Orlando

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Orlando
2009
ThePlug and PlayTechnical CommunicatororEve
n if I am not Employed, I still have a
Job!!!(Redux!)
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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 Dont Have a Job Does
Not Mean I am Not Employed
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that reflects one persons view
Providing Value at all Stages of a Project Life
Cycle
Shoes and SOX Getting aFoothold on
Sarbanes-Oxley
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of our professional world!
Plug and Play Harmonic Convergence
Planning for Single Sourcing The Critical (and
often forgotten) first step
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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
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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!
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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!
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Orlando
2009
Act 1What the heck is going on out there,
and How is it impacting you???
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You cant set the course for where you are going
until you know where you are."

• Unknown

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So what the heck is going on out there?
It seems that the world is going through
dramatic, chaotic adjustments.
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So what the heck is going on out there?
The stock market has lost 50 overall
Is it fair to say that most people are at a loss
as to what to do?
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So what the heck is going on out there?
so have home prices.
Is it fair to say that most people are at a loss
as to what to do?
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So what the heck is going on out there?
Stalwart industries and companies are crumbling
as value disintegrates. Unemployment is going,
up, up, up...
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So what the heck is going on out there?
It is fair to say that most people are at a loss
as to what to do?
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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.
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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!)
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How is it impacting you?

• Are you currently working for pay? 76 Yes
• If yes, are you staying for reasons other than
  you arehappy with your job (such as keeping
  benefits or justkeeping employed? 47 Yes
• Has your finance portfolio lost value over the
  past years? 76 Yes
• Are you happy with your current career path? 62
  Yes
• Regarding 1-4, do you have a plan for
  addressingeach question for which you answered
  No? 52 Yes Maybe
• Are you optimistic about your future? 86 Yes
• Overall, are you happy with your life? 86 Yes

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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!
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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

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Orlando
2009
Act 2 Where have we been?
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If you want to know where you are going, you
have to know where you have been!!!

• Dove Chocolate Label

(not really ?)
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By the year 2000, there will be no Q, X or Z in
our everyday alphabet.
- Ladys Home Journal, 1900
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I think there is a world market for maybe five
computers.
- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
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Computers in the future may weigh no more than
1.5 tons.
- Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless
march of science, 1949.
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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
wont last out the year.
- The editor in charge of business books for
Prentice Hall, 1957
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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
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We dont like their sound, and guitar music is
on the way out
- Decca Recording Co., rejecting the Beatles in
1962
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But whatis it good for?
- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems
Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip
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There is no reason anyone would want a computer
in their home.
- Ken Olson, president, chairman, and founder of
Digital Equipment Corp, 1977
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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)
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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
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Not a Very Long Time on an Evolutionary Time
Line!!!
1998
19571959
1981
19431949
1977
1968
1962
1900
10,000 BC
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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!
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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
• Doctors house calls
• What else?

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What About . . .
Job opportunities for technical communicators?
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What are Some Things whoseDays 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?

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What About . . .
Job opportunities for technical communicators?
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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!
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To this, I say NO!
Before we go any further along that line, lets
take a brief,informal look at the history of
ourprofession . . .
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Which, by the way, is also not a Very Long Time
on an Evolutionary Time Line!!!
The Shelf Edge - Today
Dot-com Bubble Burst
Upsize, Downsize, Rightsize
The Beginnings
Will Write for Food!
2000-2008 Pseudo Growth
The Golden 80s
90s Boom Times
10,000 BC
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The Beginnings . . .
For Sake of Discussion, thisperiod in our
profession stretchesfrom 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

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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

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The Golden 80s . . .
This is the Reagan-Bush years,through the
collapse of the SovietEmpire.
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The Golden 80s - 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

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Upsize, Downsize, Rightsize . . .(early through
mid 90s)
This transition sees the demise of the
traditional Corporate American Contract, and
the emerging of a redefinition of the global
economy.
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Upsize, Downsize, Rightsize . . .(early through
mid 90s)
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!!!!
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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

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The 90s Boom Times . . .
The need for quality technical communicators
grew astronomically!
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90s 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

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2000-2002 dot-com Bubble Burst
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.
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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.

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2002-2008 Pseudo Growth
Contracting and Consulting opportunities higher
pay and no security.
Those who remain as employees have smaller salary
growth, but retain costly benefits.
The umbrella of technical communicator
professions becomes blurred again.
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2002-2008 Pseudo Growth
Globalisation matures technical communication
responsibilities (traditional) start becoming
outsourced.
The US professional worker seems to realise
significant wealth expansion from geometric home
price and IRA/401k portfolio value increases.
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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

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2008-20?? Shelf Edge
Traditional corporate positions are being reduced
weekly in hard-hit sectors, such as financial
services, entertainment, and manufacturing.
Its like the economy stepped off the edge of a
continental shelf!
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2008-20?? How deep is the edge?
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 -
???
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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!
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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.
If you can learn to recognize cycles, you can
ride them to your advantage!!
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Orlando
2009
Act 3Do you Plug and Play?
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If you think that you are going to fail, you
will. If you think that you are going to succeed,
you will."

• Mr. Peabody

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Is your (professional) life a comedy or a tragedy?
We all have our challenges and our tragic
flaws Says Shakespeare, overcoming them?or
not?defines the difference!
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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!
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Now, lets 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?
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Each era changed the makeup what I refer to as
the 5 Ts of technical communication
Techniques Tools Technologies Trends Temperaments
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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!
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- 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?
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For all who answered Yes-Yes, you Plug and
Play (at least at a high level)!
The key attribute is adaptability!
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Plug and Players find the job opportunities
The job opportunities lie in doing that which we
love to do the most!
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even now!

• Probably the real unemployment rate in the US is
  around 10. A gloomy number for sure. But
• That means 90 of us are employed.
• There are always plenty of job opportunities for
  good (plug and play) people.

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However
You have to have both a passion and some talent
to be successful!
. . . and as a corollary to this, a lot of
passion (translated hard work) can overcome a
talent deficiency.
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Consider this
I believe we all have innate talents and
cultivated passions!
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!
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Consider this
And now for passion
Passion is not just doing what you love its
the unswerving pursuit of doing what you love.
Or to put it more succinctly, passion is not
giving up!
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A reading recommendation for all
You can get it on amazon.com or bn.com for much
less than 20 bucks.
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The key plug and play ingredients are
adaptability, talent, and passion!
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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!
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Orlando
2009
Act 4Where to now?
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Some random thoughts for you to consider
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When everything is going down is not the time to
get down."

• Chinese Fortune Cookie

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

• Author Unknown

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There are no shortcuts to anyplace worth going."

• Beverly Sills

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If you dont know where you are going, anyplace
will do."

• Cheshire Cat

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The question isnt who is going to let me its
who is going to stop me."

• Ayn Rand

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If you dont know where you are going, youll
wind up someplace else."

• Yogi Berra

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Worksheet time . . .(1 2 should be answered
already)
3. What business sectors are most likely to be
hurt by this recession?
4. What sectors are immune or might even benefit
from this recession?
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Worksheet time . . .

• What are the external factors that are critical
  for your career and work choices?
• What does success mean to you?

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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?
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Worksheet time . . .
9 What are the industries in which a plug and
player works for developing these technical
communication deliverables?
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Worksheet time . . .
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?
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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!
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Interpreting Your Results
Does it reaffirm your passion for our profession?
Does it tell you that you love your work, but
hate the industry?
Does it tell you that you are ready to grow?
Does it tell you that you are in the wrong
profession?
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Question 5 Here are mine . . .
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
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Question 7 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 Con
sultant Employee
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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 CBTs and WBTs (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
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Question 9 - Here are mine . . .
Financial Medical/Pharmaceutical Consulting/
Outsourcing Software Development Software
Product Support Hardware Development Telecommu
nications Entertainment Education Science/Re
search Government Sector Energy Manufacturin
g
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Keep good records of your own work!
This should be second nature to us,
but Sometimes it is the plumbers toilet that
leaks ?.
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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.
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What a status report says (consciously) about you!
Here is what I have done the past number of
weeks Here is how I spent my time on each task
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What a status report says (subconsciously) 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
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If you have been caught in a layoff . . .
Like the opening slide says, Even if I am not
Employed, I still have a Job
Address and then get over any emotions
associated with the previous position!
Get up early every day, just like it is a work
day! Put in a full day, doing productive things!
Consider spending some time doing volunteer work!
Get your skill sets updated!
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If you have been caught in rut . . .
Follow this strategy so that you can jump when
the next right opportunity comes.
Are there other opportunities in your company?
Get your skill sets updated!
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There has never been a better time than right now
to change or modify your career!
If you have been caught in rut . . .
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The people who get on in this world are the
people who get up and look for the circumstances
they want, and, if they cant find them, MAKE
them.
--George Bernard Shaw
Please feel free to contact me by e-mail if you
wish onwritetrk_at_techknowledgysolutions.com Thank
you very much!