I’ve been looking for days now and I cannot find a good display of our release progress to show to our internal staff. I’m looking for a plugin to Salesforce or Outlook, or an app that is so good I can ignore that it’s a third party. It has to display a live timeline or burndown of our release progress and it has to be relatively easy to implement and update. Anyone out there have a good solution?
In Tech Writing 101, the writer learns to assume the identity of their audience. As they comb through every nook and cranny of a new interface or feature of an application, they consider all the ways in which the end-user may interact with the application. This results in noting any of the user’s potential questions, workflow problems, and flaws in the software’s designs. The intrinsic and monetary value of this process isn’t lost on the writer, but it is often lost on upper management, developers, designers, and product managers. Read More
Stuck between a rock and a hard place
Over the last few months I’ve been working to improve our content management system. I’ve written about this before, back when I first began the process. I discussed managing a large amount of knowledge for an organization here and here. Unfortunately, time, organizational changes, and a lack of clear-cut resolutions have not gotten me any farther from where I started.
The main problems with our current solution are centered around the inability to track, version, and share information in an easy way across the company. Additionally, our current workflow and CMS process requires the creation and maintenance of multiple versions of the same material to be published in at least three places. This has made editing and upkeep for releases a nightmare.
On the dispersal side of the coin, we have limited capabilities in tracking and reporting on what clients are using, virtually no customization over navigation, and a lack of integration between our content and peer-to-peer and social networking apps.
We know our current solution is not the answer. In the few demos I’ve had from other CMS companies, their workflows and product descriptions have been vague. Because I don’t want to fall into the same CMS trap, I’m hesitant to sign on any dotted line until we are 100% sure our workflow and requirements can be met.
Anyone out there have any CMS suggestions our a better way for squeezing info out of tight-lipped sales people?
Granicus, Inc., the software company I work for, is hiring numerous technical position. We’re looking:
- Customer Care Engineer
- Deployment Project Manager
- eLearning Specialist
and many more positions.
Granicus is an inspiring place to work, we help government bodies run their meetings more efficiently while increasing public transparency and cutting fiscal waste. Check out www.granicus.com if you are interested.
Last Saturday I had a tutoring session with an older couple from Vietnam. I’m working with Mui and Tran as my other student, Chau, is in Vietnam. Working with a husband and wife was new, but exciting territory for me! Tran and Mui only had a few sessions with their previous tutor, but their English skills were impressive!
As I had just met Tran and Mui and was not familiar with their skill level, we spent the first hour of our session working through an ice breaker. I printed off a list of questions, i.e., “What is your full name?, What is your favorite food? How many languages do you speak?” etc. and asked Tran and Mui to read and answer the questions. They read the questions very well, but comprehension was a bit harder.
Tran is much more advanced than his wife, and Mui relies on her husband to explain and translate for her. While this is great practice for Tran, I could see from the ice breaker that Mui relies on Tran as a crutch. This was good to know before the “meat” of our lesson and the ice breaker allowed me to connect with Tran and Mui.
After a short break, we reviewed grocery and food vocabulary and began to tackle past and present verb conjugation. It became clear that Mui was a visual learner and could comprehend the vocabulary better when she had pictures to connect with the words. Tran however, struggled with visuals and preferred to hear the words pronounced and translated.
Overall, I think the session went well, though the three of us were pretty exhausted by the end of the two hours. It was a really rewarding and motivating session and I’m looking forward to working with them more!
Amanda C. posted this article on the MindTouch blog. It does a great job of covering the high-level things every great technical writer should know and utilize. A brief summary:
1. Reduce Word Count – Be concise, if you can say it in fewer words, do so.
2. Use Inverted Pyramid Structure- General information first, specifics last
3. Second Person, Active Voice, Present Tense- Ex. “Click the Login button.”
This story is incredible. I can’t begin to fathom how isolated she must of felt as a new educator, teaching at the ends of the Earth, in these circumstances. A must read!
3 First (Worst) Teaching Days – #3 – Shefferville – A New Teacher in an Uncharted Tundra.
Some days are harder to get moving than others. I find I feel more energized, creative, and ready for the day if I’ve got a few great songs in my playlist
Right now they’re
Diamond mouth- phantogram
Towers- bon iver
Weak teeth- digitata
Island,is- volcano choir
Cut and run- electrelane
These and a latte and I should be good for the day. What gets you moving in the morning?
I learned many of these methodologies / theories back in college, but it’s always good to have a recap. This provides a good overview on putting together a UX plan.
http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2012/01/26/ux-research-plan-stakeholders-love/
Pick a beat for release notes.
I’ve been using this approach as I take on the release note beast at Granicus. Good to know I’m on the right track.
