RE: anyone else in the same boat?

Subject: RE: anyone else in the same boat?
From: "Kim McGarghan" <kmcgarghan -at- nssolutions -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2000 10:04:58 -0500

Boy, is this familiar! I work for a startup company that specializes in
NAS. I'd done tech. writing as part of my jobs for about 12 years, but this
was my first full-time permanent job as an official tech. writer. I'm
working with software (and a little tiny bit with hardware). Your mileage
will vary.

***

What I did:

I ran out and bought and read the following books:

Managing Your Documentation Projects
By JoAnn T. Hackos
Published by John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 0471590991

Starting a Documentation Group: A Hands-On Guide
By Peter J. Hartman
Published by Clear Point Consultants Press
ISBN: 0967417902

Hackos will be your best friend, and she and Peter Hartman will give you the
idea where to start. When you hit the floor running as a lone writer and no
one has set up anything, you start with the most urgent forest fire and
begin to stomp it out.

Untechnical Writing - How to Write About Technical Subjects and Products So
Anyone Can Understand
by Michael Bremer
Paperback - 232 pages 1 Ed edition (September 1, 1999)
Untechnical Pr; ISBN: 0966994906 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.59 x 8.97 x
5.99

Bremer is very friendly and I like his style. He'll also be your best
friend, giving you a great sample of how to develop a document from the
ground up.

**

I already own the following books, which I brought to work and use
frequently, and recommend to you:

The Chicago Manual of Style: The Essential Guide for Writers, Editors, and
Publishers, Fourteenth Edition
By John Grossman (Preface)
Published by The University of Chicago Press
ISBN 0226103897

I use this one for the "look" of the piece -- formats, compliance with
standards.

A Dictionary of Modern English Usage
by H. W. Fowler (Editor), Sir Ernest Gowers
Paperback - 725 pages 2nd Rev edition (May 1983)
Oxford Univ Pr (Trade); ISBN: 0192813897 ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.51 x
7.70 x 5.07

I use this one to make sure I'm not getting sloppy with my language. It's
fun, too.

The Grammar Bible
By Michael Strumpf and Auriel Douglas
Published by Knowledgeopolis
ISBN 1-891968-00-9

I use this one to clarify points of grammar -- my one complaint is that they
sometimes bow to common usage rather than prescriptive grammar (and I can be
a purist). But I learn more about WHY something is correct in reading this
one than I do when I read my Fowler's.

Roget's Thesaurus (any recently published copy will do)
A good basic dictionary.

I use these for the usual reasons. <grin>

***

A starting place for WEB help:

There are dozens of valuable web sites that can help.

I find http://www.askjeeves.com to be particularly useful because you can
enter a question as though you were going to ask a friend: "Where can I
find out more information about widgets?"

I love the FOLDOC computing dictionary, too:
http://foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/index.html.

As you keep doing this, you'll find more sites that are very useful to you
and you'll bookmark them. Don't forget to use the STC archives and site;
don't neglect the Rays' archives, either.

***

I read like a lunatic, and then I read articles at the STC site and at other
tech. writing sites.

Then, on my second day at work <grin>...

I constantly asked my boss questions. I obtained copies of the old software
manual (the owner had written one) and all marketing documentation (to get a
sense of the product). I then obtained a current copy of the software and
played with it. I then started mocking up templates for the documentation.
I tried to standardize naming conventions of the files so that anyone who
needed to could figure out where to find a file.

I'm in the throes of the last edit of a 300 page user manual; once this is
complete, I'll be turning my hand to white papers. We've already been
writing the quick installation guides and release notes.

***

I hope this all helps!

I've been here five months and so far everyone is pleased. I think. <grin,
wince, grin>



-----Original Message-----
From: train2 -at- sprynet -dot- com [mailto:train2 -at- sprynet -dot- com]
Sent: Thursday, December 21, 2000 8:32 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: anyone else in the same boat?


I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this:
I was recently hired by a company as a tech writer....
I have no previous experience and this company has no previous experience
with an in-house writer. Anything they needed done was out-sourced to
consultants.
Now, it is my job to figure everything out. They dont really know what to
tell me, other than what they do.
I have no idea where to start. I'm a stranger in a semi-strange land (just
because of all the studying I did). Anyone have any advice??



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