reaching out - ocstc · 2018-05-23 · gram at california state university, long beach. we held two...
TRANSCRIPT
Orange County STC Newsletter
www.stc.org January 2011 Vol. 50, No. 1This Issue:
Reaching Out 1
President’s Message 2
Next Meeting 3
Editor’s Desk 4
2011 Chapter Election—Time to Get Involved 5
Member Spotlight 7
EduNotes 8
November Meeting Review 11
Timeless Skills for Technical Writers 12
Society Pages 13
OCSTC Employment Information 13
A Graduate’s Story 14
Orange Slice— Calendar of Events 16
January Meeting Info 16
Reaching OutSuzanne Madison and Betsy Malone, OCSTC Public Relations Committee
In December, OCSTC reached out to students in the technical writing pro-gram at California State University, Long Beach. We held two career nights
on campus, under the title of “Fast Track to Your Career Path.”
On December 1, a panel of knowledgeable members and former members spoke to the students about “Skills for Job Seekers.”
Our chapter president, Michael Opsteegh, began the evening with “Lever-aging STC to Advance Your Career.” He discussed the advantages of joining STC and of attending OCSTC chapter meetings as well as the STC Summit this May in Sacramento.
Laura Ann LoCicero then shared valuable tips on “Job Hunting and Net-working Online.” She emphasized the importance of building a profes-sional network by “giving first, giving big, giving often, and not expect-ing anything in return.” She urged the students to have a separate email address, as well as separate social media pages for friends and for job hunting. She showed her personal marketing web site and shared ideas on how to build one. Laura Ann concluded by reminding every-one to always con-tinue networking—to “keep watering the garden.”
Jolynn Atkins told the students how to make a résumé stand out by including information that recruiters and hiring managers look for. She suggested using a summary of skills at the top, rather than an objective, and being clever and creative, yet honest. A résumé should be a marketing tool; it may be the only chance to make an impression. And most important, “proofread, proofread, proofread. One typo can get a résumé tossed out!”
Betsy Malone shared ideas to make writing cover letters simple. After researching a company and the job description, write a short (three para-graph) letter to a specific person, match your skills to those required for the job, mention your attached résumé (at the end of the letter), and thank the person for their time. Be sure to write in a professional and positive tone.
Our December 1 speakers, L to R: Jolynn Atkins, Kathey Schuster, Laura Ann LoCicero, Jennifer Smith (class instructor), Betsy Malone, Shannon Summers. Not pictured: Michael Opsteegh
Continued on Page 9 >
2 • January 2011
President’s MessageBy Michael Opsteegh, OCSTC President
I tend to be more senti-mental than I ought to
be, but moments like this make me stop and reflect. This is the last issue of TechniScribe that will be printed and mailed to you. After fifty years of award-winning publish-ing, it’s time for TechniScribe to reinvent itself.
Aside from missing the Techni Scribe masthead peeking at me each month when I open my mail-box, I am very confident that we will be able to continue to bring you the same great, relevant con-tent in our new online format. Additionally, we’ll continue to make a printable PDF available, so you can print and read the newslet-ter on the train, in the park, or on the sofa.
TechniScribe has enjoyed a long history of win-ning awards and publishing articles that get picked up by Intercom and other chapter newsletters. TechniScribe has afforded our members an opportunity to publish articles and get their name out there. The OCSTC chapter newsletter will continue to provide its members publishing opportunities and bring them relevant information that they can use on the job.
I love reading print more than I do online, but moving the TechniScribe to an online format offers a number of benefits:
We can shorten our publication cycle and • bring you more relevant information more quickly.
We can leverage multimedia and social • media.
We can reduce chapter expenses and save • a few trees.
I hope you will help us embrace this change by sending articles to our newsletter editor. If you have any question, comments, or concerns, please talk to me at the next chapter meeting.
Chapter Contacts
OCSTC P.O. Box 28751 Santa Ana, CA 92799-8751
Web site: http://www.ocstc.org
Administrative CouncilPresident, Michael Opsteegh, [email protected]
Past President, Betsy Malone, [email protected]
1st Vice Presidents, Programs, Jane Baker and Roger Hunnicutt, [email protected]
2nd Vice President, Membership, Len Poché, [email protected]
Treasurer, Shannon Summers, [email protected]
Secretary, Judy Jones, [email protected]
AppointeesTechniScribe Managing Editor, Jennifer Gardelle, [email protected]
Public Relations, Betsy Malone, [email protected]
Education, Bill Darnall, [email protected]
Scholarship Chair, Carrie Damschroder, [email protected]
Webmaster, Jeff Randolph, [email protected]
Employment Manager, Betsy Malone, [email protected]
Committees Nominating Committee:
Patrick Kelley, [email protected]
Suzanne Madison, [email protected]
Pat Olsen, [email protected]
Jeff Randolph, [email protected]
Continued on Page 10 >
January 2011 • 3
Next MeetingTopic: Write More, Write Less: Embracing the
Value of Crafted Words and Images
Speaker: Joe Welinske
When: Saturday, January 29, 9 a.m. to noon
Where: DoubleTree Club Hotel 7 Hutton Centre Drive Santa Ana, CA 92707 714.751.2400
Cost: Members with reservations . . . . . . . . . . . $26
Students with reservations . . . . . . . . . . . . $20
STC member, speaker-only . . . . . . . . . . . $12
Nonmembers with reservations . . . . . . . $31
Walk-ins, or those registering after the deadline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $35
No-shows billed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $26
Reservations:
Due by midnight, Thursday, January 27
Registration:
Online at http://www.ocstc.org/dinres.asp
Directions to the DoubleTree Club HotelMap of the I-405 and SR-55 area. The star below indi-cates the hotel location. Parking is FREE.
If you would like to receive email notifications about upcoming OCSTC meetings, visit http://www.ocstc.org/list_redirect.asp.
Click Join. This list broadcasts only meeting notices and STC announcements
4 • January 2011
Publication PoliciesTechniScribe is published 11 to 12 times a year as a benefit to the members of the Orange County Chapter of the Society for Technical Communi-cation. The goal of the publication is to reflect the interests, needs, and objectives of OCSTC members. TechniScribe strives to be an advocate for, and an inspiration to, technical communicators by keeping them connected to each other and to opportunities for professional growth.
Articles published in this newsletter may be re-printed in other STC publications if permission is obtained from the author, credit is properly given, and one copy of the reprint is sent to the TechniScribe managing editor.
Submission InformationThe editorial team retains and exercises the right to edit submitted and requested material for clar-ity, length, and appropriateness.
When submitting material, please remember to:
Include a 25-word biography about yourself.
Send articles in Word (doc, docx), Rich-Text For-mat (RTF), ASCII (txt), or in the body of an email message.
Send material to the managing editor (techni [email protected]) five weeks before the date it will be published.
Editorial StaffManaging Editor Jennifer Gardelle Copyeditor Teresita del Sol Copyeditor Anne Stratford Copyeditor Barbara Young Proofreader Michael Opsteegh Proofreader Suzanne Madison Web Version Jeff Randolph
Monthly Advertising Rates1/4 page $40 1/3 page $45 1/2 page $60 Full page $80
Subscriptions$10 a year to members of other STC chapters.
PrinterPrintWorks, Irvine, CA
Editor’s DeskBy Jennifer Gardelle, TechniScribe Managing Editor
What’s one of the best returns on your dollar
you can expect from joining STC and OCSTC? Network-ing and staying connected with your peers. How do you reap this benefit? Attending meetings regularly is a great way. But even better than that, attending meetings regu-larly plus getting involved in the chapter or at the society
level really gets you the best bang for your buck where membership and your time are concerned.
Suzanne Madison’s article on page 5 is all about get-ting involved as an OCSTC Council member. Whether the incumbents are planning to run again or not, all positions are up for grabs. So, if you’re interested in running for one of the positions, contact Suzanne at [email protected].
So, you don’t want to run for an office? That’s okay—there are so many ways to get involved. Betsy Malone is our public relations representative, and she’d love to hear your ideas about promoting the chapter at lo-cal schools and companies. Lately, she’s been going to local universities that have technical and professional communication programs. And CSULB has hosted two career nights where several technical communica-tors spoke to the students (for more on this, see page 1). I participated in the second night and spoke about editing. I was happy I did because I feel I learned a lot, and the students and professor, Jennifer Smith, appreciated our presentations. I spoke to Jennifer after the presentations, and she said she’d like to see us get more involved with the program at CSULB. As one of the last local technical communications programs, I think this is an excellent idea.
This sort of awareness building and outreach is really important for the chapter and the community. The students can benefit from our guidance and experi-ence, and we can benefit from their freshness, new knowledge, and eagerness.
We’re also interested in offering sponsorship oppor-tunities to local companies with technical communi-cations departments. If your company would like to help sponsor the chapter or run an ad in TechniScribe contact Betsy at [email protected] or me at [email protected].
Another great way to get involved that’s near and dear to my heart is to volunteer to take over as TechniScribe managing editor. This has been a great experi-ence, and I would highly recommend it, but I believe
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January 2011 • 5
By Suzanne Madison, OCSTC Senior Member
You can make a difference at OCSTC! Why not give it a try?
Although our election will not be held until March, the nominating committee is now looking for vol-unteers to run for the following chapter leadership positions during the 2011-2012 year, beginning next June.
President•
First Vice-President, Programs•
Second Vice-President, Membership•
Secretary•
Treasurer•
Nominating Committee (2 positions)•
The following chapter members realize the value STC can bring to their lives and careers, want to help you gain that understanding, and have already stepped forward to run for council office. Won’t you consider joining them? Their candidate state-ments follow:
President—Michael OpsteeghAs an active member of OCSTC since 2002, Michael Opsteegh has served the chapter as president, treasurer, 1st VP of membership, and TechniScribe’s managing editor. Michael firmly be-lieves that local chapters provide resources, tools, and networking oppor-
tunities that STC alone cannot provide. Without a strong local chapter, members are left with re-sources that are focused on the general rather than the specific, tools that may not work well in their regions, and few networking opportunities. Orange County has such a diverse workforce of technical communicators, a wide array of industries, and a huge potential for growth in the technical com-munication field, that it deserves a strong chapter. Michael sees these wild and woolly times as an opportunity to strengthen OCSTC, focus on the ser-vices that benefit our members most, and position the chapter to be able to continue to serve members through thick and thin.
Co-First Vice-Presidents, Programs—Jolynn Atkins and Roger HunnicuttAs the manager of consulting solutions at Escoe Bliss Professional Resources, Jolynn Atkins is com-
mitted to the Escoe Bliss core value, “taking personal respon-sibility in our relationships and partnerships.” She enjoys giving back to the community by volunteering. She currently serves as the vice chair for the Irvine Chamber Ambassador committee; she often presents at OCSTC meetings, where she
speaks on topics related to career transition and social networking; she volunteers for the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation (PCRF); and she’s the founder of the Escoe Bliss Suit Drive, which benefits Working Wardrobes. Jolynn treasures her involvement over the past few years, meeting new colleagues and friends, learning the technical writing trade, techniques and software, and hopes to provide the same experience to others as a volunteer on the OCSTC council. She promises to bring inspiring and relevant presenters to the monthly meetings, think outside of the box, infuse energy and enthusiasm, and support its members in any way she can.
Roger Hunnicutt has a back-ground in software develop-ment. In 2007, after seven years as a software developer at Mi-crosoft’s Silicon Valley division, he left to help a family member with his nonprofit media busi-ness. There he has worn many hats, primarily technical writ-
ing and IT support. Roger has been studying with the goal of using his software background to specialize in API/SDK software documentation. Roger wants to continue to serve on the council as 1st VP of programs so he can ensure that OCSTC meetings are useful, educational, and enjoyable. When he was at Micro-soft, he liked organizing speakers for their Toastmas-ters group, and he’d like to continue the tradition of scheduling exciting meeting topics that make OCSTC an invaluable chapter.
Second Vice-President, Membership—Len Poché
Len Poché has been a mem-ber of the OCSTC since 2007, joining after completing the Technical Writing Certificate course through Cal State Ful-lerton’s Extended Education. He worked for nearly 20 years in the publications industry
Continued on Page 6 >
2011 Chapter Election—Time to Get Involved
6 • January 2011
and is active in learning web applications and rich media content. He believes the most important aspect of membership in the STC is the cultivation of relationships; meeting people, making contacts and building networks. In keeping with this, he wants to serve another term as 2nd VP of membership and enthusiastically spread the word of the benefits of joining the OCSTC.
Treasurer—Jim Marchant Jim Marchant is a senior STC member with experience in introducing help-authoring sys-tems and content management systems and using them to build help packages and ISO documen-tation at medical, engineering, software, and legal services com-panies. He has been a member of OCSTC since 2005 and has held
the positions of TechniScribe managing editor and council secretary. Having a seat at the council allows you to contribute to the organization in many ways above and beyond the duties of your position, and he hopes to help with OCSTC growth and improvement while sustaining the smooth-running banking and fi-nancial systems established by the current Treasurer.
Secretary—Judy JonesWhile Judy Jones has worked as a software engineer her whole career, she started attending OC-STC meetings about three years ago. Her goals were to improve her writing (she’s written lots of specifications, procedures and the like), and to find out where the tech jobs were. She stayed “because OCSTC is a great group
of people, and the meetings are always interesting and useful.” This past year, she served as chapter secretary. As she sees herself moving more into the field of technical communication (mostly in web site development), she would like to contribute what she can to the group by again being Secretary.
Nominating Committee (Two Positions)—Laura Ann LoCicero and Betsy MaloneLaura Ann LoCicero (nickname L.A.) has been in the technical communications field for three years, but has been writing various business content for 20 years and taught writing at USC. In addition to being a technical writer, she is also a document and infor-
mation designer (web-based knowledge centers, i.e. SharePoint). In August of 2008, she started her own consulting business and is currently under contract with My c Sempra Utilities, Southern California Gas Company. She has been a member of STC since 2008 and has been a speaker at several chapter events. Her varied background in technical communication will allow her to identify candidates who can bring a real-life perspective to the OCSTC council.
Betsy Malone has served OCSTC in various capacities, including secretary, treasurer, nominat-ing committee chair, 1st VP of programs, 2nd VP of Member-ship, public relations committee chair, and two years as president. She has also served the chapter by managing the job postings on
the OCSTC web site, arranging chapter meetings with the hotel, and serving on the audit committee. Betsy has been proud to serve the chapter in the past, and as part of the nominating committee, will strive to find candidates who will initiate creative ways to get members to connect and exchange ideas.
TechniScribe Managing Editor—Jennifer Gardelle
Jennifer Gardelle has been manag-ing editor for TechniScribe (TS) for two years. This is most likely the last issue that will appear in print. However, the TS will continue to be available online. Jennifer and the council are looking into excit-ing possibilities for the TS, and are looking forward to a great future
for the newsletter, with the same important articles in a more interactive and lively format. If you would like to take over as Managing Editor or volunteer to be an Associate Managing Editor, please contact Jennifer at [email protected].
Positions yet to be FilledTo even have one candidate for each position, we still need volunteers to serve as 2nd VP of membership cochair, assistant treasurer, and managing or associate managing editor for the TechniScribe.
Whether you have leadership experience to share, want to gain such experience, or have ideas to move the chapter in a new direction, this is your opportuni-ty to help and to watch our chapter benefit as a direct result of your efforts.
2011 Chapter Election< Continued from Page 5
Continued on Page 14 >
January 2011 • 7
Member SpotlightBy Guy Ball, OCSTC Member
I was an English and journalism major for one year straight out of high school—partly an influence of
my dad who was a small town newspaper editor. I wasn’t interested enough in attending college classes and quit to get a full-time job as a machine operator. Five years later, I moved to California and went back to school.
I tried photography (my first love), then art. I then realized I had to get serious about finding a job and trained for electronic technology. I was hired by Hughes Aircraft as a microcircuit technician. Meanwhile I started to write and edit a community newsletter which helped to build my writing skills. At Hughes, I moved up to the job of manufacturing support engineer with a main task of interfacing with the technicians. A big job was rewriting the engineer’s procedures for the technicians. (It really was “translat-ing” what the engineer wanted into what the techni-cian could use.)
I found that I liked the work and took Don Pierstorf’s technical writing class at OCC to hone my technical writing skills. His encouragement was the spark that made me think I could do this full time. When they shut down my factory, I took my first job as a full-time technical writer and never looked back.
These days, most of my work is paper-based tech manual writing. However, I’ve been fortunate to create some opportunities to design and implement video training and web site development for my vari-ous employers. The diversity helps keep my job fun.
Today I write documentation for various high-level testing systems for EADS North America Test and Services. For the last year or so, I’ve been working on a large-scale helicopter engine test system for the military (about 2,100 pages—all in military standards requirements). I’m the sole writer for my company, have been here for six years now, and have written various levels of manuals for products ranging from circuit-board-sized elec-tronic test products to large walk-in sized, semiconductor test and burn-in systems. I’ve done a variety of quick-turnaround video training materi-als as well. (I try to be flexible with the requirements of what my company needs to commu-nicate about how to use and maintain our products. It’s a relatively small company but very progressive in trying new ideas that make sense.)
My interest in writing history books came about when I was a board member of the Santa Ana Historical Pres-ervation Society, and a history book publisher was look-ing for local authors. I submitted a proposal that the publishing company liked; three books later, here I am.
I consider myself less a hardcore historian and more of a mechanic who can review and pull material togeth-er—in this case photos and historical information—and create something that people are interested in reading. That’s tricky with history books. Most people wouldn’t read one if the book fell open in front of them. The books I’ve worked on for Arcadia Publishing offer vintage photos with short, tightly-written captions. I’ve found that people really like this series because it’s so unlike what we think a thick, boring history book should be like. The lay person enjoys a cool old photo with a bit of info, and then they’re on to the next one. Before they know it, they’ve finished a history book and actually enjoyed it.
However, these books aren’t easy to write. In this series, the author must identify sources of photos, choose relevant and eye-catching photos from thousands of so-so images, research and write about more than 200 different aspects of local history—one for each photo—and then make sure the book flows well enough to keep the reader interested. (And be willing to work for the equivalent royalty of 25 cents an hour with the first check coming two years after you’ve started the proj-ect.)
I did the “Images of America: Tustin” book because it needed to be done. The previous author gave up after she started it and was the only one willing to write it up until that point. Tustin was one of the few cities in OC that didn’t have one of these books, and I’m a big proponent of how well these books reach residents who want to learn about their community.
The Tustin book contains 200 photos with captions. The sections range from the founding in the late 1800s, the early floundering and development of the community, the agriculture boom, the changes in the 60s led by residential growth, and—one of my favorites—modern memories of the latter part of the 20th century. Al-though I’m not a long-time resident of Tustin (I actually came to California from New Jersey when I was 25), I worked with people who grew up here to identify things they remember from the 1960s to the 1990s. I wanted this “walk down memory lane” to help them realize that history isn’t just what happened 100 years ago—but also what happened just 20 and 30 years ago.
By the way, I’ve written a variety of articles for TechniScribe, and one was even republished in Intercom. I like to write and have helped others with their work.
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8 • January 2011
EduNotesBy Bill Darnall, Chair, Education Committee
The Agile Difference
Are you a technical communicator (TC) with no Agile project experience? Have you heard that
the best Agile documentation is no documentation? Have you wondered if you are qualified to jump into the deep end of the Agile pool? Have no fear. Rumors notwithstanding, Agile TCs rely on proven technichal communication fundamentals: information archi-tecture, information design, content development, and content management [1]. This article highlights several topics that will help you better understand the role of an Agile TC:
Project team member•
Agile terminology•
Out-of-order information•
Nondeliverable docs•
Deliverable docs•
Project Team MemberEffective Agile projects include one or more full-time TCs. Unlike some legacy development projects, Agile TCs are fully participating team members. However, be prepared for the occasional project manager (PM)
who is not familiar with documentation practices and procedures. Inexperienced Agile PMs may not realize that documentation is
a necessary element of Agile projects. Be prepared to educate PMs and other team members about docu-mentation tasks.
Be proactive. Participate actively in daily stand-up meetings. As the end user’s advocate, you can explain to developers why users need certain information. Developers are your subject matter experts (SMEs). Developers are responsible for the quality of deliver-able software. You are responsible for the quality of deliverable end-user documentation. You may also be responsible for developing and maintaining nondeliv-erable project documentation: glossary, style guide, or meeting notes.
Agile TerminologyAgile is a set of collaborative practices and procedures for software development [2]. Most Agile operations are incremental and iterative, including requirements development. You will be a more effective team mem-
ber after you learn to “speak Agile.” However, not all Agile terms apply to all Agile projects. Consequently, expect to encounter terms that are unique to your project [3].
Some Agile terms are essentially new names for fa-miliar concepts: Scrum, sprint, velocity. Manufactur-ing and quality terms include Kaizen, Kamban, lean, pull. Agile encourages analogies to create memorable performance models: Ag-ile practitio-ners oppor-tunistically assign names to their methods and practices: planning poker, chicken, pig. Be sure to include your project’s unique Agile terms in a special section of your project glossary.
Out-of-Order InformationA predictive project model supplies product informa-tion in a linear predefined sequence. Predictive mod-els are great for manufacturing. However, software development is not manufacturing. The Agile model is adaptive and nonlinear. Consequently, product information is available in a sequence of possibly unrelated chunks. You cannot prepare final docs until you have all of the information.
Capture information as it becomes available. Use a topic-based approach such as DITA (Darwin Informa-tion Typing Architecture). Topics are like pieces of a puzzle. You can begin to build the puzzle before all of the pieces are available. Also, like a puzzle, you can rearrange the topics as appropriate. Information architecture provides the structure into which you will fit the topics. Expect to revise the architecture as more and more topics are developed. A project style guide is important for consistent topic development. It’s particularly beneficial when several writers are independently creating topics.
Nondeliverable DocsThe Agile Manifesto declares, “Working software over comprehensive documentation.” Some developers seize upon this apparent maxim to proclaim, “Docu-mentation? We don’t need no stinkin’ documenta-tion!” Everyone should understand that the signers of the Manifesto referred to internal-project software documentation and not deliverable product docu-mentation [4]. Developers do not need comprehensive
Continued on Page 10 >
January 2011 • 9
Betsy also discussed factors to consider in “Getting the Salary You Want” and listed several resources for finding salary survey information for technical com-municators.
Kathey Schuster helped the students grasp the con-cept of “Acing your Interview.” Even if asked about yourself, she recommends getting the interviewer to list the duties of the job, then talking about your expe-riences in the context of these duties. Ask if there are further duties/skills the interviewer would like to dis-cuss. When talking about salary, repeat the list of du-ties, then ask what the salary range would be for such duties, and aim for above mid-range. She encouraged the students to make the most of interview time, by keeping in touch with the interviewer. A hand-written thank you note and follow up calls can help keep that interviewer part of your professional network.
Shannon Summers wrapped up the evening’s pro-gram with the “Fundamentals of Freelancing/Con-tracting.” While all students at first thought it sound-ed glamorous to be an entrepreneur, after listening to Shannon describe the realities of freelancing, along with the benefits, the students realized this was not for everyone. Finding clients can be much harder and more frequent than finding a job. Shannon recom-mended starting with just a few clients while still working a regular job, creating a marketing plan, web site, and brochure, and networking within a chosen field, and then slowly transitioning into self-employ-ment.
On December 7, our “Careers for Technical Communi-cators” program offered the students an opportunity to meet technical communicators working in various fields.
Shannon Summers de-scribed how her love of the French language led her to becoming a translator. Since translation is always done into your native lan-guage, knowing a second language is not always a job requirement, but is helpful. Opportunities are available working directly for clients, for language service providers, or as a freelance translator.
Shelby Gordon told the group about her unusual career path from journalism to public relations. Each step of the way, it was her writing abilities that got her a job, until she found her
dream job at Disney Resorts. She described the varied and fun opportunities open to those interested in marketing writing.
Carolann Kowalski also followed a varied career path to technical communication, starting with writing user manuals for electronic instruments, writing policy and procedure, to writing for the Web. Currently, she is the Knowledge Manager for Edmunds.com. She encouraged the students to make friends and keep in touch, as the best way of finding a job.
Jennifer Gardelle described her work as an editor for the IEEE Computer Society, Editorial Services depart-ment, as well as her volunteer work as Managing Editor of the TechniScribe. She told the students there are opportunities for editors to work both on and off site and encouraged them to gain experience by volunteering.
Claudia Quesada told the students the best part of being a technical communicator is the opportunity to work in many different kinds of companies. She has used her professional writing training in many fields: telephony, manufacturing, policies and procedures, and online help authoring. The most important tool is communication ability—being able to ask the right questions, to listen, and to interpret what is said so others can understand the information.
Janna Hopkins’ technical communication career path took her to the manufacturing, dot com, subprime mortgage, and real estate industries. For her, the best part of her career choice is that her jobs follow the trends in the economy.
Jennifer Irikawa had varied jobs. Later in life, while looking for something new to do, she noticed online
help files and thought would make an interesting career. She called an agency that placed technical communica-tors, and asked how she could get started. The answer: “Join STC, take technical writing classes, and build a portfolio.” Today she writes online help files for medical devices.
The students, many of whom are about to graduate and be-gin their job search, were very interested and asked many questions. We have invited them to join STC. So, if you encounter any of them at an
OCSTC meeting, be sure to make them feel welcome.
Our December 8 speakers, L to R: Claudia Quesada, Janna Hopkins, Carolann Kowalski, Jennifer Irikawa (seated), Shelby Gordon, Jennifer Gardelle, Shannon Summers
Reaching Out< Continued from Page 1
10 • January 2011
EduNotes< Continued from Page 8
Renew Your Membership for 2011Last year, OC-STC and many other chapters saw stagger-ing declines in membership. It would be easy to blame these losses on the economy. After all, with US unemployment hitting the plateau of 9.6 percent (12 percent in California) and stubbornly hanging at that level, there are fewer and fewer of us who can afford the luxury of a chap-ter membership. This analysis falls apart however, when you consider that STC’s membership saw only a modest decline.
I, like many of you, considered not renewing my chapter membership at this time last year for two reasons:
STC had recently announced that it would • not be funding chapters this year even though members were charged $25 for each chapter membership.
STC no longer included a chapter member-• ship with the basic dues, and the $25 per chapter was appalling when tacked onto already stinging dues increase.
Additionally, STC made selecting a chapter an op-tion, requiring members to “opt in” to chapter mem-berships. This made ditching your chapter member-ship a no-brainer. Why pay $25 extra when none of that money goes toward our chapter benefits?
This year, however, chapter membership is on an “opt-out” basis. Additionally, chapters will be partially funded by STC! Chapter funding will not follow STC’s traditional funding models. Chapters must submit budgets and outlines for what they want to accomplish over the next year and will be able to request funding from STC based on the num-ber of members they serve.
I strongly urge you not to opt out. Select OCSTC as your chapter. Electing to be a member of OCSTC will have a direct impact on how much funding OCSTC will qualify to receive.
If you have any questions about renewing your membership or STC’s new funding model, talk to me at the next chapter meeting or email me at [email protected].
President’s Message< Continued from Page 2
Continued on Page 11 >
documentation when they have daily builds. Of course, customers don’t expect to receive code frag-ments. Still, some development documentation is necessary to test and to maintain the product.
You should record verbal agreements, especially of what constitutes “deliverable.” Eventually, it will be necessary to say that the software is good enough. It is much easier for testers to verify that software meets documented performance criteria than to leave everyone wondering if it is satisfactory. Other examples of nondeliverable project documentation include meeting notes, style guide, glossary, and contact information. You should volunteer to collect and to maintain this working information. As a prac-tical matter, you will need most of the material to complete your primary task of developing deliver-able docs.
Deliverable DocsDeliverable documentation requirements for a product are the same for a product developed in an Agile project or a waterfall project [5]. At the end of
the day, users do not know, nor do they care how the prod-uct was developed. Users want and need effective documenta-tion. Documentation is effective when us-ers can easily locate needed information. Deliverable docu-mentation includes
hardcopy, online, and help. There may be a quick-start guide, user manual, installation instructions, installation manual, maintenance manual, etc. Mar-keting may be looking for application notes. Consid-er publishing docs using electronic media. Electronic deliverables may make the most sense, as opposed to hard copy. You can update electronic docs at the last minute. You should encourage the PM as well as marketing to consider electronic docs.
Information you need to develop deliverable docs will become available in unrelated chunks. Informa-tion sources include requirements, stand-up meet-ings, stories, epics, SME interviews, and perfor-mance data. Collect these chunks and store them for efficient retrieval and subsequent sequencing.
Summary and ConclusionDeliverable product documentation is an essential element of all projects, including Agile. Technical
January 2011 • 11
November Meeting ReviewBy Heather Stanfield, CSULB Student
The November holiday party is the first STC meet-ing I have ever attended and although I was very
nervous beforehand, I have to say it was a great way to break the ice. The eve-ning started with a delicious turkey dinner followed by pumpkin pie for dessert. President Michael Opsteegh recognized Bill Darnall for attending every coun-cil meeting, continuously providing his input, and for submitting countless “EduNotes” articles to TechniScribe and Shannon Summers for helping the OCSTC navigate seamlessly through financial restructuring.
After a discussion of upcoming events, the games began with a round of introductions. Each person introduced him or herself using two adjectives that started with the first letter of their first name. This proved especially difficult for all of the people with J names, though they were able to do it without any repetition.
Next, each table worked together to think of as many purple things as possible. One table thought of 18 items, although a debate arose over whether or not peacocks and prunes are actually purple. I googled it, and peacocks are not purple, but prunes are.
The third game we played was the sculptor/sculp-ture version of Pictionary. Each sculptor molded the sculpture into five clues, and the fastest team to guess all of the clues won. I never realized how difficult it is to make a person look like a Christmas tree!
The final game was Balderdash, which took a little bit of explanation to understand but had each table laughing in the end.
Prizes were raffled off throughout the night, and I was fortunate enough to win a tin full of Doubletree chocolate chip cookies, which were gobbled up by my family the following day. Luckily, I was able to steal one! I agree, the cookies are delicious.
two one-year terms is enough, and it’s time for me to pass the baton. If this position doesn’t interest you, you’re always welcome to write an article. There’s also an open position for proofreader and an open adver-tising position. So, if you’re interested in helping with TechniScribe, contact me at [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you!
Editor’s Desk< Continued from Page 4
communication fundamentals apply to deliver-able docs, including Agile. TCs are full-time, fully participating members of the Agile project team. TCs new to Agile must learn Agile terminology. As user advocates, TCs must sometimes explain to de-velopers why users need information. TCs can also contribute to Agile projects by maintaining nonde-liverable project docs that include meeting minutes, project glossary, and project style guide. For TCs, the Agile challenge is to acquire, store, and retrieve out-of-sequence chunks of information.
References
[1] B. Darnall, “TechComm Methods,” Techni Scribe, vol. 49, no. 11, 2010, pp. 5, 8.
[2] B. Darnall, “Agile Software Development Meth-ods,” TechniScribe, vol. 49, no. 8, 2010, pp. 7, 9.
[3] B. Darnall, “Do You Speak Agile?,” Techni Scribe, vol. 49, no. 9, 2010, p. 5.
[4] B. Darnall, “Agile Documentation,” TechniScribe, vol. 49, no. 10, 2010, p. 6.
[5] B. Darnall, “Who Invented the Gantt Chart,” Techni Scribe, vol. 49, no. 7, 2010, pp. 6, 11.
EduNotes< Continued from Page 10
12 • January 2011
By Michael Harvey, Past President, STC Carolina Chapter
What skills should technical communicators cultivate to ensure their market value? Is there
a single set of skills that would weather whatever market and technological turbulence occurs?
Technical skills become obsolete or a commodity. Whatever value used to exist for DEC VAX, Word-Perfect, or Interleaf expertise, it has diminished if not completely disappeared. Over time, expertise with tools is acquired by less expensive workers. So what and how much investment should we make to develop technical expertise for any system?
The content management system marketplace is and will be in flux. The value of expertise with any specific system is a function of its longevity and your ability to build on it to learn the next big thing. How many times are you going to be learning the next big thing? XML will be around for a long time. So will DITA. But XML, like any markup language, can be picked up relatively quickly. How do you distinguish your skills from others who know it? How many DITA experts can the market sustain?
You could master the haiku of embedded user assistance. But what happens when symbols outnumber words on a graphical user interface, or when words completely disappear? Should we then become icon designers?
This is not to say that we should not acquire technical skills, or expertise with content management systems, or mastery of embedded user assistance. Those skills are table stakes. But what skills, once acquired, pro-vide an ongoing return on investment?
The answer is simple: writing skills. Defining your audience, determining what they need, and putting paragraphs together to fulfill that need. The ability to communicate clearly, correctly, conversationally, and concisely will never lose market value.
It has been argued that no one wants to read what technical communicators produce. There’s a flaw in that argument. It assumes that the mass consumer of technology represents the entire population of technology users. That assumption is wrong. There is a sophisticated consumer of technology who seeks good technical writing because it helps her master the subject matter and tools of her profession. These uber-users collect well-written technical manuals and peruse them like Talmudic scholars.
Quality writing never loses market value.
I have found this to be true where I now work, at SAS. There are no causal SAS users. Business analy-tics requires doing your homework and studying the documentation.
I write about complex tools to help financial analysts, actuarial scientists, and statisticians manage financial risk. These folks analyze massive quantities of finan-cial data, attempt to fit probability distributions to them, build models to show what will happen to spe-cific risk factors that affect the value of their portfo-lios, and derive plans for safeguarding their holdings. It is my job to provide context for these tools, explain the underlying statistics (without recreating existing statistics textbooks), and describe how to do the com-plex things that they need to do. The value that I add is crisply and correctly guiding these financial experts through the system.
Thus, I have to keep my writing skills sharp. I need to be able to render something like this:
In the ... procedure, dynamic covari-ance simulation requires you to use a transformation method program to specify a state-switching function that induces a switching of states during market state generation.
Into something like this:
Dynamic covariance simulation enables you to simulate risk factors using a set of covariance matrices, controlling which covariance matrix to use to generate a market state according to a set of rules that you set up.
Take a moment to consider the changes I made. I chose to separate the topic of “transformation method program,” which I can describe in detail elsewhere, from the topic of “dynamic covariance simulation.” I chose to emphasize what you’re able to do and how. I did away with the notion of a “state-switching func-tion,” since the definition provided seemed circular, and instead talked about the end result—controlling which matrix to use for a specific market state. Later, I can provide a specific example that illustrates the point.
Business analytics isn’t the only area where good writing skills are put at a premium. Local and state governments realize that an investment in clear writ-ing pays off. “Clear communication is an essential government function in a democratic society,” says Bob Kerrey, a former governor and senator from Nebraska. “Because writing is how agencies com-
Timeless Skills for Technical Writers
Continued on Page 15 >
OCSTC Employment InformationOur job listing isn’t working at this time. Until it is, go to http://twitter.com//STCSoCal, where
you’ll find employment and general information about the San Diego and Orange County chapters.
InquiriesIf you have an inquiry, email our employment manager, Betsy Malone, at [email protected].
Society-Level Job ListingsSTC maintains job listings on the Internet. You can download the listings from the STC web site at http://jobs.stc.org.
January 2011 • 13
Society Pages
STC Mission StatementSTC advances the theory and practice of technical communication across all user abilities and all media.
Positioning StatementSTC helps you design effective communication for a technical world through information sharing and industry leadership.
The Society for Technical Communication (STC) is the world’s largest organization for technical com-municators.
Its members include writers, editors, illustrators, printers, publishers, photographers, educators, and students.
Dues are $75–215 per year. Membership is open to anyone engaged in some phase of technical communi-cation, interested in the arts and sciences of technical communication, and in allied arts and sciences.
Society for Technical Communication 9401 Lee Highway, Suite 300 Fairfax, VA 22031-1803
703.522.4114 (voice); http://www.stc.org
TechniScribe Copyright and Trademark StatementOCSTC invites writers to submit articles that they wish to be considered for publication. Authors retain copyright to their work and implicitly grant a license to this newsletter to publish the work once in print and to publish it once online for an indefinite period of time. In your cover letter, please let the editor know if this article has appeared elsewhere, and if it has been submitted for consideration to other publications.
The design and layout of this newsletter are copy-righted as © STC, 2011.
Some articles might refer to companies or products whose names are covered by a trademark or regis-tered trademark. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Reference to a specific product does not constitute an endorsement of the product by OCSTC or by STC.
ColophonTechniScribe is written using Microsoft Word, and laid out using Adobe InDesign CS3 for Macintosh. Gill Sans and Palatino Linotype are used for heading and text fonts. PDFs are produced using Adobe Acrobat Professional 8.
TechniScribe relies on the following editorial refer-ences for style: American Heritage Dictionary, Chicago Manual of Style, and Words into Type.
14 • January 2011
A Graduate’s StoryBy Tim Kornegay, STC Carolina chapter member
In April 2009, I received a phone call from my man-ager at IBM informing me that due to a recourse
action, my position had been outsourced. The news officially ended an 11-year career with IBM. Instead
of hanging my head or allow-ing depressing thoughts to enter it, I embraced the news as an opportunity to make a career change.
I asked a fellow church mem-ber about educational oppor-tunities to become a technical writer. She gave information from two local universities: North Carolina State and Duke.
After my research, I applied for the Technical Com-munications Program at Duke University because the course was for one academic year and the class met once a week after 5:00 p.m.
In late July 2009, I was accepted into the program. The class of 12 students began on a Saturday in late August with a day-long orientation facilitated by STC Member Greg Eller. We heard from several other technical writers sharing their experiences and job opportunities in the field.
The lessons began a week later and ran through April 2010. During the period, we were exposed to everything involving technical communications, from editing documents to budgeting time and money on projects.
The classes prepared us to put together a capstone project, which is a synopsis of a major project. In the capstone, we had to explain the organization and content of project, such as whether the document would be in a binder or only soft copy. We had to present audience analyses, case scenarios, task analyses, doc plans, outlines, and indexes. The proj-ect could be done individually or in a small group. Upon completion of project, we presented it orally in the final days of class.
My capstone project was to implement a policies and procedures text for the tutor/mentoring pro-gram at my church.
The most helpful information I learned in preparing to become a technical writer is the amount of prepa-ration needed to write a document. The amount of research, interviews with subject matter experts (SMEs), and time and money management on a project tend to be more critical in technical commu-nications than in other similar fields.
The completion of the program culminated with a small graduate ceremony where we received our huge Duke University certificate in Techni-cal Communication. The program involved more than just receiving a certificate: I established a special bond with my classmates and teachers that, I hope, will last a lifetime.
Honestly, it took a while before my undergradu-ate degree started paying me back. However, my technical communications certificate has already shown a return: I was asked to write this article!
Tim Kornegay is a member of the STC Carolina chapter. His article was originally printed in Caro-lina Communiqué and has been reprinted here with permission. You can reach him at tkorne5 at yahoo dot com.
2011 Elections< Continued from Page 6
If you can help contribute to the success of our chapter and/or want more information, check out election information at www.ocstc.org or contact one of these nominating committee members:
Patrick Kelley, [email protected]
Suzanne Madison, [email protected]
Pat Olsen, [email protected]
Jeff Randolph, [email protected]
Newly elected council members will be installed in June. Outgoing council members will be training new council members for their duties between the election and June. Voting instructions will be an-nounced in the next issue of the TechniScribe. Stay tuned…
The current Nominating Committee would like to thank those who have already volunteered to do-nate their time, effort, and ideas to lead our chapter during the 2011-2012 term. Please consider giving just a little of your time to make OCSTC YOUR chapter!
January 2011 • 15
municate with each other and their constituents, all of us have a stake in the clarity and accuracy of govern-ment writing.” Business requirements documents that are clear and to the point are likely to save projects time and money. Career counselors teach job appli-cants how to powerfully communicate their strengths and skills to make their inquiries stand out from the crowd.
The habits to develop on the path to mastering writ-ing skills are simple:
Write every day. Whether it is an email mes-• sage, a plan, a report, a chapter, or an exege-sis, commit words to paper (or a file) every day. Strive to make every sentence clear. Make sentences in a paragraph hang together, and make paragraphs lead to a clear point. When I start a paragraph with a clear topic sentence, supporting sentences are much easier to compose. When I do not have a clear idea of what I am trying to say, clear sentenc-es elude me.
Read what you write. After you commit • words to paper, read them carefully. Read aloud what you have written, because it can help you more quickly discover passages that need revision. It also leads to writing more conversational prose. Nothing helps me find an awkward sentence more quickly than reading it aloud.
Revise what you write. After you read what • you write, review it and rewrite to omit need-less words. Passages ripe for pruning often appear in a first draft. In a recent article, I wrote about how the role of technical writing was changing. I had written a long paragraph about employment statistics that I thought underscored my primary point. The more I reviewed the article, the more I realized that the paragraph was tangential to, rather than supporting, the point. Even though it was hard for me to trash something that I had spent an hour developing, I did.
Ask for feedback. Ask others to review your • writing and explain what they understood and what they found confusing. You have to have a thick skin to be a writer. Over the years, I have detached “me” from my writ-ing, so that when someone takes issue with or criticizes my writing, I do not take it person-ally. Conversely, I try not to let it go to my head when someone praises my work.
I’ve produced newsletters and even a community newspaper for a short time. I also have five books under my belt. Besides the three history books, I’ve produced a directory of 1970s-vintage pocket calculators, and another on how to organize your neighborhood. You can take a look at my LinkedIn profile or view my web site at www.guyball.com for more information.
Read what others write. Find authors whose • styles you admire and read as much of their material as you can. Analyze the styles to determine what elements you can use in your own writing. Do the writers vary sentence length? Do they use strong hooks to get you interested in what they have to say? Do they use a varied and colorful vocabulary? After you have identified what it is you like about their writing, try to emulate it in your own.
Quality writing never loses market value. In addition to writing skills, the only other skill that you’d require is selling the quality that you can provide. Those skills should weather any storm.
Michael Harvey is the STC Carolina chapter’s past president. His article was originally printed in Carolina Com-muniqué and has been reprinted here with permission. He can be reached at michael dot harvey at sas dot com.
Timeless Skills for Technical Writers< Continued from Page 12
Member Spotlight< Continued from Page 7
Did you know that shopping at Amazon.com is not only a great place to find books and other
items, it’s also a great way to give back to the OCSTC? The next time you shop at Amazon, please
access the site via OCSTC.org. Amazon donates a percentage of your purchase to the chapter.
Thank you!
Orange Slice: Calendar of EventsDate Event Location TimeJanuary 4 OCSTC Council Meeting Airport Executive Suites, Irvine 6 p.m.-7 p.m.
January 29 (Saturday)
OCSTC Chapter MeetingJoe Welinske, “Write More, Write Less: Embracing the Value of Crafted Words and Images”
DoubleTree Club Hotel, 7 Hutton Centre Dr., Santa Ana, CA, 92707, 714.751.2400 9 a.m.-noon
February 1 OCSTC Council Meeting Airport Executive Suites, Irvine 6 p.m.-7 p.m.
February 15
OCSTC Chapter MeetingGeorge Schlitz, “An Introduction to Agile Development for Technical Com-munication Professionals”
DoubleTree Club Hotel, 7 Hutton Centre Dr., Santa Ana, CA, 92707, 714.751.2400 6 p.m.-9 p.m.
January Meeting InfoAbout the PresentationStart 2011 off right with a dynamic Saturday meeting! Come get to know Joe Welinske, renowned technical writer. He’ll share that “writing more” while “writing less” can result in better utility for users and can reduce the need and load on the overall documentation development process and content management. He’s observed that documentation teams often spend too little time writing well, yet they spend too much time writing little-used information.
While the word “content” is good shorthand for words, audio, and images, unfortunately it can move us further away from the core competency of developing good information. Research and professional observation suggest that not enough time is put into crafting text to be exactly the right text for a particular context. Technical com-municators of all backgrounds will benefit from this thought-provoking presentation.
About the SpeakerJoe Welinske is the president of WritersUA. WritersUA is a company devoted to providing training and informa-tion for user assistance professionals. The WritersUA/WinWriters Conference draws hundreds of attendees each year from around the world to share the latest in user assistance design and implementation. The free content on the WritersUA web site attracts over 20,000 visitors each month. Joe has been involved with software documenta-tion development since 1984. Joe received a BS in industrial engineering from the University of Illinois in 1981, and an MS in adult instructional management from Loyola University in 1987. President of STC Puget Sound Chapter from 2006–2008, he remains on the board in charge of gathering chapter sponsorships.