– Naveen D’Cruz
One of my best pals called me up one day and asked me about the STC-India’s Mentoring Program, which I was totally unaware of. My friend gave a brief idea about the program module – Basic and Advanced and asked if I would be interested in mentoring someone on any topic related to technical communication. I was a little skeptical as I had not done any mentoring of this sort before; instead, I chose to be a mentee of a senior in the field.
I chose a simple topic for myself – Basics of Writing and Grammar. I had forgotten almost all the basics because in my current responsibility is only updating the documentation – not writing afresh or creating new content. Refurbishing my English grammar and writing skills was my core expectation. Commitment was the most important factor in this program; therefore I spared myself of other minor duties for the next three months.
My initial contact with my mentor was through mails and then we began using Skype. I sent my mentor some rewritten and formatted documents for a quick feedback. Because I work in the telecom domain, my mentor asked me to do a write-up on that domain. I received comments on some area that were unknown to me, and helped me realize my mistakes and the rectifications required. See some of the comments I received:
In topic presentation:
- The document is monolithic. A hierarchical presentation would be better.
- From the top most level, cover each item in uniform depth and detail. If you do not want to cover them uniformly, after mentioning the various items in the introduction, mention that you are going to cover a specific item in detail or depth.
In writing style:
- Use a very simple language; particularly for technical content. Avoid technical expressions.
- Avoid parenthesis. You can use them if you want to introduce an acronym or an alternative term. Do not use to describe the behavior in an alternative condition or additional explanation.
I decided not to commit these mistakes in my next write-up; I fully intended to get some praise from my mentor. I wrote on cellular networks, and received further feedback on other mistakes that needed corrections – I was happy because these were not repeat mistakes and because I had got some new tips.
I had never content for screenshots and wanted to try it out. I finished a user guide on the Picasa tool provided by Google. Here, I learnt various parameters required to complete a user guide, formatting, using appropriate screen-shots, and content presentation. I then wrote another user guide – on Google Language Toolbar. This is an online tool and the representations differed from my previous exercise but my mentor took me through all the fundamentals.
The lessons learnt involved precious time and hard work. Time passed fast and the program came to an end. I spent more time on the program than I had expected earlier. My mentor’s sheer motivation, confidence and follow-up yielded results – I reaped the sweet fruits of good writing from her.
The program is well-organized and must be repeated more often for writers like me – those who want to learn from the experiences of the veterans in the field.
About the Author
Naveen D’Cruz is a technical writer working in Bangalore.
Great article 🙂