your organization and your authors’ abilities in terms of what you have established during your design phase.
- Development: Revolves around
changing the way you work, providing help to authors on how to collaborate and write in the same way.
Writing for Multiple Media
This appendix on writing for multiple media includes material that holds special relevance and interest to anyone going through a content management initiative. The appendix is also a summary or refresher of good technical writing approaches.
Ideas about how to implement the author’s unified content approach across multiple media appear in this part of the book. There is not anything surprising here. Instead, there is support for the idea that classic technical writing approaches work best for managing content in presentations such as online documentation, the Web, wireless devices, and paper.
As an example of an approach that would work, one table in the book covers online documentation and the Web where these apply.
- Write succinctly.
- Make information easy to scan.
- Layer information.
- Write useful titles.
The author applies these guidelines to paper as well.
For a technical writer audience this appendix provides reinforcement for a classic and conservative approach to writing for reuse and multiple media. If, on the other hand, this book is read by a different audience not familiar with basic technical writing principles, this appendix would be a great treatment of the subject.
As a paraphrase of what one of the reviewers on amazon.com said, we should thank Ann Rockley for taking the time to write this book.
Book information: Author: Ann
Rockley, with Pamela Kostur and Steve Manning. 2003.
Indianapolis, IN : New Riders Publishing. ISBN 0-7357-1306-5. 565 pages, including a glossary, bibliography, five appendixes, and an index. $39.99 USD (softcover).
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We have two new senior members: Brian Baddour and David Preston Jr. Congratulations and thank you for your continued membership! Senior members have belonged to the Society for five years.
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By Jeanette Evans (jeanette.evans@sbcglobal.net)
Tess Weaver is new to STC and NEO STC
and fairly new to the realm of technical
communication. Her first interest in the profession
was fostered by her aunt, Paulette Washko, who had
already carved a path into the field. She also credits
her grammatically savvy mother, who rigorously proofed
most of Tess’s high school English homework, as well
as the English instructors she encountered as an
undergrad in Kent State University’s Integrated
Language Arts Education program.
Recently becoming part of the Rockwell
Automation Technical Communication department, Tess
took the position of Technical Collateral Developer.
She began as an intern in January of 2006 and became a
full-fledged employee in July. Before her internship,
Tess worked part-time as an assistant writer and
editor at Legacy Technical Publications, Inc.
Tess also recently began her graduate
studies at Kent State University where she will study
Information Architecture and Knowledge Management
(IAKM) with a specialization in Information
Architecture. She found the program through a Google
search for technical writing graduate
program. She came across a student’s online
resume that linked her to the IAKM Web site
(http://dept.kent.edu/iakm). She decided to apply to
the program after beginning her internship at Rockwell
and recognizing the crucial role information
architecture is playing in the world of corporate
information management.
In her other life, Tess heartily
enjoys being as far away from technology as she can.
Usually that means hiking in state and national
forests and engaging in other outdoor activities like
canoeing. She also occasionally volunteers as a
lighting designer and technician at local community
theatres and photographs life events for friends and
family.
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By Lisa Mileusnich (lmileusnich@parker.com)
In Adobe Acrobat Professional, you can easily extract several nonconsecutive pages from the same PDF document. First, select the Pages pane to group the pages together that you want to extract. Click the thumbnails to select pages, and drag them up or down until they are in sequence. A solid line appears above a thumbnail when you drag it. As the page moves, the line shows where it will relocate if you release the mouse.
Extract the pages by clicking Document>Extract Pages. In the Extract Pages dialog, type the page range to extract. If you want to delete the pages from the original PDF or save them as separate files, check the appropriate boxes. Then click OK.
Once you extract the content, go back to the original PDF and click File>Revert to return the pages to their initial order. In the dialog box that appears, click Revert.
For a small document with a few pages, reordering is a fast and convenient way to assemble pages for extraction. For a very large document, it might be simpler to extract groups of pages and recombine them in a new document.
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By Barb Philbrick (caslon@alltel.net)
Did you know you can listen to PDF files? Open a PDF in Adobe Reader 7.0 or 6.0, and press Ctrl+Shift+b. It takes a few seconds, and it is fairly robotic, but could have potential.
To hear only one page, press Ctrl+Shift+v. To stop, press Ctrl+Shift+e; to resume, Ctrl+Shift+c.
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By Kathy Graden
These are events that try technical writers’ souls:
- Your manager asks you to create storyboards or templates for documents to describe a complex technology that’s new to you. He swears that if you provide the framework, he’ll supply the detailed knowledge. However, after you turn in your storyboards, your manager shifts direction and charges you with writing the documents.
- You are assigned to develop a set of technical marketing brochures. Although you ask probing questions to determine what your boss wants the brochures to contain and look like, she offers vague answers and all you learn for sure is that you’ll use your company’s logo. You do your best to meet her fuzzy requirements. But when you present a draft, she scowls and cries, "No, no! This is all wrong. It is not at all what I want!"
- A client provides thorough specifications for a new project and based on those specs, you generate time and cost estimates. You’re locked into a price and a schedule, and then discover you’ll be working under constraints that weren’t mentioned before. Key Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) will have limited time to work with you, you’ll have to travel to a remote site to get most of your input, etc.
Bad Communication = Workplace Stress
It shouldn’t surprise you to find out that communication problems contribute to several of the "Top 10 Workplace Stressors," as compiled by the Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Addiction and Mental Health:
- Time lines and deadlines too short for the work to be done.
- Random interruptions.
- Doubt resulting from management’s failure to communicate what’s happening and where things are headed.
- Mistrust and vicious office politics.
- Unclear company directives, directions, and policies.
- Career and job ambiguity; no one knows why anything happens.
- Inconsistent employee performance management and recognition.
- Being unappreciated.
- Lack of two-way communication, up and down.
- Too much or too little workload.
Though most people see themselves as team players, many managers, clients, and coworkers avoid sharing information that writers need to do their work. Worse, they tend to deceive themselves about what they are doing.
We learn early in life that knowledge brings power and insider information confers coolness. We are disadvantaged when bosses and clients, or our peers, withhold information. Stinginess with information produces misunderstandings that can lead to serious consequences:
A manager or client thinks… |
And the result is… |
Why spend time with them? They don’t need to know much. A capable, experienced writer can produce good work from minimal input. I can just assign the work, and they will do the rest. |
The finished project may not meet the manager’s or client’s needs, causing hard feelings on both sides, rework, extra expense, and lost time. |
If I tell them they can’t interview any SMEs for at least 3 months, they’ll be putting in 14-hour days, and they’ll have to learn a new authoring tool, they’ll refuse my project. Better to keep quiet. |
Writers learn they can’t trust the manager or client to be truthful about project scope. They may either balk at accepting new work, or leave. |
I definitely can’t say we paid Contractor B twice as much per hour for a similar manual. If we pay top dollar every time, we’ll go bankrupt. |
Word gets around in the technical communication community. Next time Contractor A bids on one of this client’s projects, he or she will probably charge higher rates. |
They don’t know we just changed the document’s scope. To keep doing business with us, they’ll just throw in the extra sections for free or at a reduced rate. |
The writers probably will provide what the manager or client wants, this time. But they’ll be angry and may look for other employment. |
Sure, we’re considering outsourcing all technical writing. Though we haven’t decided to do it, this news might scare the writers — if we tell them now, they’ll be less productive. |
The writers fear their jobs are in danger, update their résumés, and start interviewing with other companies. |
Causes of Information Stinginess
If withholding information stirs up so much bad feeling and so many problems, why do people do it? Surveys conducted by Discovery Surveys, Inc., for more than 65 organizations, representing the views of over 50,000 employees, indicate:
- Managers assume, wrongly, that withholding information increases their power and influence.
- Many managers lack communication and people management skills because they were promoted due to their technical expertise.
- In many companies, the flow of information is poorly planned and managed.
- If a company’s culture doesn’t value cooperation, employees are more likely to keep information to themselves.
- When information is not available, some employees mistakenly assume it is deliberately being withheld.
Studies by researchers at McMaster University, Queen’s University, and the University of Toronto in Canada have uncovered additional motives for hoarding information:
- People don’t want to give information to those who have never helped them or have treated them rudely in the past.
- People have been burned by others who take credit for their knowledge.
- People say they have no time to tutor colleagues.
- Some said they preferred to "appear smarter by being the acknowledged expert in a certain area."
- Some feared that "the person they shared the information with might actually do a better job and show them up."
Joan Lloyd, president of a firm that specializes in leadership development, organizational change, and team building, writes on her Web site, www.joanlloyd.com, that miserly managers who dole out information one crumb at a time are "… insecure managers (who) are worried that they won’t be needed if they don’t make all the decisions. They want to be indispensable and they think the best way to stay employed is to hoard all the power and decision-making. Unfortunately … the more they hoard, the more discontented their employees become and the more old-fashioned and insecure they look. As the rest of the organization (moves) toward a new style of management, they will be conspicuously out of place."
Such managers, Lloyd says, believe that employees are too inexperienced to make decisions and don’t want to, that employees can’t see the big picture, and that chaos will rule if everyone has a hand in decision making.
Use Direct Questions
Getting the right information, with the right amount of detail, often depends on the kinds of questions you ask. To deal effectively with information hoarders, you need to know which questions you want them to answer. To obtain all the information you need to successfully complete a technical writing project, you might need responses to any or all of these questions:
- What exactly do you want me to do?
- What are your priorities?
- What requirements must the finished deliverables meet?
- What changes or conditions on this project will affect my work?
- How much money (or time, or people) do I have to work with?
- When do you need my work to be completed?
- How well am I doing?
- What do you want me to do differently?
- When will I receive the resources I need from you?
- What results do you expect, and what do you expect of me?
- How satisfied are you with the products and services I provide?
If someone is not sharing information you need for work, try the following techniques to encourage them to be more forthcoming. Apply these tips to yourself if you recognize that sometimes, you’re also reluctant to give information to others.
- Directly tell the individual you aren’t sure you’re receiving full information. Point out the advantages that more open communication can bring to both of you:
- How it can help you accomplish work faster, more easily, and in less time.
- How a stronger partnership between you and the other person can yield financial benefits, as well as better morale.
- How increased trust and collaboration will pay off on current and future projects.
- Ask the other person to review all the information he or she has, determine what would be useful to you and your colleagues, and pass it on to you. This might include information about target audience, a targeted product release date, resource availability, etc. Frame your information request as "What can you provide me to help carry the project forward?" rather than as "This is what I need from you."
- Remind the other person of how numbers influence the cost of the project; costs for your time, for SMEs’ participation, for rework, etc., and how those costs contribute to or detract from the project’s ultimate bottom line.
Information sharing is one of the main things that drives business success and sets great performers and achievements apart fro the herd. If managers and clients want to empower technical writers to achieve positive results, they provide the information they need to do it right.
Sources
It’s no secret you hold out on your colleagues," Toronto Globe and Mail; May 2, 2006.
Discovery Surveys, Inc. Web site: http://www.discoverysurveys.com/articles/itw-026.html
Joan Lloyd Web site, http://www.joanlloyd.com/articles/ open.asp?art=442.htm
"Three Tips for Building an Enthusiastic Work Force through Information Sharing" http://www.kirkmillerandassoc.com/brieftips_april_8_2003.htm.
"Information: Share It," by Bev Kaye, http://www.jobdig.com/content/articles/128/Information:_Share_It.html
This article originally appeared in the September issue of Rough Draft, the newsletter of the Phoenix STC Chapter. Reprinted by permission of the author. Kathy can be contacted at kathygrad@hotmail.com.
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Check out just a few of the hot jobs from our Web site at http://www.neostc.org/jobs/openings.php!
Technical and scientific communication
- Tax Projects Group is seeking a Tax Technical Writer to interview client engineers regarding their companies’ research and development activities, draft a detailed technical analysis of those activities, and calculate the related income tax credit. More
information
- Westport International is seeking a Technical Writer to write a variety of technical articles, reports, brochures, and/or manuals for documentations to support engineers and new product development activities. More
information
- Quadax, Inc. is looking for a Technical Writer to produce software manuals, release notes, and other product documentation. More
information
- Ohio Savings Bank is looking for a Process Documentation Specialist II to create and updates policies, procedures, forms, disclosures and process flows in accordance with established documentation standards. More
information
- Hyland Software is seeking an International Technical Writer to research product functionality for their OnBase® software and write content for on-line help files, training guides, marketing material and user manuals. More
information
Web design and development
- Bonne Bell Company is seeking a Web/Graphic Designer to provide design solutions based on the understanding of the target market, objective and strategy of each project. More
information
Training and instructional design
- Key Bank is looking for an Employee Development Manager who will be responsible for partnering with RISC Officers and Compliance subject matter experts to design and implement all line of business and/or role specific compliance training for Anti Money Laundering (AML), Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), and other compliance regulations as needed. More
information
- National City Corporation is looking for a Senior Instructional Designer who will serve as project manager on complex projects and those related to corporate and LOB training initiatives. More
information
Graphic design and technical illustration
- American Greetings is looking for a Graphic Designer who sets aesthetic direction for assigned segment of AG dimensional products, provides art direction of these elements for execution by a graphic designer and/or illustrator, researches and analyses consumer trends, brainstorms new product directions and makes program presentations. More
information
- Advanstar Communications is seeking a creative, experienced, self-starting Art Director to produce leading trade magazines for the health care industry. More
information
Editing
- Advanstar Communications is seeking a Healthcare/Medical Editor to formulate publication strategies, handle aspects of production, and discuss topics for articles and other projects. More
information
- Volt Services Group is seeking a Copy Writer/Editor for proofreading medical record drafts and other pertinent documents. Familiarity with legal and medical terms is desired. More
information
Marketing communications
- American Greetings is looking for a Public Relations Specialist who crafts press releases and expert profiles for the company’s online pressroom, drafts wire and matte releases, develops and executes media pitches, prepares customized media lists and develops talking points for company spokespersons. More
information
- Laurie Mitchell & Company is looking for 2 Marketing Communication Specialists who have 4-8 years’ solid advertising and/or public relations agency or client side experience with trade press relations, brand communications, trade shows and technical conferences, employee communications, public relations, advertising, direct marketing, and online content. More
information
Internship
- Pepperl+Fuchs is looking for a Graphic Designer Co-Op to assist graphic designers in image and illustration production, which will include correcting and outlining photos and converting colors and illustrations. More
information
- The Eliza Jennings Senior Care Network, a not-for-profit organization, is looking for a Public Relations Intern to assist with coordinating and implementing public relations activities, media relations and crisis communication, written communications such as newsletters, letters and the Annual Report. More information
If your company has a job opening, please contact Namrata (Nams) Malik at Nams Malik (nmalik@ra.rockwell.com)
Job listings on the NEO STC Web site are free and reach a targeted audience!
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