Getting a new writer up to speed quickly?

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

Rene Stephenson wondered: <<My client is in the position of having to 
replace a seasoned writer... This new writer demonstrates good 
fundamental writing skills (good organization, impeccable 
grammar/composition) and has a vague familiarity with the technical 
product that my client produces. The new writer has rudimentary 
experience with FM and RH.>>

The tool skills are largely irrelevant at the start of things, since 
it's most important that she can write well. Just about anyone can type 
text and apply a style in Frame and RH with little expertise in the 
tool, and it's the typing and basic style application that are most 
important initially. Create content first, fondle fonts later. <g> Make 
sure to spend about 15 minutes ensuring that the newbie understands how 
to do this well; Frame and RH both have their quirks.

Although it's arguably more efficient to apply hyperlinks etc. as you 
create the text, it can still be acceptably efficient to apply them in 
a second pass, while you're revising what you created in the first 
pass. That's particularly true when you're just getting started.

<<my boss/client is a very busy person... but he's the only one of the 
team onsite FT. By his own admission, he's not going to have the time 
to spend training a newbie.>>

This means that you will have to make time to train this person. Make 
sure to establish a good working relationship (perhaps even a mentoring 
relationship) right from the start to ensure that you're working 
_together_, not at cross-purposes. Focus on "this is how you'll be 
judged by the boss" and "I'm here to ensure that you're judged 
favorably by the boss": that is, that you're helping the person come up 
to speed and be successful, not just criticizing them or bossing them 
around.

Training doesn't have to be a huge burden if the person is willing to 
learnl. Start by showing them what styles and templates should be used, 
and brief them on the 10% of the tool that they'll be using 90% of the 
time; they can look up the other 90% of the features in the docs. Give 
them several examples of what you've already created and suggest that 
they use those to guide how they write. Review their initial efforts 
immediately, before they create huge amounts of text, so that any 
corrections will be reflected in subsequent writing (ideally, so you 
won't have to correct these problems in the future), and repeat these 
reviews until they're up to speed.

<<Verify she's an STC member, so she can get some exposure to the field 
from attending those meetings.>>

Irrelevant for a newbie, though STC meetings are a great place to be 
mentored and find support. I do believe STC is a good value for 
professionals, but it's not even close to important for someone being 
dropped right into a full-time job and deadlines.

<<Give her this list serve and FM Users to subscribe by digest, as an 
emersion method of learning.>>

Good thought, but reminder her that we're a touchy bunch that seems to 
enjoy biting the head off a newbie who doesn't mind their manners. <g>

<<Give her a copy of the client's Standards & Styles Guide for her 
edification.>>

Although some writers use style guides effectively, I've found that 
most do a better job imitating examples than using the guide. So 
provide both until you learn which approach she prefers.

<<Create a process flow for her that identifies the steps of the 
writing process in my client's environment.>>

That's very important, but don't forget the stuff that doesn't appear 
in the process: Name the SMEs who are actively hostile to writers, 
which ones will spend a day bringing you up to speed, which ones can be 
bribed with donuts, which managers should be avoided, which computer 
staff to suck up to, and so on. In short, the things she'll need to 
know to survive in the human environment.

<<Make sure she has access to the right source files and shared drives, 
and introduce her to the right SMEs.>>

Very important.

--Geoff Hart   ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca
(try geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com if you don't get a reply)


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

SEE THE ALL NEW ROBOHELP X5 IN ACTION: RoboHelp X5 is a giant leap forward
in Help authoring technology, featuring Word 2003 support, Content 
Management, Multi-Author support, PDF and XML support and much more! http://www.macromedia.com/go/techwrldemo