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Subject Matter Empathy

UncleWillie — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 07:42:46 +0000

Many Subject Matter Experts, or SME’s, do not know how valuable they are. Often, they just “do”, while others see them as elite intellects. (We cannot say geek here).

Getting an SME to patiently explain “how” and “why” is an art. That’s where a competent interviewer comes in. An SME is often overloaded. Sometimes cooperation means only that some interviewer has just given them a new job description. It wasn’t on their plate yesterday, and now they have to do this too.

See full text, or download the article.

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‘Thems’ Powerful Words

UncleWillie — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 07:34:23 +0000

Well written technical communcations are often surprisingly simple. True, the audience may be quite sophisticated, but the goal remains the same for all documentation: SERVE the reader’s needs.

Left to their own devices, a manual user will find what they need, if the manual is clearly organized for reference. A work instruction must generally be a precision document, anticipating….full text. Or to download…..

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TV Commercial script: the John Deer Dear John Letter

UncleWillie — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 06:31:35 +0000

Visualizing an average American male, recognize the gender myths behind his aspirations, and his grateful smile when his wife takes up the gauntlet.

“See it” here… or download it!

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Fluid Communication

UncleWillie — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 07:28:50 +0000

Being able to communicate on many different levels, with any kind of colleague, is a crtical component of the technical writer’s skill set. Knowledge of subject, obtained on the fly from any source almost all at once, still requires help for the writer to outline, sort and organize this information and knowledge.

Interviews with people on vastly different organizational levels is not always as easy as it appears. Sometimes…full text or downoad to print.

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Technical Education Book: Flexographic Process printing

UncleWillie — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 23:59:59 +0000

Written and illustrated to help staff understand the fundamentals of our client’s processes. Then a pre-press house could function as the clientele advanced technically. Later sold to clients to teach their staff, used in teaching seminars To see the book…

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Ask Good Questions

UncleWillie — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 21:58:39 +0000

Asking good questions sounds easy. Moreover, when preceded by good lstening, it is. The most competent technical writer has planned a way of obtaining information. It’s the “Invisible Outline.”

The Invisble Outline constitutes the interviewer’s plan of action. Outline the subject, drill down and outline the separate segments of the subject, and then go interview a “Subject Matter Expert.” Am I really saying “Know what you’re writing about before you do an interview?” Well, yes!

The outline is the “Big Picture.” It’s why I’m a writer. See the whole text, or download.

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Ending Arguments

UncleWillie — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 07:22:08 +0000

…Enter the “Documentation Specialist”. Now we’re getting somewhere. Now we can finally call’em like we see ‘em. Bob asks Sally to stop turning in her hang orders without filling oput the proper variables. Sally tells Bob it’s redundant because the spec form has the same information. Then the Customer Service Manager finds in the suggestion box yet another request tochange the forms. On and on and on.

In the middle of it all, the technical writer hasd come to save the day. Find out where it went wrong…, or print the full story.

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SOP Training Book

UncleWillie — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 23:59:59 +0000

Back when Quark was an actual product, this was used for an SOP for a small manufacturing company. Without a budget this was cobbled together for a disagreeable group to forge a new law: “If it’s not in the book, we ain’t doin’ it”. To view…

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Search Engine Optimization Projects

UncleWillie — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 20:38:42 +0000

Basic search engine algorithms can be “enhanced” in a multitude of ways. Finding your site, or anyone’s for that matter, depends on many (much debated) factors. Links in, links out, the dubious “authority-site” concept, etcetera.

Not a writing project per se, but an excercise in learning Web design and editing software, these projects gave me opportunity to see first-hand a variety of internet based commerce and marketing techniques.

Building and re-building sites, editing photography and graphics, creating pages from scratch or from templates, all helped make me a more versatile writer.

Some sites for a project:

These sites were part of a larger project intended for SEO outcomes and Web design.

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ERP Project

UncleWillie — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:28:38 +0000

Dozens of screen shots, nested and layered to fit the required format. This excerpt shows typical page layouts. Created from scratch, this project became a training document. View

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