Suggestions for professional development?

["Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

Ilana Cohney reports: <<I am in a permanent position, working for a computer
company as a sole technical writer.  Nice people, nice organization, no
work.  At the moment, I am being kept on because there are several large
projects which are "just about to drop".  When they do, I will probably be
overworked like the rest of you. My dilemma,  what to do during the
"lull".>>

Probably the smartest thing to do, given that you know there are "several
large projects" coming, is to immediately get in touch with the project
managers and find out what you're in for. Once you know that, start planning
now how to handle it:

- Identify the key developers you'll be working with and start developing
(or redeveloping) your relationships with them so you'll be able to work
with them effectively when the projects arrive. These relationships are
"capital" you can draw on when deadline pressures mount and you need their
help reviewing docs or providing information.

- Start sketching out the job requirements (e.g., manual vs. online,
different types of online), and find out where you can find out how to keep
those requirements up to date. If you start being "part of the loop" now,
you'll have far fewer surprises later because people will have grown
accustomed to keeping you informed. In the best of all possible worlds, the
projects will be sufficiently well developed at this point that you can
create product overview and documentation outlines, and perhaps even write
up some of this material.

- Identify any new tools you'll need to learn or old tool skills you'll need
to polish up, and start learning and polishing. For example, my main job is
editing and translating technical reports, but there are three irregularly
updated products I do docs for. Since I'm not working full-time as a
techwhirler, my RoboHelp skills can get a bit rusty, and when I get advance
notice of a new project, I make time to refamiliarize myself with my tools.

When the first job arrives, you'll be ready for it, and you might even be
ahead of the game if this prep work lets you start preparing material even
before the job arrives. Sure, you'll have to revise some of it, but if
you're lucky, this will take much less time than writing it. Having the
groundwork laid will take lots of pressure off you when the projects start
because you won't have to do this work from scratch while under deadline
pressure.

<<No-one here seems much to care, as long as I am quiet and keep to
myself.>>

Don't fool yourself... these things are noticed. If you don't have enough
project work to keep reasonably busy even after following my suggestions,
talk to your manager and others involved in these projects. They're bound to
have work you can do for them (e.g., editing the functional specs for the
project, creating white papers, taking minutes at planning meetings*). If
not, look farther afield (with your manager's permission): talk to the
marketing group about helping out with marketing writing, talk to the
Personnel department about editing policies and procedures, talk to the
training and tech. support staff about problems current users are
experiencing, or talk to the computer staff about documenting some of the
in-house procedures they've created. To avoid creating expectations that
aren't possible to fulfill in the future, make it clear that you have a
window of free time to work on this stuff, and that in X months you'll be
back to work full time on your regular job.

* Some people think recording minutes is beneath them. Don't be one of them.
This is a great way to be included in meetings (your best way to keep up to
date on developments), and if managed properly, gives your colleagues the
impression that you'll go out of your way to help them. Again, that's
capital you can draw on later.

<<So, I decided, I will take the opportunity (over the next weeks, months?)
to progress in my technical writing skills.>>

See above. Focus on the skills that make you valuable to your current
employer, particularly if they'll also make you valuable to future
employers. The goal is to always be prepared for whatever challenges they
throw at you before they even know they're going to challenge you. If they
see you as always ready, they learn to trust your skill. If you do some of
the networking I recommended above, more people will appreciate your worth
and have an incentive to keep you employed.

--Geoff Hart, geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada
580 boul. St-Jean
Pointe-Claire, Que., H9R 3J9 Canada 
"User's advocate" online monthly at
www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/usersadvocate.html
Hofstadter's Law--"The time and effort required to complete a project are
always more than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's
Law."


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