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Knowledge is power, knowledge shared is power multiplied Robert Noyce Intel Co-Founder Granted 15 patents on various semiconductor technologies that make our current technological world possible.
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About Me
Parents were nerds..
ITT Graduate in 2003 (CEET) Linux user since 2001
Sunrise Telecom and even ITT Tech. CompTIA A+ Certified Desktop Support, Web Designer, Jr Network Admin, Sr Network Admin, Project Specialist, System Administrator, Technical Writer.
variety of technical and occupational fields, such as computer hardware and software, engineering, chemistry, aeronautics, robotics, finance, consumer electronics, and biotechnology. Technical writing involves analysis of a document's intended audience in order to translate complex technical concepts and instructions into a series of comprehensible steps that enable users to perform a specific task in a specific way. To present appropriate information, writers must understand the audience and their goals. For example, an audience of highly trained scientists will require less explanation of technical terms than a help guide intended for general audiences.
Known as a go to guy for technical issues most of my life. Background was primarily technical support. PG&E SAP Update was pushed out without proper testing. 20,000 PG&E employees started to call the service desk at the same time. SAP issue had two different fixes depending on which OS the end user was on (XP or 2000). After discovering that there were two different ways to approach the issue at hand, I sent out an email to my coworkers explaining how to fix the issue based on what operating system the caller was using. Afterward my supervisor offered me a position as a technical writer. No more answering phones and a pay raise.
Audience
The intended audience determines the amount of detail to include.
Management
Only give what they ask for, anything additional will confuse/bewilder management. In most cases, management will have no idea what they are reading.
General Public
Do not be too wordy Direct and to the point. No additional details if not needed to follow the instructions. Pictures tell a thousand words.
Stage
Prewriting Drafting Revision
Description
Defining the scope, audience and organization of the document. Involves meeting with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), process owners, supervisors, engineers or whomever has the information you need in order to begin the next stage. Creating the basic document structure (paragraphs, words, lists, tables) based on whatever information was given to you in the Prewriting Stage. Completing any missing or unidentified content leftover from the Drafting stage. This might require setting up meetings with groups or individuals identified in the Prewriting Stage. Involves meeting with all affected groups/individuals to ensure that the document has correct information that is understood by the intended audience. The proofreading stage feeds back into the Revision stage several times until the document is complete and ready to be published. Distribution (print, electronic) of the final product. SharePoint, Word Doc, PDF, HTML or Printed Manual are common forms of publishing a final document.
Proofreading
Publishing
Other Tools Madcap Flare (Single Source Help System) HTML / CSS Notepad++ Regular Expressions Understanding of basic software development environments (Visual Studio, Eclipse, etc) Batch files/PowerShell Scripting SVN Git SnagIT Camtasia Studio IIS & Apache Configuration
Types of Documents
Here are a few examples of the types of documents I have written over the years. How Tos Xerox Network Attached Printer Doc Manuals Sunrise Telecom RxT 10GigE Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) PWA Accept Time Articles PG&E TSC Internal Newsletter Style Guides Sutter Health Style Guide
Work Examples
Using FileZilla with ExaVault Overview
Sunrise Telecom RxT 10GE Field Unit Manual Adding Shared Printers to IRS Laptops
The End
Thank You!