2009 On the Write Track Orlando 2009 The “Plug and Play” Technical Communicator or “Even if I...

2009 On the Write Track

Orlando 2009

TheThe“Plug and Play”“Plug and Play”

Technical CommunicatorTechnical Communicatororor

“Even if I am not Employed, I “Even if I am not Employed, I still have a Job!!!”still have a Job!!!”

(Redux!)(Redux!)


This is the seventh in a series…

The Plug and Play Technical Communicator

Plug and Play Technical Communicator in 2001 [-2003] or Just Because I Don’t Have a Job Does Not

Mean I am Not Employed


…that reflects one person’s view…

Shoes and SOX – Getting aFoothold on Sarbanes-Oxley

Providing Value at all Stages of a Project Life Cycle


…of our professional world!

Planning for Single Sourcing – The Critical (and often

forgotten) first step

Plug and Play Harmonic Convergence


As mentioned, this is the seventh Plug and Play presentation.

In putting them all together over the years, I have tried to include two

motifs…


Motif #1

Focus is on us as professionals, while keeping in mind that we are

individuals!

In other words, not everything presented here is “one size fits all!”


Motif #2

The mix of ideas for your consideration here is strategic and

tactical both!

In other words, we can plan for our “tomorrows” but still have to take care

of our “todays”!”


Orlando 2009

““Act 1”Act 1”

“What the heck is going on “What the heck is going on ‘out there,’ and How is it ‘out there,’ and How is it

impacting you???”impacting you???”


“You can’t set the course for where you are going until you know where you are."

Unknown


So what the heck is going on “out there”?

It seems that the world is going through dramatic, chaotic adjustments.


The stock market has lost 50% overall…

Is it fair to say that most people are at a loss as to what to do?



… so have home prices.

Is it fair to say that most people are at a loss as to what to do?



Stalwart industries and companies are crumbling

as value disintegrates. Unemployment is going,

up, up, up...



It is fair to say that most people are at a loss as to what to do?



How is it impacting you?It think that, at least partially, it is fair to say that most of us, including me,

are at a loss about what to do at least partially about some of the

these things.


How is it impacting you?This conclusion is supported, perhaps, by the results of that most informal and unscientific survey that each of you filled out this evening (Thank you!)


How is it impacting you?1. Are you currently working for pay? 76%

Yes

2. If yes, are you staying for reasons other than you arehappy with your job (such as keeping benefits or justkeeping employed? 47% Yes

3. Has your finance portfolio lost value over the past years? 76% Yes

4. Are you happy with your current career path? 62% Yes

5. Regarding 1-4, do you have a plan for addressingeach question for which you answered No? 52% Yes

% Maybe

6. Are you optimistic about your future? 86% Yes

7. Overall, are you happy with your life? 86% Yes


How is it impacting you?Why is this?

The things we are talking about here – especially at a macro level – are things for which we do not have any control!


“God grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”.”

Reinhold Niebuhr


Orlando 2009


““Where have we been?Where have we been?


“If you want to know where you are If you want to know where you are going, you have to know where you going, you have to know where you have been!!!”have been!!!”

Dove Chocolate Label

(not really )


“By the year 2000, there will be no Q, X or Z in our everyday

alphabet.”- Lady’s Home Journal, 1900


“I think there is a world market for

maybe five computers.”

- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943


“Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5

tons.”- Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march

of science, 1949.


“I have traveled the length and breadth of this country

and talked with the best people, and I can assure

you that data processing is a fad that won’t last out the

year.”- The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957


“Before man reaches the moon, your mail will be delivered within hours

from New York to Australia by guided missiles.”

- Arthur Summerfield, 1959, US Postmaster General


“We don’t like their sound, and guitar

music is on the way out”

- Decca Recording Co., rejecting the Beatles in 1962


“But what…is it good for?”

- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the

microchip


“There is no reason anyone would want a

computer in their home.”- Ken Olson, president, chairman, and

founder of Digital Equipment Corp, 1977


“640K ought to be enough for

anybody.”

- Bill Gates - Microsoft Corporation, in 1981, talking about RAM for a PC

(Same say this quote is urban legend)


“We must also prepare ourselves for the very real

possibility that the outcome of this situation

will be the total extinction of the entire human race.”

- Cory Hamalaski, from 1998 DC Y2K Weather Report newsletter, reporting

on January 1, 2000


Not a Very Long Time on an Evolutionary Time

Line!!!

10,000 BC

1977

1968196

2

19431949

19571959

1981

1900

1998


But, in Fairness, it is a Long Time on a Technology Timeline!

It seems the average life cycle of . . . well, every consumable

continues to shrinkat a geometric pace!


So, What are Some Things ThatHave Gone Obsolete in (At least some of)

Our Lifetimes?• 8-track tapes, cassette tapes, vinyl, and

turntables

• VHS movies

• Milk delivered at your home

• Daisy printers through inkjet printers

• Floppy diskettes

• Doctor’s house calls

• What else?


Job opportunities for technical communicators?

What About . . .


What are Some Things whose“Days are Numbered”?

• Eyeglasses

• Chemical film photography (mostly gone already…)

• Copper Wire - wire in general

• DVD players (and movie rental places)

• Newspapers

• Printed documents (mostly gone already…)

• What else?


Job opportunities for technical communicators?

What About . . .


To this, I say NO!

However . . .

What we do, what we can do, and how we do what we do has changed dramatically over the history of technical communication!


To this, I say NO!

Before we go any further along that line, let’s take a brief,

informal look at the history of ourprofession . . .

(. . . according to me!)


Which, by the way, is also not a Very Long Time on an

Evolutionary Time Line!!!

10,000 BC

The Shelf Edge - Today

90’s Boom Times

The “Golden 80’s”

The Beginnings

Upsize, Downsize, Rightsize

Will Write for Food! 2000-2008 Pseudo Growth

Dot-com Bubble Burst


The Beginnings . . .

For Sake of Discussion, thisperiod in our profession stretches

from the end of World War IIthrough about 1980.

• Book on Boat Assembly - 1946 - Jay R Gould

• How to Keep your Volkswagen Alive: A Manual of Step by Step Procedures for the Compleat Idiot - 1969 - John Muir

• Directions in Technical Writing and Communication - 1978 - Jay R Gould


The Beginnings - Summary

• Technical Communicators: Mostly Male - Mostly Engineers

• Audience: Highly Technical, On Peer with Engineers

• Deliverables: Typed and Copied; Graphics at a Premium

• Technical Communications Groups: some departments emerging, but many completed writing as one of their responsibilities


The “Golden” 80’s . . .

This is the Reagan-Bush years,through the collapse of the Soviet

Empire.


The “Golden” 80’s - Summary

• Technical Communicators: Men and Women - Many came from other professions, a few technical communication majors

• Audience: Still strong technical, but emergence of less technical audience

• Deliverables: Created on desktop publishing systems, graphics becoming more prevalent; still mostly paper

• Technical Communications Groups: emergence of large departments with specialists in writing, editing, and graphics


Upsize, Downsize, Rightsize . . .(early through mid 90’s)

This transition sees the demise of the traditional “Corporate American

Contract,” and the emerging of a redefinition of the global economy.


Our Profession was among the hardest hit during this timeframe.

Perhaps many wondered: “Is our profession becoming obsolete?”

Of course, we knew the answer tothis was (and still is) NO!!!!

Upsize, Downsize, Rightsize . . .(early through mid 90’s)


Upsize, Downsize, Rightsize - Summary

• Technical Communicators: More Women than Men - more and more technical communication majors; others have to get additional training; the less technical start to get squeezed out

• Audience: Less technical audience begins to dominate as technology becomes inexpensive

• Deliverables: Created on PCs equipped with full complement of applications; online deliverables, such as Help, compete with paper

• Technical Communications Groups: large groups mostly disappear; technical communicators expected to be able to wear many hats; consultants become significant subset


The need for quality technical communicators

grew astronomically!

The 90’s Boom Times . . .


90’s Boom Times - Summary

• Technical Communicators: highly trained and skilled; have more business sense than ever; project oriented - everybody became “Senior-level” quickly

• Audience: global, including an increasing number of illiterate, full range of individuals to reach

• Deliverables: Created on PCs with increasingly sophisticated applications; multimedia and Web-based deliverables grow; one source usurps WYSIWYG

• Technical Communications Groups: groups are growing, but in different ways; convergence of technical communications and technical education; salaries approach engineer levels


Turns out you cannot be profitable if you give your products away for free.

In some ways, we got hit harder, but more because the dot-com boom proportionately created more jobs in our areas and not because our value was not recognised.

2000-2002 dot-com Bubble Burst


2000-2002 Dot-com Bubble Burst - Summary

• Technical Communicators: developed skills with multimedia at one end and at the least online help (RoboHelp, Doc-to-Help and ForeHelp) at the other end are expected; work responsibilities begin to blend into other areas, such as training, instructional design, and project management.

• Audience: continues to be global

• Deliverables: Created on PCs with next-generation applications – content is Web delivered; remaining “paper deliverables” are mostly .pdf with sprinkling of paper getting-started guides and job aids

• Technical Communications Groups: groups continue to exist in some companies. Others are disbursing technical communicators into overall project or product teams.


Contracting and Consulting opportunities – higher pay and no security.

Those who remain as employees have smaller salary growth, but retain costly benefits.

2002-2008 Pseudo Growth

The umbrella of technical communicator professions becomes blurred again.


Globalisation matures; technical communication responsibilities (traditional) start becoming outsourced.

2002-2008 Pseudo Growth

The US professional worker seems to realise significant wealth expansion from geometric home price and IRA/401k portfolio value increases.


2002-2008 Pseudo Growth - Summary

• Technical Communicators: tools skills seem to overtake content skills in importance. More technical communicator disbursements into project and product teams working on virtual, global entities. Natural career paths take us out from under the traditional “technical communications” umbrella of professions.

• Audience: continues to be global; tiny smatterings of “niche audiences” begin to appear with CMS making it feasible

• Deliverables: As more technical communicators diversify their responsibilities, so do the responsibilities of other roles take on more technical communication. Acceptable quality level has dropped. Most content is written to CMS and DMS for Web delivery;

• Technical Communications Groups: mostly gone


2008-20?? Shelf EdgeTraditional corporate positions are being reduced weekly in hard-hit sectors, such as financial services, entertainment, and manufacturing.

It’s like the economy stepped off the edge of a continental shelf!


No one knows for sure how long this economic downturn is going to last:

1929 – 1933

1972 – 1974

1978 – 1981

1990 – 1992

2000 – 2002

2008 - ???

2008-20?? How deep is the edge?


However, the good news is – things will get better

We know this because history tells us this is so – all of those dates are down

parts of cycles!


If you can learn to recognize cycles, you can “ride” them to your advantage!!

Neither you nor I can do anything about the down part of a cycle on a macro level.

But what we can do is change our own attitude and our own strategy for employing and enjoying our career through this time.


Orlando 2009


“Do you Plug and Play?”“Do you Plug and Play?”


“If you think that you are going to fail, you will. If you think that you are going to succeed, you will."

Mr. Peabody


Is your (professional) life a comedy or a tragedy?

We all have our challenges and our “tragic flaws”

Says Shakespeare, overcoming themor notdefines the difference!


Your own collective body of life experience

…good, bad, and everything in between…

…is the single, most powerful and useful tool at your disposal!

Do not underestimate it!


Now, let’s get a working definition of “plug and play”

It was originally a Microsoft product promotion, some 15 years ago!

Now, remember the history eras we reviewed?


Each “era” changed the makeup what I refer to as the 5 “T’s” of technical communication:

TechniquesTools

TechnologiesTrends

Temperaments


The evolution of each era dramatically (or subtly) changed the definitions and compositions of the technical communication

professions.

At the risk of sounding Darwinian, those of us who

adapted, survived and prospered in our professions!


- A Quick Survey - How Many of You . . .

…in your current or most recent position have duties that include some subset (at least two) of design, writing, editing, illustrating, training, analysis, instructional design, project management, or management?

Consider Yourselves Students?


For all who answered “Yes-Yes,” you Plug and Play (at least at a high

level)!

The key attribute is adaptability!


The job opportunities lie in doing that which we love to do the most!

Plug and Players find the job opportunities…


Probably the real unemployment rate in the US is around 10%. A gloomy number for sure. But…

1. That means 90% of us are employed.

2. There are always plenty of job opportunities for good (plug and play) people.

…even now!


You have to have both a passion and some talent to be successful!

However…

. . . and as a corollary to this, a lot of passion (translated – hard work) can

overcome a talent deficiency.


I believe we all have innate talents and cultivated passions!

Consider this:

My definition of talent:

If you do something that comes so easy to you, yet people are willing to pay you to do that . . . Well, that is a talent!


And now for passion:

Consider this:

Passion is not just doing what you love; it’s the unswerving pursuit of doing what you love.

Or to put it more succinctly, passion is not giving up!


A reading recommendation for all:

You can get it on amazon.com or bn.com for much less than 20 bucks.


The key plug and play ingredients are adaptability, talent, and

passion!


I believe . . .

A person who does not like the job that he or she is doing is more likely to

become unemployed during a down time than a person who loves the job

that he or she is doing!


Orlando 2009

““Act 4”Act 4”“Where to now?”“Where to now?”


Some random thoughts for you to consider…


“When everything is going down is not the time to get down."

Chinese Fortune Cookie


"We can't control the wind, but we can adjust our sails."

Author Unknown


“There are no shortcuts to anyplace worth going."

Beverly Sills


“If you don’t know where you are going, anyplace will do."

Cheshire Cat


“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me."

Ayn Rand


“If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll wind up someplace else."

Yogi Berra


3. What business sectors are most likely to be hurt by this recession?

Worksheet time . . .(1 &2 should be answered already)

4. What sectors are immune or might even benefit from this recession?


5. What are the external factors that are critical for your career and work choices?

6. What does success mean to you?

Worksheet time . . .


7. What are some of the hats that a Plug-and-Play Technical Communicator Wears?

8. What are some of the types of deliverables that a Plug-and-Play Technical Communicator Creates?



9 What are the industries in which a plug and player works for developing these technical communication deliverables?



10. Do you enjoy the type of work that you are doing?

11. Do you like the industry/ workplace at which you do your job?



Okay, now what . . .Go through the material that you just jotted down. Draw an “X” through any hat, task, or industry that you do not like.

Put a star next to all of the items that you have a passion for or have a passion for trying out.

For question 5, jot down possible mitigation strategies for each!


Does it reaffirm your passion for our profession?

Interpreting Your Results

Does it tell you that you are ready to grow?

Does it tell you that you love your work, but hate the industry?

Does it tell you that you are in the wrong profession?


Location – cannot move

Getting or keeping benefits

Children in school

Caring for aging parents

Salary

Afraid to make a move

Afraid to make a career change

Question 5 Here are mine . . .


Technical Writer (by whatever name)

Illustrator/Graphics Artist

Web developer

WBT/CBT Developer

Technical Trainer

Project Manager

Team or Department Manager

Methodologist

Marketer

Contract Negotiator

Database Coordinator

Help Desk Specialist

Editor

Student

Telecommuter

Consultant

Employee

Question 7 Here are mine . . .


Question 8 - Here are mine . . .User Guides

Training Guides

Support Presentations (of any Type)

Installation and Assembly Guides

Requirements Documents, Design Documents and other Methodologist Deliverables

Technical support documents, such as troubleshooting guides and interface control documents

Help Desk Support Files

Computer Based Training/Web Based Training script files

CBT’s and WBT’s (and other online “movies”)

Help and WinHelp files

Hardware support manuals

Marketing materials

Web pages

Graphic and multimedia information presentations

Job Aids

SOPs

Reusable content databases and content chunks


Financial

Medical/Pharmaceutical

Consulting/Outsourcing

Software Development

Software Product Support

Hardware Development

Telecommunications

Entertainment

Education

Science/Research

Government Sector

Energy

Manufacturing

Question 9 - Here are mine . . .


Keep good records of your own work!

This should be second nature to us, but…

Sometimes it is the plumber’s toilet that leaks .


Keep good records of your own work!

This means always track your time to work categories.

Always complete a status report at least once every two weeks.

Keep all of your e-mails and IM threads.


“Here is what I have done the past number of weeks”

“Here is how I spent my time on each task”

What a status report says (consciously) about you!


“I am organised”

“I take what I do seriously”

“I have a plan to get the things done that you want me to get done”

“I can mange myself, so you only need to guide me”

What a status report says (subconsciously) about you!


Like the opening slide says, “Even if I am not Even if I am not Employed, I still have a Job”Employed, I still have a Job”

If you have been caught in a layoff . . .

Get up early every day, just like it is a work day! Put in a full day, doing productive things!

Address and then “get over” any emotions associated with the previous position!

Consider spending some time doing volunteer work!

Get your skill sets updated!


Follow this strategy so that you can “jump” when the next right opportunity comes.

If you have been caught in rut . . .

Get your skill sets updated!

Are there other opportunities in your company?


There has never been a better time than right now to change or

modify your career!

If you have been caught in rut . . .


“The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the

circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, MAKE them.”

--George Bernard Shaw

Please feel free to contact me by e-mail if you wish:

[email protected]

Thank you very much!

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