Getting a new writer up to speed quickly

["Rene Stephenson" <rinnie1 -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

Hi All,

I'm hoping to draw on your years of wisdom for this one...

Here's the scenario: My client is in the position of having to replace a
seasoned writer with a FT onsite contract position and has had a hard time
finding the "right" fit. For reasons all their own, my client has decided to
hire a new writer, fresh out of college. The new writer is a non-traditional
student, meaning she completed coursework later in life, and offers a
different sort of maturity/stability to the position than most
fresh-out-of-college types. This new writer demonstrates good fundamental
writing skills (good organization, impeccable grammar/composition) and has a
vague familiarity with the technical product that my client produces. The
new writer has rudimentary experience with FM and RH. Everybody has had a
"first gig," so we all know what this newbie's facing...

The catch is, my boss/client is a very busy person (carrying several
projects in addition to functioning as manager), but he's the only one of
the team onsite FT. By his own admission, he's not going to have the time to
spend training a newbie. However, he does believe that it would be a better
fit (for whatever reason) to hire this newbie than any of the other
candidates who have presented themselves, for various reasons. Maybe it's a
"lesser of 2 weevils" situation (for those of you movie buffs).

FYI... This client's shop is FM, moving from RH to WWP, and employs a
modified Information Mapping approach to documentation. I'm helping them
move toward single sourcing and information management, as a way to meet doc
needs efficiently. (Let's not get involved in what that means or why things
are going they way they're going, though, please...)

So it looks like most of the "hand holding" will fall to me. I'm FT contract
telecommute. I can help support the new writer by the standard virtual
contact methods (phone, AIM, email, shared server, etc.), and I have
volunteered to go onsite for 2 weeks to help train the newbie. I'm trying to
come up with a list of things to present to the newbie prior to our training
time to help her come up to speed quickly, and to make sure that our
training time is spent wisely. So far, I've had the following ideas:

	* Verify she's an STC member, so she can get some exposure to the field
from attending those meetings.
	* Give her this list serve and FM Users to subscribe by digest, as an
emersion method of learning.
	* Give her a copy of the client's Standards & Styles Guide for her
edification.
	* Create a process flow for her that identifies the steps of the writing
process in my client's environment. (Dual purpose tool: teaches what a
process flow should look like and provides a quick reference.)
	* Make sure she has access to the right source files and shared drives, and
introduce her to the right SMEs.
	* Make a table of Titles/Names/Functions to identify the various players in
our environment.

PLEASE tell me if there's some other "down-n-dirty" stuff that you'd think
helpful, or of there are some sites to which I could refer her. Fortunately,
she's still in "student mode," so she's quite accustomed to and willing to
continue researching and reading in the evenings. I GREATLY appreciate your
thoughtful input!!!

THANKS!
Rene
Rene L. Stephenson
Information Designer & Documentation Consultant
Stephenson Consulting Services
E-mail: rinnie1 -at- yahoo -dot- com <mailto:rinnie1 -at- yahoo -dot- com>
Ph:   678-513-0051
Fax: 678-513-0079

"Excellence is a lifestyle, a frame of mind."


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