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2. Focus on the core. Most companies don't care about fonts, documentation
processes, information mapping, or STC conferences. They want good,
meaningful content. Everything else is secondary and unimportant.
3. Don't overstep your boundaries. Don't just assume you are a "advocate
for the user." You need to take on responsibilities slowly over time. Its
also hard to claim a usability expert title - if you've never used the
product(s) in a real-world environment alongside real users.
4. Write holistically and satisfy multiple needs: communicate
instructions, sell the product(s), educate the readers, inform the
uninformed, empower users etc. Don't just try to make cute layouts. Use
the document to communicate multiple messages.
5. Engage your co-workers. Most writer sit in their cube and wait for
other people to tell them what to do. Passive people are hard to respect.
Be active. get involved in the group. Volunteer to do things.
6. Don't have a hissy fit when you're asked to do something menial.
7. Be positive. One of the things that turns me off the most are negative
people. All they see is bad, wrong, and problems. Suck it in and be
positive. Try to find a way to make things better, not just complain about
why they're wrong.
8. Be solution-oriented. Anybody with 1/3rd of a brain stem can point out
problems. Find solutions for those problems BEFORE you blab them to the
world.
9. Chill out. Uptight people are hard to respect. They take everything so
flipping seriously. Be patient, let things gel, take problems one at a
time and quit trying to re-engineer the universe in 20 minutes.
10. Stand up for your ideas. If you have an idea - DEFEND IT. Be willing
to explain to people why you think you're ideas are good. Its hard to
respect people who won't stand up for themselves.
11. Admit your faults. Be willing to back down and publically admit when
you're wrong. Remember, being wrong is better than being right - because
you learn more when you screw up then you do when you get it right.
12. Know your limitations. Don't assume you're a genius writer because you
won an award once. You have limitations like everybody else.
13. Question everything. Something sounds fishy - do your own research and
find the answer.
14. Ignore the detractors. There are people who think they have a bigger
handle on the technical writing world than everybody else. They have
convinced themselves that because they have some impressive title or big
neat office they are some Lawrence of TechCom. They are usually just
blow-hard morons like me. Don't assume people in authority are correct or
have any insight greater than common sense. They are just as flawed as
you. Just because they have a nice car or a big house does not mean they
are smarter, more capable, or more skilled than you. You will succeed if
you are persistent, honest, realistic, and work hard.
15. Gain requires pain. Be that intellectual, physical, or moral you must
push yourself beyond your levels of competence and skill if you want to
gain knowledge. If you only do one thing, and never push yourself to
expand beyond that - you'll never grow. Its very hard to respect
complacency.
Good luck
Andrew Plato
Master Blow-Hard
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A landmark hotel, one of America's most beautiful cities, and
three and a half days of immersion in the state of the art:
IPCC 01, Oct. 24-27 in Santa Fe. http://ieeepcs.org/2001/
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