By Laura Clymer
Software development methods seem to change more often than the seasons, and just when information development professionals are familiar with one approach a new one comes along. One method that has received wide acceptance and seems to have some staying power, however, is the Agi[...]
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Archive for the ‘WriteManager’ Category
January, 2013 § in WriteManager
Agile for Information Development
September, 2012 § in WriteManager
Adding Usability Methods into Your Technical Communications
By Alice Preston
Are you confident in your technical communications skills? Or are you new to writing this type of materials for a living? In either case, your work and its usefulness can improve greatly if you add some Usability methods and practices into your work.
Today I’d like to talk ab[...]
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March, 2012 § in Lounge, WriteManager
Writing Tips
1. Place the word “only” closest to the word that it modifies. The meaning of a sentence changes with the placement of “only”.
You can have a look at the video here.
2. Place the result before the action. Else, you might have unintended consequences.
Techwriting examples i[...]
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December, 2011 § in Lounge, WriteManager
Smartphones Smarter with Assistance
Introduction
Times have changed! Most grandparents hardly struggle with cell phones today. Parents are active members of social networking sites and at times, share friends with us. Domestic help asks for a phone reminder to get bread, next morning. Well, life without mobile phones is history!
Long[...]
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December, 2011 § in Lounge, WriteManager
Who should manage a government portal? You!
Rachel
Recently I was asked this question in an interview: ‘Who should manage a government portal; IT people, marketing people or the content team?’
Turf wars have been fought over this ever since the Web first appeared, but the question never goes away. Ownership and management of any large we[...]
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Decoding Science Writing
Manjula Kandula
Dolly, the world’s first cloned sheep was born on 5 July 1996. It was an epoch-making milestone in science and opened the door to understanding creation. Noted science journalist Gina Kolata broke the news nationally in The New York Times and was the first reporter to speak with D[...]
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November, 2011 § in WriteManager
Effectiveness Workflow for a Technical Writer
By Aisoorya Vijayakumar
I can almost read for certain the thought that runs on your mind as you are reading this – “Alright! Here’s another nagging post on how I need to start and get on with my documentation…!” I would have empathized, and on a sunny day, even applauded you [...]
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November, 2011 § in WriteManager
Publish-As-You-Write Model for Documentation
By Bindu Nayar
A Reality Check
So at what stage in the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) does documentation get done? If you said “right at the start”, then your organization is unique. The fact is that no matter how much we propound the benefits documentation presents to our cus[...]
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November, 2011 § in WriteManager
Quick QAs – Digital Rights Management
By Makarand Pandit
What exactly is Digital Rights Management or DRM? Why is it needed?
Digital Rights Management (DRM) is a collective term. It refers to access control technologies for managing rights of content in digital form.
Internet makes it easy to publish and distribute content. Different[...]
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November, 2011 § in Lounge, WriteManager
When Worlds Collide: Understanding How Documentation and Translation Processes Affect Each Other
By Kit Brown-Hoekstra
Companies that successfully integrate translation into the documentation and product development process reap the financial benefits of simultaneous global releases, high quality products that meet the needs of all their customers, regardless of locale, and improved percep[...]
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September, 2011 § in WriteManager, WriteRight
Developing documentation for agile
- Manjusha Nair
In earlier articles in this series, we have planned for our agile project, and we have gathered the requirements. Are you still wondering how we can actually write for agile? If you wonder how we can develop documentation that is release quality and free of errors, in just a couple [...]
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July, 2011 § in Lounge, WriteManager
Technical communication trends: How we can meet the challenges
By Larry Kunz
We are part of a profession that is undergoing rapid change. Several trends, spurred on by advances in technology and by the world economy, affect us. We need to understand what these trends mean to us as professionals, and we need to recognize how we can influence these trends.
The [...]
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July, 2011 § in WriteManager
Being a Contract Technical Writer
By Lori Sanders
I’ve been a Technical Writer for 12 years, and I’ve spent about half that time overall as a contractor/consultant. While contracting lacks the job stability, security, and benefits that permanent employment can offer, there are many reasons why being a contractor is desirable [...]
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July, 2011 § in TechTools, WriteManager
Design Considerations in Web Development
By Kris Weylo
When you design, create and deploy websites, the following design considerations can be factored into your web development cycle:
1.1 Technical issues
A simple website created with a few HTML pages and content is usually quite easy to develop and maintain. When more functionality[...]
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July, 2011 § in WriteManager, WriteRight
Requirements Gathering for Agile
By Manjusha Nair
As technical writers, we rely heavily on design documents and prototypes to get an understanding of the product/software; the absence of this basic arsenal can stump the best of writers. But there are alternatives…
We discussed in the last article how agile does not follow any p[...]
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July, 2011 § in Lounge, WriteManager
Technical Communicators as Heuristics Reviewers
By Devika Ganapathy
A few years ago, I worked as a usability specialist at a large technology and services company based in Bangalore. The design unit at this company comprised a large team of nearly a 100 people – mainly interaction designers, but also several visual designers, information a[...]
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May, 2011 § in WriteManager
Applying Lean Six-Sigma Principles to Documentation
With much accelerated demands in the global market place for customer-centric solutions, Customer Experience (CE) has become the buzz word that floats around most boardrooms and corporate training rooms. One methodology you might hear associated with CE is Lean Six Sigma (LSS). While CE directly fo[...]
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April, 2011 § in WriteManager
Planning for AGILE
Agile has become a popular and widely practised method of software development that it is here to stay. Since agile development is so different from traditional software development methodologies, technical communicators need to adapt to keep up with the pace and style of agile development.
HOW DOE[...]
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April, 2011 § in Lounge, WriteManager
Essential skills for Technical Writers in 2011
When I was a science journalist earlier on in my career, a good friend invited me to join a leading software company as a technical editor. I began to weigh the pros and cons of staying or leaving the Fourth Estate.
I reasoned to myself that being part of the Press was challenging and offered me [.[...]
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February, 2011 § in WriteManager
Working with Cross-Cultural Documentation Teams
Irma Humby
Documentation Manager
As I sit sipping my latte in the Global Peace Factory café in Frisco, Texas, accessing their free wireless network, I realize how truly amazing the internet is, and how much it has changed the way we live in this place we call Earth.
When I started as a technical w[...]
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