Late last year, Atlassian’s Technical Writing Team published a series of posts about how you can use a wiki for technical writing. Their posts cover the complete process from developing your technical documentation, to collaborating and reviewing drafts, publishing online and options for importing and exporting to different formats, including DITA and XML. Checkout out the posts […]

Six years ago, in an effort to help other technical writer’s find a job in a down market, I added a number of popular job search engines on my blog: http://poetslife.blogspot.com/search/label/Technical%20Writer%20Jobs Most are now useless. Here is the new, and simpler, job search way: Tweetmyjobs and Linkedin. Now, if you are on http://www.linkedin.com/ and use http://tweetmyjobs.com/ you cover […]

There are many factors to consider when selecting an appropriate candidate for a technical writing position, but one that is often overlooked is correlating the work environment history for each candidate with that of the current position. Ideally, a candidate should be able to demonstrate the ability to be effective regardless of the development model […]

To whatever degree you choose to incorporate the constructs of project management in delivering documentation and online help, focus on ensuring the project team is not surprised by what you are (or likely are not) able to deliver. If you are in an organization that values project management, you likely have processes that allow you […]

While waiting in line to have breakfast at a local restaurant, I noticed an interesting and somewhat amusing set of instructions on a toy crane machine: I couldn’t help but smile at the instructions telling me to press the red button when only two green buttons are available. There are a number of lessons we […]

I have read my fair share of books about technical writing, and  used numerous books in my technical communication courses. Books about technical writing run the gamut from welcoming and accessible to dry and intimidating. Given what I know about books written for technical writers, I was excited to read a book written for documentation managers. […]

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Depending on the size of your organization, the types of products you produce, and your customer base, the customer support team can become one of your best tools in increasing the value of your documentation team. This is especially true in organizations that are dependant on repeat sales or license revenues. To establish and sustain […]

It surprises me how many technical writing candidates show up to an interview with a haphazard collection of past work as writing samples. A number of factors determine the overall impression you make during the hiring process, but your writing samples, how they are assembled, and how you incorporate them into the interview can serve as […]

We all take pictures of our screen from time to time because it is often the fastest way to show and explain something. And, this is one thing. But, when making screenshots is part of your working process – this is a totally different thing. Screenshots are essential for almost any documentation as they can […]