Welcome to the ITauthor Podcast. If you haven't been here before, this is a technical writing podcast, aimed at technical communicators or anyone interested in software documentation. The latest podcasts are on this page. You can listen to the podcasts here and now by clicking the play button on the audio player at the top of the show notes for each podcasts, or you can subscribe to the podcast feed or the email list. All of the previous podcasts are available on the Podcast Archive page. Please feel free to leave a comment or ask a question. Thanks for visiting!
A lack of meeting rooms forced Graham and I to adjourn to the pub to record this podcast (shame). In between munching on burgers and chips and sipping on beer, we talk about Google’s new Web browser, Chrome, and the newly released Flare 4 from MadCap.
Writing tips
Copying and pasting formatting in Microsoft Word.
Select some text that has the formatting you want to copy.
Press Ctrl + Shift + c.
Select the text you want to apply the formatting to.
Press Ctrl + Shift + v.
Keyboard shortcut to choose a style in Flare 4.
Press Ctrl + h to bring up a style popup while you are editing text.
What's it like doing documentation as part of an Agile software development team? Why is it a better way of working? I mull this over these and other questions with Graham Campbell. If you want to find out more about the Agile software development methodology, I'd recommend you read some of Scott Ambler's articles. For example: http://www.agilemodeling.com/essays/agileDocumentation.htm An extract from Scott Ambler's best practices for increasing the agility of documentation:
Simplification * Keep documentation just simple enough, but not too simple * Write the fewest documents with least overlap Determining What to Document * Focus on the needs of the actual customers(s) of the document * The customer determines sufficiency Determining When to Document * Iterate, iterate, iterate: * Update only when it hurts General * Treat documentation like a requirement * Require people to justify documentation requests We also also discuss our writing tips, software recommendations and podcasts we've been listening to. Software we mentioned:
I talk to Graham Campbell about being the only technical writer at a software company. Graham describes his experience of being a year into tech writing and having his Documentation Manager (me) disappear off to do another job, leaving him in a team of one, and then the possibly worse situation where, after a year, the same guy comes back again! We also also discuss our writing tips and software recommendations. This time round the apps we like are: Paint.NET
Ellis Pratt is Sales and Marketing Director for UK documentation specialists, Cherryleaf. He joined me via Skype to talk about Cherryleaf and to discuss questions such as:
What kind of skills do you need to be a technical writer?
What's the difference between an information designer, a technical communicator and a technical writer?
Which is the worst of the "six biggest mistakes project managers make with documentation"?
Is there still a demand for printed manuals, and if so, why?
What does Cherryleaf offer as a recruitment company that other, bigger recruitment companies can't?
What does the future hold for technical writers?
I encourage you to have a look at the Cherryleaf website. The monthly newsletter is well worth signing up for. There are a number of interesting articles and there's also a blog (for example, you might want to check out the post Ellis referred to on the secrets of effective technical authors). By the way, I claimed during the conversation that there's no degree course in technical writing. What I think I meant was that in all the many, many CVs I've read while trying to recruit a technical author, I've never come across a candidate who has been formally trained in technical writing. However, as Ellis mentions, Coventry University run several courses in Media and Communication. Also, Sheffield Hallam University offers a postgraduate distance learning course for a diploma in Technical Communication.
Get in touch!
I'd love to know who's listening, where you are and what you think of the podcast, so contact me at:
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September 24th, 2008 at 6:42 pm (#)
Hey, cool podcast. I like the scene you recorded it in -- I could totally imagine the two of you sitting there eating.
September 24th, 2008 at 9:09 pm (#)
And let me tell you those burgers were delicious!
Thanks for the comment Tom.
-Alistair
September 26th, 2008 at 5:25 pm (#)
[...] ITauthor podcast #16 - Flare and Chrome, the pubcast :: ITauthor. Tom Johnson | September 26, 2008 | permalink Tags: flare, podcast [...]
September 26th, 2008 at 6:43 pm (#)
Thanks for the shout out! Our QA guys figured it out, I just got the credit!