RE: Now lone techwriter, startup

["Steve Hudson" <cruddy -at- optushome -dot- com -dot- au>]

Dear Ellen, HTH :-)
Hey babe. Any keen curlers your way, or she is pounding elsewhere, restless
to draw another unwary soul to her watery bosom?

Hang on - you guys is chillin this time of year - the beach is bitchin here
and a bitch there. Ah well. Buy a flamethrower and toast a snowman or
something :-)

</Beer off>

<Taking a deep breath - hang on - what WAS in that cigarette?>

Hey rose-lips. The path to the mountain oft travels round ridges on the way
man. Like, roll with the flow and ebb with tide you know. Glad to see the
circle of life has returned you to the fold again. Like the folds in the
hills at the feet of the mountain of life we climb.


> I am now a lone techwriter in a fast-paced start-up. We need everything
done
- from templates to documents needed to Help to training to document
numbering system and file naming conventions. Also, we need to keep informed
about new technologies.

<Checks out that ciggy thingy againy lotsy yummy>

Yeah sweet thing, what ya'll need is like the ability to stand back and see
the forest and not the tree right. And then you pick yer lumbering spot and
lumber on, or something, yeah?

> I'm not focused right now. I don't know what to tackle first.

OK, lets look at each s l o w l y

<where is that damn ciggy, its too small, gimme a MUCH bigger one... YEAH!
That's not a JOINT! Now's THAT's a JOINT!>

Templates: Like my advice to any young lass, get a simple one up yer quick.
(jobs of course)

Doc #'ing: fergit it - keep them in consistant locations for now, if you
have the luxury of time in a year or two then do a structred renaming then.

File naming: See above. Much more important to have structured folders.
Project / Doc Type is a bloody good start.

New techs: Hit newsletters. WhatIs, ItPapers, IBM blah blah


> I know
day-to-day documents have priority, but what about everything else? Do I
make a project for myself in Microsoft Project (not a tool I have, but I can
get it) and then...

Nope. Waste of time. Do you use Outlook? Great, it has a tasks folder. Use
it. I add a new field called Pri and give it a number between 1 and 10. Work
off that. List everything that comes up and move on.


> If you were me, how would you divide your time?

Into half-day segments. Maek a simple template with your styles and go.
Write the documents that need to be written. Then make a note of what you
did. Play a bit of catchup on your list. Then write the next lot of
documents. Repeat until your pension clears :-)

Forget trying to learn anything for now, just write. Once you know your
documents, your audience, your resources and your requirements better, you
will be able to spend your time productively gaining secondary benefits.

In today's world, your fast-paced startup may have no need of infrastructure
that plans on 5 years plus cycles and benefits - they quite frankly may not
make it that long.

Steve Hudson - Word Heretic, Sydney, Australia
HDK List MVP
For Questions regarding MS-Word please use the MS news servers or a mailing
list in preference to heretic -at- tdfa -dot- com -dot-  Ideally, post to
msnews.microsoft.com and send me an email to go answer it.


-----Original Message-----
From: Ellen Vanrenen

<taking a deep breath>
I left this list to pursue new technologies. That was not the correct path.
Here's my query, and I've posted it before. If you can take the time to
answer me carefully, I will read, print, and peg up all answers:

I am now a lone techwriter in a fast-paced start-up. We need everything done
- from templates to documents needed to Help to training to document
numbering system and file naming conventions. Also, we need to keep informed
about new technologies.
I'm not focused right now. I don't know what to tackle first. I know
day-to-day documents have priority, but what about everything else? Do I
make a project for myself in Microsoft Project (not a tool I have, but I can
get it) and then...
If you were me, how would you divide your time? I've taught myself a good
bit of RoboHelp and am now evaluating WWP. Is this what I should be doing?
I could use some help over here.
Thank you very much for your time.


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