When I shared low-tech documentation tips with you last month, I left out the to be continued part.  "Tips and tricks" can be overwhelming. There's so much information out there that it can be hard to know which ones to apply or where to even start. It's easy to become paralyzed and do nothing. (I may or may not be speaking from experience.)  So here are a few more  specific actions you can take to improve the accuracy and quality of anything you write. Try one or all and see what might work for you. 1. Start a Style Sheet  (Stick with me here.) A style guide is a comprehensive set of documentation rules. It can cover hyphenation rules, when to spell out numbers (vs. using numerals), and many other usage guidelines. Your organization might maintain their own in-house style guide or it may adopt one that's already out there (e.g., Chicago Manual of Style). A style guide helps ensure consistency in usage as well as brand and voice, depending on the organization. ...

I promised a friend I wouldn’t write anything nature-related this week, but…spring! You know, that time of year when you wear a T-shirt one day and three layers the next. Actually, that’s much of the year here in North Carolina. Don’t tell me you forgot about last fall when you packed away your shorts and flip flops only to find yourself—two weeks later—sweating into your pumpkin spice latte. Last week did me in, meteorologically speaking, between Daylight Saving Time starting to schools being closed for possible tornados to tucking hand warmers into my pockets for a T-ball game. I’m ready for March to scoot out like a lamb. Look out your window—even the plants are confused. Everything is blooming. We haven’t lived all four seasons in this house yet, so we were excited to see daffodils pop up last week, seemingly out of nowhere. Although I loved the view from my window, I felt the urge to knock on it and holler “no, don’t do that. It’s not safe for you yet!” They probably wouldn’t list...

Technical writers are professional communicators. It’s their job to figure out what should be communicated to your audience and how. The audience could be your customers, clients, users, or staff. The final product could be a procedure, manual, website, or training video script. If you want to round out your team with a technical writer, understanding what a writer can and cannot do for your organization can help align expectations and reduce the chance of buyer’s remorse. (Although they may desperately want to), don't ask a tech writer to  Fix a broken process.  Capturing a process in writing (or other media) doesn’t necessarily make it a good process. The act of documenting, though, will often point to holes in the process, identifying areas for improvement. Let’s say a critical step in the receiving procedure is to compare shipping documents with the items received. Basic stuff. The writer will be sure to include that step since it’s been identified as an important one. Ex...

We are building a tree fort in the backyard for the little people in our family. When I say “we,” I mean my husband, John, is doing all the planning and labor. I am providing a second set of hands when needed, along with encouragement and opinions.  His first step was to have the boys draw a picture of the kind of tree fort they would like. I’m not sure if he was procrastinating or truly wanting suggestions, but I think he promised someone a punching bag. At this point, posts are secured into the ground with cement and the basic framing is up. Now he needs decking, which was the reason for our recent trip to the hardware store. On the way, we discussed how to get up to and down from the platform.       “I may go with stairs,” John announced.           “Wouldn’t a ladder be easier? And maybe a rope. A tree fort needs a rope hanging from somewhere,” I said.          " But someone could fall from the ladder.” ...

Is writing on your task list this week? A letter to a client maybe? A report on a study your team just completed? Or what about an update to your project plan? If there’s a technical writer on your team, your practice might already involve passing it along to them first. (I use this term generally--of course a tech writer writes, but they can also be skillful proofreaders and editors.) I’m often the only writer on my team and am asked frequently to polish presentations, instructions, and marketing collateral prior to a deadline. My edits involve anything from reordering steps to making sure subjects and verbs agree to correcting the spelling of the boss’s name. Whether it is part of my official job role or not, this type of editing is a welcome opportunity to help out a teammate—and to evangelize for the serial comma. Editing ourselves, though, is hard and a second set of eyes is always best. But not everyone has the luxury of working with a writer or editor. No worries. I’ve compiled...