Author: Theresa Pojuner

You have been given the task of setting up a plan to make sudden changes to, e.g., processes. How do you let people know and how do you communicate planning objectives that you have developed. What do you do first? What if there is resistance?

First Steps

• Communicate with and set up meetings in order to interact with those instigating the changes, e.g., directors, partners, consultants, users, etc.
• Ask questions to obtain knowledge about the subject matter and to obtain requirements about the task before the undertaking.
• Gather all the basic information you need through meetings and encounters.
• Once the necessary knowledge is gathered, meet again to reassess the objective.

After gathering all the necessary information, it’s now time to interact with the people affected by the changes.

Second Steps

• Define the goal and scope of the project; state the case.
• When communicating with users or anyone affected by the changes, be clear about what is needed, the why and specify what modifications, transformations, or adjustments will be forthcoming.
• Create and maintain ongoing status meetings. Inform attendees that there will be further meetings to share information, to hear any concerns, and to see if everything is on track.
• Remain organized by creating a short but concise document, like an Action Plan to share.

Communicating Planning Objectives

• Within an Action Plan, include its purpose with a summary and explain and clarify the details; be accurate and precise.
• Ensure you involve all developers and stakeholders.
• State the proposal, strategy, and design of the plan.
• Describe what exists, what is needed, and the goals.
• In particular, ensure you have noted the necessary personnel as well as the budget.

Handling Resistance

• Identify with those affected by the changes and acknowledge their fears and questions and make sure they understand why a new process is necessary. Justify the action required by explaining how this task came about. Explain what analysis was done and the negative effects if the task is not completed.
• Get management to support you and your task.
• Be aware of how those that are unsure perceive you. Be complimentary, cooperative, and transparent in your communication. This will generate and/or improve collaboration. Show them you respect them for their knowledge and questions, and that you will take their concerns into consideration and will get back to them at either the next meeting or as soon as possible.

Next Steps

• Set up a project plan with critical paths and milestones. Benefits of this allows for keeping the project on track, as well as anticipating and preparing for any possible incidents.
• Create a short-term plan as well as contingency plans for any unforeseen events.
• Set up blocks of time for work and availability to maintain communication with others.
• Maintain status meetings as work progresses to avoid any problems.

If you have had experience in leading a group to complete a task, please leave a comment as to how you handled the responsibility. Thank you.

A whiteboard provides a form of visual communication for many businesses from healthcare to technology, to manufacturing to marketing or education. A whiteboard is like a blank sheet of paper, only it is made out of metal and is an erasable board similar to a blackboard. Because it is used for information communication, one can say it is a form of documentation.

Uses

There are many uses of the whiteboard. It can be used for displaying

• project scheduling, task listing, check off lists,
• groupings, procedures, processes,
• mapping associations, diagramming, etc.

Advantages

A whiteboard has many advantages, which include ease of use, readability, be visually appealing, and the following benefits:

• Users can easily describe and walk viewers through each step of a process or procedure that has to be accomplished.
• Users can convey designs and prototypes more easily.
• Users can design new software and work out details while collaborating at the same time.
• Users can get inspired to generate more ideas and concepts, resolve issues, and map out plans.
• Users can provide story telling for deeper clarity of various theories and models, and much more.

Benefits

Users like it because during any meeting or presentation, the whiteboard can provide a lot of uses, such as:

• Helping viewers to be more organized by listing tasks.
• Allowing writing and rewriting, or adding and removing thoughts and ideas via a list, such as when trying to develop standards, new systems, or new strategies.
• Sharing information with everyone for easier reviewing in illustration form and which will in turn allow viewers to recall facts and information more easily as images and symbols can be used to enhance what is displayed.
• Allowing the numbering of events of a, for example, meeting or process and then circling and segmenting out small model cases to focus on to complete a task.
• Providing the ability to create charts such as flow and/or tree diagraming.
• Providing easier grouping of objects where associated items are combined and categorized.
• Creating a display of data bases and models of a system and how they are related.
• Allowing free-hand diagramming of related items, such as through the use of mapping
• Allowing the display of different ideas, questionable items, classification of systems, relations, processes, as well as timelines from beginning to end with all their critical paths.
• Providing the atmosphere for collaboration, viewing, thinking, and individuals contributing ideas, resulting in producing immediate feedback.
• Creating hierarchies for organizations and getting immediate reactions to what viewers see.
• Communicating a clear and understandable direction from what is pictured, or an analysis, or evaluation of what is on the board.

A whiteboard allows viewers to create a physical representation from all the information that has been written, created, or designed on the board. Viewers immediately see what the topic is and can quickly respond to the information. They provide immediate interaction among viewers. A whiteboard has many advantages and uses.

If you have anything to add to this post, please leave a comment. Thank you.

 

How do you provide educational content? How do you know if it is valid and usable? The answer is by providing good communication.

How do you do that? What if there was, e.g., some technical knowledge that needed to be shared? Communicating and delivering that information can be challenging. Many learners attend networking sessions, seminars, etc. to gain the knowledge they need. But if you are within a company getting ready to show a new product, how do you begin?

Be proactive – be proactive to save time and effort by communicating to all stakeholders through a learning/teaching event.

Take the initiative – set up the learning/teaching for sharing the information, and actively seek others to assist in creating the session and to provide more ideas and feedback

Be creative – create a brand focused on the, e.g., particular product. When describing the event, mention the brand – make it consistent and apply it to as many examples as possible.

For the event:

• Engage attendees by asking questions within the screen content to lead them to what they need to know; make it different and engaging. Also, be enthusiastic when speaking.
• Provide incentives at the end of short blurbs, chapters, or content. For the handout or manual, include encouragement along the side bar, or display it in blue at the end of the content and say, e.g., ‘Yay that was awesome – you just finished learning how to xxxxx..using…’.
• Use gaming activities to stay connected to the audience. To encourage attendees, create and include a puzzle or mini quiz to see if they grasp the main objective of the session. Another idea is to display a graph and have them try to find the focal point within the graph.
• Give attendees what they want and need, i.e., make it relevant, but also make sure it makes sense to them.
• Show simulations or transform the learning session into a story.

To prove that knowledge was transferred:

• Have attendees work with someone within a group setting. Let one person create a scenario and have the other one come up with a solution using the new product and discuss the results.
• Create teams and have them set up mini teaching sessions of the subject and see if the rest of the audience understands and enjoys it. Some may develop a video instead or a play, or maybe some will simply set up an email distribution for knowledge sharing. Have attendees decide which was the more practical solution or audience capturing interaction, memorable skit, or best game or user experience.

There are many ways in which to communicate knowledge. Any comments or criticisms received provide feedback and analytics to see if the knowledge was absorbed. This in turn will help in deciding which was the best method and/or alternative method for communicating educational content to a user. As an added note, don’t forget to look at which is the easiest to implement and which is most cost effective.

If you have had experience in this field or wish to add information, please leave a comment. Thank you.

The previous content (Tips For A Business Plan – Part 1) defined and showed the relevancy of a Business Plan. But how will we build the plan. The Business Plan needs to show the worth and importance of a proposal, detail how the task will be accomplished, and include tasks, i.e., a migration, purchasing new equipment, or hiring consultants. Most importantly, it will also specify time and expenses and the benefits and risks involved.

At the start of the Business Plan

• Denote only the important ‘must have’ items to prove and validate a point.
• Create an outline and be sure to include key elements, e.g., the vision, resources, issues, marketing, and of course financing.
• Specify your timelines and critical points.
• Plan to break up the Business Plan into categories such as Introduction, Summary, Business description (Operations), Strategy and Risks, Recommendations, Research, Marketing plan, Problems and Resolution, Resources, Finance (Support), Costs, Benefits, and Time

Overview

• Create an introduction to the plan and be specific.
• Describe the purpose and reason (justification) behind this project, and its goals.

Summary

• Explain the circumstances that led to this new project.
• Provide a sentence or two on the business goals, funding, technology, or the intended audience of, e.g., a new product.
• Display an applicable prototype or describe it to show that the outcome is doable.

Structure

• The Business Plan is usually written using a logical format. Organize it first by presenting a brief introduction to the plan.
• Present it in a form for those who will make the decision to authorize it. Write for your audience and provide an outline.
• Use simple terms to describe the plan. If the document is of considerable length, indicate what sections should be read by which party.
• If a plan is complicated or includes a lot of scenarios, then the Technical Writer should develop business cases to help with explanations. The writer can also create training sessions with demonstrations or instruction videos. Content in some form, however, should still be written to reinforce what was presented.
• When there is too much information to present, break it down into charts, figures, and diagrams for easier understanding and analysis, and to also assist in explanations. For example, for a business process, create the business diagram and then break it down into logical detailed explanations or functionalities.
• Maintain continuity in explanations and format. If continuity within the content is not clear, then misunderstandings and wrong interpretations (with detrimental or chaotic outcomes) can occur within the organizations environment (business, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, etc.).
• To maintain the Business Plan continuity provide supporting material backing up your information and work on Identifying, assessing, and analysis of the plan.
• Provide guidelines and policies needed to maintain the plan.

For a Successful Business Plan

• Analyze it to ensure that all the necessary content has been included.
• Ensure that it is feasible and compliant within any restrictions.
• Always stay informed of any updates or changes within your organization or environment.
• Get it reviewed by others.
• Get it authorized if need be.
• Get the plan tested.

If you have other suggestions of what a Business Plan should contain, please leave a comment. Thank you

How do you communicate a business plan? First, what is a business plan? It is a document that outlines the steps for completing a future project, a restructuring of a company, a personal project, or any future change within an organization. It will show the strategy involved in, e.g., developing the outcome of a new idea or a new venture for a company or an individual. Some business plans take a short time to execute and some take a few years, depending on the proposal and design.

Depending on the situation, some or most plans have to be approved. To get it approved, we have to ensure that it is written well. Being able to make others understand the Business Plan is crucial. The Technical Writer has to be able to communicate and translate details from the, e.g., the current business background for business processes to a new and improved business model.

Why we need a Business Plan

• For Communication – It will help by communicating the direction taken to complete a proposal.
• For Organization – It will help by maintaining organization and by staying on schedule, especially through various business ups and downs. It will also help to keep track of events, trends, clients, investors, etc. – anything that will potentially alter the business goals of the plan.
• For Justification – It will help by justifying the value of the plan, by defining its goal, scope, and planned resources.
• For Proof – It will help by providing proof of the usefulness of the plan and the consequences if the plan is not approved

How to structure a Business Plan

• Organize it. Because the Business Plan is like a blueprint, and clearly defines the purpose and its strategy, it can almost be structured similarly to a Requirements Document (which provides the desired prerequisites of a project; stating its goals, resources, funding, and technology). The difference though, is that the Business Plan will include more detail on how it intends to build and complete the project. It will show how the end result will be accomplished and benefit the intended audience. It details and orchestrates the steps for ensuring how a project will be completed.
• Describe why the Business Plan was developed and what it will accomplish.
• Show proof that research was done and apply comparison purposes and show its positive results.
• Include facts and details so that, e.g., the plan defines a solution to a problem.

How do you begin to create your Business Plan?

• Collaborate with others. Meet with your stakeholders to gather useful background and include the material within the plan.
• Perform your interviewing and research. Investigate and interview all leads to create a structure that is understood and acceptable by the organization. In other words, the plan should fit into the company vision.
• Validate the plans business scope so that critical stages can be listed and prioritized. Note: Status reports can be checked (when necessary) for items, such as, whether or not there have been or will be issues during critical stages to affect the project.
• Plan to break up the document into categories such as Introduction, Summary, Business description (Operations), Strategy and Risks, Recommendations, Research, Marketing plan, Problems and Resolution, Resources, Finance (Support), Costs, Benefits, and Time.

Part 2 will describe how to design a Business Plan. If you have other suggestions of what a Business Plan is or should contain, please leave a comment. Thank you

Communicating electronically is widely used for businesses, education, heath, and individuals. All businesses big or small use mobile, networking, or virtual devices to communicate. It is one of our most important and popular tools. We use our smart phones, tablets, or any other devices every second of every day. We use these devices at work, at home, while shopping or on a trip, while waiting, etc. We need these devices to be informed of different events surrounding us. Whether it’s to be notified of emails, status reports from work or a sale at a store, getting a coupon, these devices help to keep us informed and keep us on our toes. For monitoring our health, these devices, e.g., tell us when to stand up and stretch, or provide health records when needed. Communicating electronically keeps us up-to-date on all matters through internet access to data.

Benefits of communicating electronically for the individual.

• Education – helps us to instruct individuals. Educational websites and educational publishing is now easily accomplished. Also, training mediums through videos and interactive learning is easily accessible and can be used at an individual’s own pace.
• Knowledge management – helps us to manage and share content and also provides information services through channels such as content management systems. Knowledge is easily shared and maintained electronically.
• Notifications – helps us to communicate easier through text and voice activated messages. It is no longer necessary to know how to type nor write if, e.g., all you need is your voice to speak into a smart phones to communicate messages.
• Traveling – helps us to travel more easily through the aid of GPS systems or smart cars.
• Health – helps us to stay healthier by letting us use healthcare apps and medical devices to monitor patient care and share information on our health. We can electronically access and share our health records when needed, know how far we’ve walked, display our pulse rate, etc.
• Organization – helps us to remain organized and on schedule through various business applications and can even help us keep track of items, devices, people, notes, pets, etc.
• Tasks – helps us remember scheduled appointments and tasks that need to be taken care of.
• Contacts – helps us to maintain communication with our favorite people (clients, friends, family, Drs., etc.).
• Entertainment – helps us to access and provide easier recreation, such as movies, shows, games, etc. It also helps us to easily take photos and to share them to whomever we want.

Benefits of communicating electronically for businesses.

• Keeps businesses up-to-date on all matters such as statuses, gathering data, brainstorming, solving problems, trends, new procedures, etc.
• Provides easier collaboration and engagement by helping us to maintain our global contacts trough telecommunications, video conferencing, etc.
• Provides easier marketing to new and current clients through digital advertising.
• Keeps businesses up-to-date on business matters through video and audio conferences.
• Eases maintenance and viewing of data.
• Eases assistance and productivity capabilities by providing support anytime and anywhere.

If you have more ideas or thoughts about communicating using electronic devices, please leave a comment.

As noted in the previous content (Part One), an Action Plan is extremely detailed. It has to communicate and justify its proposal, strategy, and design. We described the initial outline of an ‘Action Plan’, as having the following material:

• Acknowledgements – Listing the key players up front.
• Table of Contents – Denoting the breakdown and location of the content.
• Executive Summary – Providing a short but concise explanation of the action plan.
• Introduction – Providing the overview and reasons behind the plan.
• Overview – Describing in detail what is needed, who is affected, the definitions needed to be understood, and the approach taken to derive the findings.

After the above sections, we can now structure the document as follows:

Goals

Note the goals and strategy of the ‘Action Plan’

• Beginning – Describe how the plan will be initiated; the ‘why’, and the reasoning behind it. List all stakeholders and target audiences affected and any required agreements. Describe new policies and roles created; including any amendments.
• Building a team – Describe how a team will be formed; include partnerships and task forces.
• Building the infrastructure – Describe how the new organization will function.
• Setting the groundwork – Describe how to achieve the goal; include project schedule, resources, budgets, and any new standards or programs. Include everything that will be affected.
• Preparing the population or audience – Describe how the target audience will be notified and what education is required for understanding functionality and requirements, i.e., through meetings and seminars. Include how to measure the audience reaction and ROI, i.e., through voting or analysis.

Benefits

Note all benefits of the plan.

• State why the plan is needed, i.e., how it fills a void, or how it solves a persistent problem.
• List the benefits. For example, state how the client, organization, or target audience can function more efficiently, gain more momentum, or reap more rewards, such as decreased productivity costs, better communication between employees, more security, or providing advantages of a new product, application, or process.

Cost

Note the budget involved.

• State how the proposal will be accomplished within a budget. List future and current costs involved.
• List all financing and loans, such as where funds will be used, found, and the maximum budgeting involved, as well as grants, third party financing, etc.
• Note the tools that will be used to complete the project on schedule and what might be needed if the project lasts longer. Note down critical milestones.

Reporting

Note the required reports.

• Generate reports on the project status and its budget. Describe possible bottlenecks and problems, such as ‘What if it doesn’t work’, or ‘limitations if not completely accomplished’ and any unexpected issues.
• Provide analysis on ‘should wok be done a step at a time or go full force’ and ‘complete within x number of years, months, etc.’

Hope this has been helpful. As with any documentation, be precise and accurate. If you have previously created an action plan, please add to this content. Thank you.

An Action Plan is very involved and detailed as it has to justify its proposal, strategy, and design. When you have to perform a task that involves a particular population, how do you communicate and create an action plan? The Technical Writer involved has to have meetings to gather information and as always, with any documentation, create an outline or a mapping depicting what items are associated to one another.

An example of an outline that would need to be created, is as follows:

The Acknowledgements

List the key players up front. List the directors, community, partners, consultants, etc., involved in developing the subject matter. Note down their involvement and participation in creating this plan.

The Table of Contents

Create a Table of Contents denoting the breakdown of the content. Include the location of the Executive Summary, Introduction; Overview, Goals, Benefits, Costs, Future Plans, etc. Include the following:

• Figures – list the title and location of diagrams, graphs and charts showing trends, comparison of values, distribution, etc. Be sure to illustrate data points over time periods.
• Tables – list the title and location of tables describing events and/or tables that clarify and compare items, facts, figures, etc.
• Appendix – list any additional reports, references, or addendum to the action plan.

The Executive Summary

Create a short but concise explanation of the action plan. Include its purpose and note reasons why this report was created. Also include the goal as well as the budget needed to complete the project.

The Introduction

Within the introduction, provide:

• Overview of the action plan – an outline giving a rundown of what will be done.
• Reason behind the plan – the why and the goal.

The Overview

Create a summary and explain the plan for the population that will be affected. Describe what exists, what is needed, the strategy, and the future outcome.

• Definitions – Define terms that need to be clarified, such as explaining the situation that caused the problem or any needed technical explanations.
• Current environment – Note what currently exists. Justify the action required. How did this come about? What analysis was done? List all the various types of analysis completed. Next, note what the findings were, and also include any evidence that exists to justify your point.
• Approach – State how the conclusion or plan was derived. Get estimates. Note what was checked, such as how did you know what was needed and what was needed to be investigated? Note also what prerequisites, requirements, conditions, and obligations are needed before any action can take place.
• Future – State what the future holds. What will happen in the future from this new action? What can affect this change – increased traffic, population, decreasing prices?

Next month, the Goals segment of the action plan will be presented. It is not easy to create an ‘Action Plan’. It is very extensive and a lot of work has to go into its creation.

Hope this beginning section has been most helpful. And, as with any documentation, be precise and exact.

If you have previously created an action plan, please add to this content. Thank you.

In continuing the topic of business cases, here are some tips on creating a Business Case.

How do you begin to create your business case? A business case justifies the value of a project by defining the goal and scope of the project. It will describe the usefulness of the project and the consequences if the project is not approved.

As with any document that needs to prove a point, research has to be first done and then the findings studied. As previously stated in the prior article (Part One), a business case generally provides a solution to a problem, so include details from meetings of problems that currently exist. Note down all the core requirements gathered from meetings, hands-on work, or practical experience needed to resolve a problem. From your gathered information, you will now know what content needs to be written.

To Begin

• Use an outline as a starting point and include a Table of Contents or at minimum an outline of the contents up front.
• Break up the outline into logical sections, e.g., Introduction, Research, Problems, Resolution, Recommendation, Strategy and Risks, Costs, Benefits, and Time.
• Create an introduction to the project and be specific. State the reason (justification) behind the business case and the goal(s).
• Describe the research and findings that were done.
• Describe all the problems that currently exist and the solutions that have been derived.
• Create a chart if needed, and point out relevant data by highlighting it.
• Denote only the important ‘must have’ items within the business case to validate a point.
• Include all the data that is needed to prove your case. Numbers are always beneficial to proving a point or making a justification.
• For lengthy documents, break it up into sections and include a Table of Contents or break it up into several documents; one for each department or subgroup, and show the relevance for each department or subgroup.
• Keep it organized and break it up into subject matter if you need to.
• Note the benefits such as ease of use, long term usage, better monitoring, etc. Prove its value.
• Provide a cost analysis (if needed) and make it visually appealing and not complex.
• Show, e.g., customer satisfaction benefits (if needed) – easier to access information. – saves time and energy.
• Describe how to handle marketing and distribution (if needed).
• For readability, apply bullets to outline lengthy text or explanations.
• Double check your grammar and spelling to ensure the validity of the document.
• Remember to communicate well through written material. You have to work as an editor, illustrator, and designer to get your information across.

Once the document is completed, send it to the client and respective project managers for verification and approval. If the document is of considerable length, indicate what sections should be read by which party. As always, write for the intended audience. Make it accurate and precise to prove your point and to get your recommendation approved.

If you have previously written business cases, please add to this content or leave a comment. Thank you.

What is a business case?

A business case is a document that describes the reason why something has to be done. It will describe the usefulness of the project and the consequences if the project is not approved. Because it is a document that defines the project and its purpose, it can almost be compared and structured similarly to a Requirements Document which provides the desired details of a project and what its goals, resources, funding, and technology are. It shows what is needed to accomplish a task. The difference though, is that the business case will justify the value of a project. For example, it will show prove how a new product or application will benefit the intended audience. It details all the reasons for wanting a project to be done.

Why use a business case

We use a business case to show the worth and importance of a project. It will detail how the task will be accomplished. It will include items, i.e., a migration being involved, purchasing new equipment, or hiring consultants. Most importantly, it also specifies time and expenses, and the benefits and risks involved.

Once the document is completed, it is sent to all parties involved as well as to the client and respective project managers for verification and approval (if needed).

Creating your business case

The business case is usually written using a logical format and is written for those authorized to make a decision, so be logical when creating the business case. Structure it by presenting an introduction to the, e.g., product. – Let users know what the product is. Use simple terms to describe it and if there is a prototype, display it. If the document is of considerable length, indicate what sections should be read by which party.

A business case helps to define a possible solution to a problem, so include facts and details, such as the core requirements, i.e., Introduction, Research, Problems, Resolution, Recommendation, Strategy and Risks, Costs, Benefits, and Time. Also:

• Break it up into logical sections that fit your case. Explain the logistics. For example, if it’s for new equipment, denote the equipment required and the reason why that particular equipment is required, e.g., providing more storage, easier use of software and maintenance for database access such as accessibility to files for specific tasks, i.e., system enhancements, documentation, testing, etc.
• Include items such as dates for priorities, milestones, and deadlines.
• For denoting security, list for example, the types of maintenance and issues that will be planned out and taken care of, such as protocols, archives, contingency plans, etc.
• Also, denote resources required–e.g., who will be involved- Developers, DBAs, Testers, Lead Project Manager, Sub-Contractors, etc. This will ensure you have the right amount of personnel to perform the job as well as the right people.

As always, write for the intended audience to prove your case and to get it approved. If you have previously written business cases, please add to this content. Thank you.