One of the impacts of the down economy on the technical writing market I thought was going to be more part-time offsite projects
After making the mistake of dropping down to only one employer in 2008/early 2009, I am leery of ever going that traditional route again so I keep myself open to projects I can work from my home office on evenings and weekends.
While the rise of part-time writing project can be a boon to us writers, employers are still struggling with the concept in some circles.
You can learn a lot about an organization when you develop their project documentation. In my time, I’ve had the benefit of working with a lot of smart people and even more people who thought they were the smartest person in the room. When you dig into project features, then the fun begins as the dynamic between engineering, product management, sales, and the executives can make or break a product and gamble with the future of the company. How folks answer questions remains a fascination to me.
It can also be a real interesting venue for observing ego and human nature Here are some more things your technical writer or requirements analyst isn’t telling you:
I’ve long been a student of technical document reviews. So much so, I worked as technical reviewer for some computer book publishers to learn more about this critical element of the technical communications development standards (and that I thought I could do a better job than the reviewers where I was working at the time). Editorial and technical reviews are integral parts of the technical publications process but oh so many organizations fumble through the review cycle unnecessarily.
I’ve been running multiple PCs in my home office for quite some time as I like to have the self sufficiency for freelance projects to run beta and pre-release software on a machine I can always blow away and rebuild as my schedule and project needs see fit.
I maintain two primary writing machines – a MacBook Pro and a Windows desktop – that I keep clean and pristine and use just for writing projects, email, and related tasks.
Recently, I decided to retire (actually demote) the Windows XP desktop I’ve been using for the past couple of years as my primary Windows machine and migrate to a new Windows 7 desktop. Outfitting the new PC has shown
It’s hard for me to turn down a good Evernote integration so the temptation to check out Egretlist – a to do manager that integrates with Evernote – finally got me. Being dyslexic and having multiple plates spinning right now mean that I depend on my to do lists so I don’t lose track of anything.
Currently, I manage my to do lists and notes separately. This goes back to the days when I was 100% paper. So even when I began to use Evernote more and more to capture and store all sorts of personal and professional details did I ever consider my tasks and notes every meeting through application integration.
Print books have always been a source of comfort for me. When I was a child I was an avid reader right down to the large selection of hard bound classics handed down to me from my grandmother. Reading was also a favorite pastime when I was growing. In college, I was an English major finally sealing my fate with reading and the printed word.
Even when it came to learning new technology, an early mentor of mine showed me the value of taking a hands on approach and then following up with reading the documentation or a book. This approach has worked for me up to present day and because I eschewed formal computer training classes for the most part added a lot more computer books to my personal library and home office.
I recently wrote an article about the iPad for project managers and got to talk to Charles Seybold, CEO and founder of Liquid Planner, who is one of the most forward thinking people in the industry in my opinion.
One of his insights is that “mobile is the new paper” and while I was open to it the first time I heard the comment, I am starting to see it in my own work. While I’ve always been a die hard pen and ink note taker during meetings, I am finding myself spending a lot more time capturing notes on my iPad and iPhone.
I previously posted about my opinions on Google Wave’s early splash down. While there are some real solid players in the online collaboration space – there are also way too many BaseCamp and SharePoint “killers” or just outright knockoffs.
Microsoft Word can be a wonderful productivity tool and then turn around to be one of the biggest productivity sinks known to man. As a web worker who has to provide my own Microsoft Word technical support plus being a veteran of a couple of Microsoft Office deployments inside organizations, I’d like to offer up the following survival tips.
I read with interest about how the Society for Technical Communication is launching a certification program for technical writers. Unfortunately, I don’t think it is going to change much of anything out in the marketplace for technical writers. Sure, it will be another piece of paper but it won’t be able to compete with the value employers perceive in Cisco, Microsoft, and PMP certifications.
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