Month: July 2009

bookmark_borderConferences

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I’ve mentioned before that I’ll be attending, and presenting at, the Technical Communication Conference this year, but as the programme is now full I’ve been trying to pick my way through which sessions to attend. I think I’ve got it sussed.

Wednesday

Kicking off with the keynote from Peter Anghelides (who recently re-tweeted me on Twitter!).

Session 1 – Matthew Ellison – Pattern language for information architecture
As we delve into providing more of our information online, understanding how best to structure the information is key.

Session 2 – Kim Schrantz-Berquist – If you can write an article, you can write anything!
I have a long term goal to get my team to a position to allow them to write different kinds of information. Articles for our developer community are a good path towards that.

Session 3 – Linda Urban – Paths to success: networking and contributing (it’s all about relationships)
Largely because I think it’ll fit in with my presentation the following day.

Sesson 4 – Chris Atherton – Visual attention: a psychologist’s perspective
Not something I’m particular clued up on so will be an interesting session.

Session 5 – TBC
Nothing really catches my eye, and still waiting to see what Paul Ballard is going to present. Might a good time to go grab a coffee?

Session 6 – David Mackay – talking about how he wrote his book
Always interesting to hear how these things come about.

Thursday

Session 1 – Me!
I’m guessing I need to be at this one, right?

Session 2 – Nigel Greenwood – Quality Improvement in technical communication
A different take on things, and it’s usually informative to look at the way other professions do things, so this should be good.

Session 3 – Justin Collinge – The secrets of telepathy
Who wouldn’t want to learn telepathy! This will be useful as I’ve recently taken on Line Manager duties for some of the wider development team.

Session 4 – TBC
Either going for the session about localisation or the one on how to start up your own docs business…. hmmmm

Session 5 – TBC
There is still a slot to be filled, so I’ll wait until that happens and then decided. At the moment, its looking like an early end to the day.

Session 6 – Adobe
Will probably skip this as we are no longer an Adobe house.

So, add in the Gala Dinner and it’s a pretty busy couple of days. As ever I’m going to miss some sessions that I would liked to have attend but I’ve got a pretty good balance of things here, most of which benefit the company that is allowing me the time to attend, a couple of which will help me as a professional.

I’ll most definitely be twittering and will write some thoughts post-event as well. The chances of me blogging are slim but you never know (I’m wary that my 9am slot on the Thursday morning may be in jeopardy if I get ‘forced’ into the bar on Wednesday evening…).

I’m looking forward to the conference, my first ISTC conference as it happens, and as two other members of the team are off to Cardiff for the UA Conference it’s safe to assume we’ll be heading towards the end of the year a-buzz with ideas and enthusiasm.

bookmark_borderDay in the life

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Woke up, fell out of bed,
Dragged a comb across my head;

If only the second line were true.

My day has a routine, I doubt very much that this is an usual fact. I mean I’d imagine most people do pretty much what I do every day. Actually that’s probably not true. Most people in the western world perhaps and at this point I’ll pause to consider how lucky I am and how much I take my comfortable life for granted.

*pauses*

The alarm clicks and the radio wakens me from my slumber. I still use an alarm clock beside my bed as I like to see the time. I have tried using my phone in the past and if could find an iPhone app that disabled email notifications whilst the clock was showing that I’d probably switch back to that.

I swing my legs out of bed and pad to the bathroom, stepping over the cat who will be lying on the landing waiting for someone to go downstairs and feed him. I pee, weigh myself, and shower. I don’t shave everyday as my skin can be a bit temperamental. I then wander back across the landing to the part of my office that holds my daily accoutrements, apply some deodorant, a dab of aftershave then back into the bedroom to get dressed.

Once clothed, back to the office where I’ll put on my shoes, lift my phone from the charger, put my wallet in my back pocket and dip into the small wooden tub in which I keep my spare change. I usually make sure I’ve got at least a couple of pounds in my pocket, with at least £10 in my wallet.

Downstairs now. Whoever is first will feed the cat, a treacherous exercise as he winds himself round your feet, mewing and pleading to be fed. Then it’s a small glass of fruit juice to wash down my pills (2 a day), a quick check to ensure there aren’t any dead animals (mice usually) in the living room and I grab the car keys, unlock the front door and drive to work.

Once at work, a quick skim of any new emails (subject lines only at this point) and if nothing is urgent then I’ll grab a bowl of cereal and sit at my desk and read and respond as required. By the time 8.30am rolls around I’m usually done with that, have had a quick check on Twitter and a quick flick through some RSS feeds.

Then it’s coffee and the working day begins.

I’ve had the same routine, give or take travel differences, for quite a while. It works for me. Although I will admit that some days I do mix it up a little… instead of cereal I’ll have a roll and sausage (of the square variety). Dangerous I know but hey, what’s life without a little bit of chaos!

bookmark_borderThe Slick Blade

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His muscles strain as he tenses against the movement beneath him. His grip remains firm as he shifts his weight slightly, fully immobilising the writhing mass that twitches at his feet.

He looks down with impunity, almost with a sense of pity but he knows what must be done. He has trained a long time for this and is wary of his mentor standing off to onside, quietly observing him and taking in every action, every pause, each calculated pass of the blade.

He reaches down and the blade catches in the sunlight. Freeze frame as suddenly the moment is here and he can see everything, feel everything, sense everything. The gentle breeze that caresses the long grass into soft waves of mesmerising green, the sounds of the forest behind him and his own heart thumping loud in his chest, crashing in his ears, filling his head with a steady rhythm, urging him on.

The first cut is always the most important. Not too deep, but deep enough. It must be at the correct angle, get it wrong now and there is no point going on, as all that is left beyond that are a few amateurish hacks to finish the job as quickly as possible.

No, he must be patient.

He was told it would be this way, that only he would know the moment to start. That only he would be able to judge the exact second in which to make the first cut and that he must not given in to the temptation to start too soon nor buckle under the pressure that he might make a mistake (for there will always be others). He knew too that his time was running out, he’d heard of others who had already taken this step and the talk of their sureness with the blade was starting to spread. He knew that this was his chance, his last chance.

A slow deep breath and, almost without realising, his arm reaches out and the blade hits home, he draws back and across in perfect choreography, and then he is reaching forward again. The blade is sharp and effortless in his hand, his grasp remains true, and soon the wriggling stops as the blade repeats the slashes, over and over, carefully following the patterns he was given.

His mentor watches his face carefully, and with a shallow smile allows himself to relax. He sees a mask of concentration and a steady arm, he follows the delicate dance, the slash and slice of the steel, and knows that his teaching is over.

The young man breathes out, a long deep breath that loosens his shoulders, his arm hesitates in the air as if unsure of what to do next before falling by his side. He straightens and turns as his mentor strides over to him, beaming as only a proud father can.

“Well done lad, you got the entire thing off in one piece!!” he bellows, slapping his son hard on the back.

His son releases his grip and they both turn to watch as the freshly shorn sheep bounds back to join his flock.

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bookmark_borderThe white stuff

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I have white stuff all over my hands. I really should wash it off.

I would’ve washed it off earlier after the first time, but I knew I’d be doing it again so, you know, what’s the point?

It’s like showering before going to the gym. Actually that’s a bad example as there are some people who really should do that, either that or they’ve been in the gym a looooonng time, phouew!

Looking down at my hands, the white stuff gives me a sense of achievement. Not a large one, but hey size doesn’t matter, right?

Anyway, whilst I will need to do it a third time, I guess that’ll wait until tomorrow. Best go wash my hands.

Thankfully it’s white emulsion so will clean right off.

bookmark_borderTracking Progress

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Like most technical writing teams we are small in number. As such, monitoring and tracking both the work that needs done as well as the work that is in progress can be a challenge.

So I’m currently casting my net far and wide to find a good way to keep a handle on this so that I’m always reasonably up to speed with where we are in the grand scheme of things. Forgive me if the following isn’t particularly well delivered, as I am thinking this through as I type it up.

First things first, we need a plan. Actually we need two. One is a high level map of the documentation structure for the entire product so we always have a view of what we are writing and where it will go, and the map will include indicators about the audience so we know who we are writing for at a given time.

Then we need to plan the next batch of work inline with the development teams, estimating what new content is need and how long it will take. Alongside that is the daily churn of small bug fixes and enhancements, some of which will need to be documented, and the supported streams of older versions of the product as well.

The occasional request via email rounds out the various routes in which new items of work are generated.

I’m ignoring, for now, passing comments by colleagues (most times I’ll just email them to our team email alias to make sure we’ve captured the request).

So, project plans, topic breakdowns, bug fixes and open requests for more information. Nothing to out of the ordinary I’m sure, nothing that each and every technical writer has to deal with.

Which begs the question, how DO you deal with it all? Over to you, how do you track your work?

bookmark_borderWhen is just enough?

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I’m currently scoping some work to provide a set of user guides for an application. The functionality is, mostly, split into two areas with one set for those administering the system and the other for those who use the system to complete their work.

Previously it would have been a matter of doing some task analysis, which would drive a list of topics, which would then be grouped sensibly, all the while keeping the audience of the information in mind. However, that tends to lead to an exhaustive list of topics, often leading to areas of the product that are little used.

To counteract that one thing I’ll be doing is initially limiting the scope to the production of conceptual information. Whilst some tasks will need a level of procedural steps, I’m more keen to get across the concepts and uses of the various parts of the product.

With this in mind I’m toying with the idea of using scenarios to drive the task analysis, taking the user through a few typical usage patterns and letting them learn the patterns of how the product works. It means that we are going to be relying on the design of our product (which is pretty good) to guide users appropriately through the application.

It’s a bit of a leap of faith, but is it enough? Time will tell!