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Subject:RE: Getting a new writer up to speed quickly From:Mailing List <mlist -at- ca -dot- safenet-inc -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 17 May 2004 13:22:08 -0400
Rene Stephenson demanded:
[...]
> replace a
> seasoned writer with a FT onsite contract position and has
[...]
> By his own admission, he's not going to
> have the time to
> spend training a newbie.
[...]
> 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.
[...]
> 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. [...] I GREATLY appreciate your thoughtful input!!!
How about thoughtless, top-of-the-head input? My specialty.
1) What does the company make/do, and is there any chance
that the newbie will be able to DO what she'll be documenting
in the first few days? As soon as the most essential HR stuff
is out of the way, the newbie should be able to disappear
into a room with a recent release of the product, and enough
"stuff" to install, configure and then USE the product, whether
it's hardware, software or (oi!) service.
2) Did your list of SMEs include the Quality or Product
Verification people? It should. She'll be getting a
S**tload of paper from all sources -- at the very top should
be recent test-cases, as used by the testers to verify that
the product is ready for prime time.
3) Is this the type of product or service for which Sales
Engineers are indispensible? Then she should hang out with
one for a few days. Once she gets settled in, she may never
again get outside the building or see a real live customer.
4) Same as above, but Customer Support.
First, she's got to learn about what it is that the company
sells. Then, she needs to learn about what existing
documentation is like, and where its holes are -- the Customer
Support people will tell her that.
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