Author: Theresa Pojuner

We have mentioned previously how to communicate priorities, but how do Technical Writers organize their own priorities? Prioritizing, listing items from the most important to the least important, can be a daunting task. Sometimes you can recognize and know right away what the priority is and sometimes not. When it comes to work priorities, how do we organize it? We can learn what needs to be done first from prior meetings and we can also consider other items such as the following:

• Check out your project plan(s); use it as your guideline. See where you currently stand with the noted tasks. If a new project is assigned, see how and where you can make changes to meet new goals or priorities. Make sure you know whether or not you can really fit it into your schedule. Examine all the timelines and resources as well.
• Make sure you have all the correct schedules for resources and availability. Without this information, you will not be able to complete a task.
• Be aware of your company goals. Knowing the direction the company is moving towards can at times help you set your priorities.
• Make a list. You can break the list down into different categories followed by various project phases or stages to see a clearer picture.
• Divide the priority list by drawing a line and setting the higher priorities above the line. Sort these. Depending on what works the best for you, complete the simplest to the most difficult task or vice versa.
• Have a meeting and find out what is the most important task to accomplish within each phase of a project.
• Create a mapping with the different tasks to see how priority outcomes would be reached.
• Set up a hierarchy to see which goals need to be reached first.

What do you do when you have competing priorities for deliverables and resources?

• The first item on the agenda is a meeting of all parties involved and follow suggestions from the previous article on communicating priorities in order to let all involved know what is on your agenda.
• Create phases of a deliverable so that you have all the resources you need to complete development of all priorities. Once phases are assigned, make sure everyone has ownership of what they have to do.
• Try to make use of any resources you have to help.
• Set up a matrix of roles and responsibilities and ensure everyone involved is aware of its existence so that no resources can be suddenly taken away.

Finally,

• Stay on top of the priorities to make sure no changes occur.
• Stay informed as to what else is happening within the organization so that you stay ahead of the game and can make adjustments quickly without missing the delivery date. Stay in control.
• Set up a calendar for yourself and for others to see.
• Be assertive about no more changes if re-prioritizing seems to be in the future.

Once your priority listing is completed, document the process you followed and make it reusable. Do not assume anything. Make sure you have all the facts and figures when setting priorities.

What process have you used to set up or organize priorities?

How do Technical Writers communicate their priorities? Priorities are needed to accomplish goals and to make sure important tasks get completed. Once priorities are established, they help us to be organized and to define what has to be done and in what order. Sometimes you can recognize and know right away what the priority is (i.e., data security). But what if there is so much work that you cannot determine the priority? Many organizations are fast-pace moving. How can Technical Writers keep up and prioritize?

Meetings

• Attend all the meetings that you can to remain in the loop. This way you can see what is coming in the future and be prepared for it. When you begin to see what and how much is coming down the pipeline, then create your own meeting.
• Have a meeting with all managers and stakeholders; communicate and collaborate. Take advantage of this meeting and set up an agenda of what has to be discussed to help in examining and arranging priorities.
• From this meeting, see what others think of your self-determined priorities – do they agree or disagree – discuss it. Try to get them to see your viewpoint and/or compromise.
• Provide at the meeting a list of issues that might prevent certain priorities (i.e., cost, resources, etc.).
• Discuss what the company goal is. This can help in deciding what project should be priority.
• Review prior projects. (This is one of the reasons to have post mortems at the end of projects.) From accessing previous projects, see if you can pinpoint what was learned. See how you could have accomplished the end more quickly, more easily, or with better results. This is where you find out what went right and what went wrong. This can help in setting priorities by knowing what should come next.
• Visually display a mapping to show how possible tasks can be accomplished simultaneously to meet goals.
• Discuss the option of setting up phases of development to accomplish tasks or the option of reusing a portion of some previous, e.g., application or document, to complete a particular task.

Get Feedback

• Take a survey and see what others think about the different tasks that need to get accomplished.
• Meet with stakeholders and discuss the feedback.
• Find out why the stakeholders believe their project should be top priority.

Stay Informed

Finally, stay informed as to what else is happening within the organization so that you stay ahead of the game and can make adjustments quickly without missing the delivery date.

• Stay in control of the life cycle of each project; especially if it is a priority.
• Be assertive about no more changes if re-prioritizing seems to be in the future.
• Document the process involved for communicating priorities. See if you can make it simpler and reusable.
• Set up a calendar for yourself and for others to see; keep others in the loop.
• Keep your own calendar up-to-date.

What process have you used to handle priorities?

Sometimes Technical Writers are responsible for working for more than one manager. How do you keep them happy and how do you maintain priorities?

The first answers that come to mind are:

• Communicate and coordinate.
• Know whom you are speaking to.
• Understand the company’s priority.
• Create your project plan and to do list; know your schedule.
• Always let others know what you have on your plate to avoid any conflicts.
• Make sure both parties understand each other. If need be, be the interpreter as you are one that knows them best.
• For global organizations, make sure all parties are using similar collaboration tools to avoid missed meetings
• Set up time for yourself too.
• If need be, hire extra help.

Having to report to more than one manager can easily happen when you work in an international company and the main headquarters is overseas. Your resident and overseas managers have simultaneously given you tasks to complete. Who and what is your priority? Usually, your resident manager is your priority and thus should be the one to set your priorities. Make sure the manager is aware of all conflicts. If the global manager insists that certain work gets completed ASAP, then communicate to both managers that they should meet to determine priorities. They should make the decision not you. This way, any negative repercussions will not be due to any decision you make.

You, as a Technical Writer/Mediator, can:

• Intervene and try to see both sides of the picture.
• Try to find out the reason behind each work request.
• Ask and see what is pushing each manager to make their request a priority.
• Try to get them to compromise.

Here are some examples and solutions:

• If you have to write a lengthy document, maybe you can do it in stages.
• Try to see if you can get each one to see what you think is a priority as you know both managers and the business.
• Maybe while waiting, e.g., for some equipment or information, you can work on the other task. This is a balancing act, but you can do it if you are organized and know where your information is.
• Try to get a 3-way communication started so that all the necessary parties are there. If you have built good relationships with both parties, then you will be able to get them to come to some sort of agreement.
• Ask them why are we doing this, how did they come to a decision about the project and it’s time table.
• Give them your project plan for each of the work requests and see if you can make both parties happy by working on both projects according to your schedule. If you decide to do this, make sure they understand your schedule and that you cannot deviate from it. If you are interrupted within any phase, then they will have to suffer the consequences of having the project delayed.

Understand what each manager wants and needs. If the communication between all parties are good, then there should not be a problem in coming to a compromise.

Have you faced this problem before? If so, please leave a comment.

The Technical Writer as an Analyst is a subject matter expert when involved with analyzing any data collected. The writer/analyst is able to communicate and translate technical information from examining a series of data; whether it be about processes, issues, trends, etc.

However, before any analysis or evaluation of the data can be done, the writer has to fully understand and be knowledgeable about the data and its background. They writer needs to be familiar with the data source (where the data came from), who gathered it, how it was tracked, formed/grouped/structured, and why it was done.

If we know why and how data was gathered, then we have at least a basis and a reason behind the data being documented. If we know who gathered the data, then we know who we can interview to find out what methods were used and why those methods were chosen. If we know where the data came from, then we can associate the data with a category. If we know how it was tracked then we know how complete the data is (no data is lost). Once all of that information is gathered and verified for its accuracy, the document can be started

The introduction will contain all of the above information. Once the background of the data has written, then the following questions should be noted and answered:

• First, look at the big picture – all the data; what do you think it is saying?
• How will the relevancy of the data be displayed and how can it be described?
• How will the data be interpreted?
• Does the data fit into the original purpose for gathering the information or is it going against it?
• Was the data gathered to see an analysis (i.e., financial), a trend (i.e., consumer), an improvement (i.e., products), or to prove a point for market comparison?
• Are there pros and cons about the data set?
• What is the result of the data collected?
• Has a point been proven?
• Has there been a return on investment; does this data set justify the work?

To further describe your results, a visual of the information can be presented along with your text. Tables and visuals are great to use for explaining data sets; visuals being any charts and/or diagrams. Knowing why the data was gathered helps to identify what charts or diagrams to create.

Be creative and organize the data; group them into meaningful categories so that they can be explained and understood.

• Design a variety of charts and diagrams and select the most useful method for describing the data.
• Think of how the intended audience would like to view the data.
• Make sure that your result comes across from within the tables and visuals.
• Rely on experience and judgment for how to present the data.

Other suggestions:

• Create user stories or describe cases to depict the data results.
• Show demonstrations or a video to corroborate the data collected.

Remember:

• Know whom you are presenting this document to. Develop the documentation and present the information in a form that is appropriate for the target audience (executives, managers, or sales, etc.).

If you have had to produce analytical documents, please leave a comment.

Writing and communicating the purpose of a governance document takes a lot of work. It involves writing about how an organization is set up, it’s history, who it reports to (if any), it’s rules, priorities, supporters, members, groups, responsibilities, compliance issues, policies, procedures, and efficiency. Governance documents ensure that procedures are maintained.

To build a governance document, the content writer has to really understand the structure of the organization, learn about its history (the background) and ask a myriad of questions. As always to get the answers, experts have to be sought out. Once the right resources have been found, the following information has can be gathered.

The Organization

• History behind the organization
• Goals – note the purpose of the organization, why it was established
• Accomplishments – what the organization has accomplished for members, the community and/or others
• Function of the organization – is it a non-profit, manufacturing, IT, financial, medical, etc.

Governing board

• Structure – how is the board organized, what is its function
• Members – who they are, their functions, how elected and for how long
• Bylaws – what are the regulations, guidelines for the organization and its members
• Financial background and statements – who are the resources (organizational names), who is in charge, whom do they report to, how often are reports created (include whom to send to, contents)
• Types of reports created – list generated reports, what they are, when, how often, who creates them, where does data come from
• Who reviews the organization – is there a governing body above that oversees it?
• Meetings – when, who attends, how often, who does the recording

Policies and Procedures

• Code of ethics – who, what, how were they developed; what it entails
• Conflict of interest – what to do, whom to report to; what it entails
• HR – policies and procedures for hiring employees – note positions and functions

Responsibilities

• Director – principal administrator and manager in charge of the organization; ensures compliance regulations are met
• Assistant Director – assists the Director in all functions
• Financial administrator – manages all fiscal business
• Fund raiser – assembles groups for creating fund raising activities
• Trip planner – generates ideas and arranges, organizes off-site outings
• Activities leader – generates group activities, ensures popularity
• Meeting leader – creates and manages agenda
• Secretary – maintains and schedules organization of meetings
• List all accountable members and their functions from cooks to packers to any administrator that is involved in maintaining the function of the organization.
• Also note whom each of the team leaders report to

The governance document

• is important because it’s a statement that shows the value and solid structure of the organization and the quality of service it provides, such as a community center providing activities, benefits, and support for all its members
• sets a standard for the organization and aids in maintaining those standards
• contains an established set of rules that have to be followed

The items listed above were some ideas of what should be in the governance document. Without this document, an organization might fail or lessen its goals.

Please leave a comment if you previously created governance documents.

In continuing with the subject of using the mapping technique (where bubbles/boxes/shapes are used) to organize and visualize your ideas, the following are some more ways that mapping helps; especially with documentation.

• Aids in organizing documents – Use mapping to group or categorize various documents or their parts to remain organized.
• Aids in creating technical documents – Use mapping as a road map showing you where one detail or feature leads to another, and therefore helps to make the writing of the document easier and more concise. It is similar to a workflow diagram which can visually display the functionality of an application
• Aids in structuring documents – Use mapping to shape extensive documents, e.g., for a regulatory compliance document, it can help you arrange different sections of the material according to required specifications. You can associate (/connect/branch) to its different elements and stay focused and on path.
• Aids in creating test plans – Use mapping to plan, prepare, organize, and manage test scenarios.
• Aids in creating presentations – Use mapping to focus on the main theme and to organize the session, i.e., type of training session or lecture given to a specific type of audience and through which vehicle and the different kinds of material that need to be created to conduct the training.
• Aids in monitoring customer feedback – Use mapping to pinpoint where problems exist within documents or applications so that you can see what is good or needs rebuilding.
• Aids in recreating documents from pre-existing ones –Use existing mappings to create new documents, e.g., if you have a functional document and you previously created a mapping for it, you can reuse the mapping to help develop a new user or training manual by rearranging the bubbles/shapes to see what new chapters are needed and to eliminate what is not needed.
• Aids in documenting a taxonomy or hierarchy of events or occurrences – Use mapping to assist in visualizing what activities are happening and where. You can keep branching off more events as more ideas or facts need to be added.
• Aids in showing related groups – By mapping, you can display the relationship(s) from one grouping to another. When used in smaller groups, you can easily see which items are more important and/or related and which items present a detailed breakdown of facts

Use the methodology of mapping as if it’s a game. Through mapping, you see all the players in a group, as well as how you progress from one area (/feature/process) to another. Unlike a process flow, mapping will not show what if scenarios, but it will show how one process leads to another. In summarizing, mapping is not as detailed as a process flow, but you can make it more detailed if you wish to. It is up to you. What I like about mapping is that you can move the bubbles/boxes/shapes as needed so that you can see different views of said items. You can sort and resort as needed depending on the situation.

If you have used this mapping technique, or something similar, please comment as to its benefits and how you have used it.

Mapping is a technique for organizing and visualizing your ideas. It is a great way to communicate relationships within different ideas, and shows how all these ideas or thoughts are connected. Mapping is used in many areas from writing to creating flow charts to designing an application. Technical writers can use this mapping technique to help them set up their technical communication material. It can also help the writers to organize their projects quicker and easier than through other methods such as outlining.

When a mapping of a document is created, it allows the writer to see and analyze what is relevant and to pinpoint significant thoughts and information that need to be communicated. The mapping technique is similar to bullets within an outline, but more abbreviated. It helps writers filter thoughts and ideas and helps to break them down into the important information that needs to be shared. It is definitely more fun to look at as it is like a playbook for a football game – it’s a diagram, a framework of events, occurrences, etc.

To begin, draw a circle or bubble, and insert a title inside the bubble. The title should represent your main thought. Any ideas or thoughts that follow or relate to that bubble are then noted within another drawn bubble and linked via a connecting line (this is called branching). In other words, mapping will show how one bubble leads to other bubbles or how one thought leads to another thought. These bubbles will represent key factors that need to be written about. What you have just done is similar to mind-mapping which also helps to keep track of ideas.

Any mapping technique will help you to stay organized and to create better documents.

Use mappings:

• To organize documents by mapping documents to other associated documents.
• To help set up a strategy, e.g., to create categories for maintaining order and making sure that the content fits into appropriate categories.
• To see what is missing, needed, and what is good. After gathering all your information, create the mapping which will allow you to see not only a clearer picture but the whole picture (or business process) as well, e.g., of a department or application.
• To show the flow of a document. For example, it will show how one function of an application or activity can lead to another section of the application.
• To help animate or show pictorially processes that would otherwise be too difficult to describe verbally.
• To help show how activities lead to certain processes; it illustrates or describes the logical flow during a process or procedure.

When applying the mapping technique, use lines, colors, and various shapes to indicate the importance of items. Have fun with it. The benefits of mapping will be noted in the next post.

Have you ever used mapping or some organizing technique to help you in creating documents? If so please leave a comment.

In reviewing the previous post, it is noted that even though we came up with more drawbacks for the employee as a remote communicator, the benefits still outweighed the drawbacks in the long run, due to a better quality of life. But now, let’s talk about the benefits and drawbacks for an organization when working with employees who are telecommunicating remotely.

Benefits for the organization

• Decreasing real estate costs as the writer takes up less work space within the organization.
• Decreasing productivity costs as the employee is paid only when services are needed and completed.
• Having access to the employee 24/7 for immediate and urgent discussions.
• Having skilled, experienced, and trusted professional work accomplished any time anywhere.
• Pressing changes can be immediately communicated to the remote employee.
• Transmitting documents between the remote employee and the organization can be immediately achieved without losing any down time.
• Working and communicating with more remote workers with different skill sets, talents, and concepts can bring more innovations to the organization.

Drawbacks for the organization

• Lacking or loss of good communication.
• Conveying what the organization requires from the remote communicator is challenging.
• Coordinating last-minute meetings can be difficult and stressful.
• Missing team dynamics due to absent members can lead to a decrease in good relationships.
• Losing confidentiality of work required can be detrimental to the organization.
• Increasing costs due to longer conversations resulting from not being able to have one-on-one quick conversations. This can increase costs exponentially especially when there are immediate simple changes that must be made, but the explanation for the change takes more time to explain than to execute.
• Failing to get immediate questions answered. This can cause delays especially if the remote worker is in a different time zone and the result leads to missed deliverables.
• Misunderstanding the environment, goals, and mindset of the organization can occur, especially if the organization deals with global practices.
• Receiving unexpected poor quality or inferior work from the remote writer.
• Losing control over time and expenses relating to the project.
• Losing control of immediate availability of service hence resulting in poor work quality.
• Decreasing in the quality of work received if the writer is based in another country which uses different terms or spellings.

From reviewing both posts, it seems like there are more disadvantages than benefits for good communication between the remote worker and the organization, but companies and individuals still hire flexible writers, organizers, developers, or workers in any field where flexibility is an option. Hence, even though a number of drawbacks seem to exist, having remote workers can be beneficial for both entities as long as good communication is maintained. This is also assuming that the organizations would not hire the remote communicator or writer if they did not trust the employee nor feel that they could not produce consistent quality work.

What have your experiences been for working with telecommunicating workers? What were your positives and negatives?

Many individuals enjoy working and communicating remotely but is it feasible and worthwhile for the individual or the organization? The value of company personnel working remotely still does not appeal to a lot of companies nor some employees. Let’s discuss the value of it for an employee and the company and its drawbacks.

In Part 1 of this post, let’s first focus on the employee. Part 2 will focus on the organization.

Benefits for the employee

• Less commuting time leading to a happier life style.
• Flexibility in getting the job done. Work can be done at your own pace at any time and anywhere. As long as the job gets completed on time and on schedule, then the organization/client will be satisfied.
• Less pressure due to no one looking over your shoulder and therefore being able to produce what is required more easily without stress. But at the same time you must be extremely organized to get the work completed.
• Less or no interruptions and hence allowing you to remain focused and be able to produce quality work.
• Easy to stay connected and maintain communication and relationships via on-line chats, phone conversations, Skype, email, etc.
• Easy to download or upload communicated documents as they are required.
• Being able to manage your own hours and not having to dress for the office allows you to have a more enjoyable life style.

Drawbacks for the employee

• If there is a power outage, what do you do?
• Lack of good communication
• Not having the same software as the organization or client, will yield more purchasing costs for necessary equipment and software.
• Increase in intercommunicating and phone costs.
• Not having face-to-face communication might make you feel like you are not part of a team. But you can work around that by using face time or Skype to be part of and engage in meetings.
• Having to keep track of and showing work and time requires good discipline and organization.
• Not fully understanding the product and its functionality can cause errors in writing and communicating instructions.
• Difficulty in working in different time zones can cause missed communications.
• Difficulty in understanding an organizations work culture and philosophy, can lead to miscommunication, especially if it’s in another country
• No ‘water-cooler’ or ‘coffee-break’ chats to engage in friendly conversations to enjoy a breather from work.
• What must happen if there is material that cannot be taken off site?
• What processes have to take place if you do not have access to communicated documents?
• Having to adjust your schedule to communicate and meet the needs of a client can be wearisome.

Even though I have listed more drawbacks for the employee than benefits, the major benefit in the long run will outweigh the drawbacks if it means an easier lifestyle for the remote communicator. Today’s technology benefits the remote communicator and allows for faster and more precise productivity, quicker responses, and more ease of communication.

What have your experiences been for telecommunicating? What positives and negatives have you seen or experienced?

You go into an organization where there are no standard forms of documentation for communicating. How do you go about creating a standard when there is none? First and foremost, use your excellent communication skills to understand your stakeholders, use your interpersonal skills to collaborate with colleagues to gather information, and use your technical and analytical skills to understand complex technical information and organize it into logical sections.

Should you have a meeting first? Or do you develop a standardization on your own? There are many ways to approach this. Regarding best documentation practices,

• Meet first and find out what exists already.
• Then see how you can organize all of it on your own.
• When that heavy task is completed, create a Style Guide for each piece of material.
• Plan out what has to be done.

Below are some suggestions and questions to ask.

Whether there are existing or just a few brief documents, find out:

• What is the organizations’ environment, e.g., global, marketing, technical?
• Where all the documents located.
• Who is your target audience? Who were the existing documents created for previously, e.g., testers, users, developers, engineers, financial or pharmaceutical personnel, managers? Try to narrow down the stakeholders.
• Do compliances have to be met, e.g., within a pharmaceutical or manufacturing company.
• Are there any security issues?

If there are existing documents:

• Ask and ensure that the existing documents are accurate.
• Next, perform a general examination of all the documents.
• Think about how you would rearrange the material.to make it more appealing.
• Did you find any consistencies within the documents, i.e., style of writing, formatting? If so, note it down, as this information might become part of a style guide for certain types of documents.
• Also note down any formatting differences to see if there is a preference
• Organize the documents into categories, e.g., user guides, standard operating procedures, technical, sales, customer service documents, etc.
• Create an outline or draw a map of the categories to help maintain order.
• Ensure that the content fits into the category.
• When ready, work on each piece of document one at a time.
• Ensure that the purpose of each document is successful and does what it is supposed to do, i.e., guide, develop, help, quantify, educate, or demonstrate.

Questions to ask about the documents:

• Are there certain styles or types of documents that they do not want? Maybe they only want user or training material and not technical nor procedural documents.
• Are there particular formats they do not want, i.e., within outlines (wanting alphabetical as opposed to numerical)?
• Does length matter/? Maybe they only want short concise documents and not lengthy ones where you have to look at a table of contents.

As a final note:

• The document you standardize should fit the philosophy of the organization; global or national.
• Plan out your documents and create guidelines for approval, and determine ahead of time how to manage changes.
• Be flexible, especially when working in a global organization. One culture may like explicit detailed longer explanations, whereas another may not and prefer illustrations instead of words, or both, or videos instead.

What are your experiences in working with non-standardized documents?