Re: Getting a new writer up to speed quickly

[Justin Soles <justinsoles -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

Hi Rene,

Thanks for the interesting post. Here's my take, for
whatever it's worth:

-------------
* Verify she's an STC member, so she can get some
exposure to the field from attending those meetings.

JS: I see the point of those who say "wait on this",
but there's nothing wrong with exposing the new writer
to the local TW network. Instead of making this
mandatory, why not just recommend it and explain how
it helped you? 
----------
* Give her this list serve and FM Users to subscribe
by digest, as an emersion method of learning.

JS: This is OK. Hmm...does the client have any current
projects that only require updates? This might be a
more effective use of her (and our collective) time
than posting a lot of questions to the list. 
----------
* Give her a copy of the client's Standards & Styles
Guide for her edification.

JS: Absolutely. You could follow this up with
explanations of WHY things are done in a certain way.
If you don't answer it, trust me she'll ask.
----------
* 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.)

JS: That's fine if you feel the process is that
different or unique. That said, if this company is
like most small companies, there's a lot of fluidity
in this process that you cannot show...
----------
* Make sure she has access to the right source files
and shared drives, and introduce her to the right
SMEs.

JS: I like this a lot! 
----------
* Make a table of Titles/Names/Functions to identify
the various players in our environment.

JS: I think you could tie this with the one above. You
might also want to give a brief overview of the office
politics, just so she knows who's toes not to step on.
FWIW, the ones with the most power (or who can be the
most dangerous) are not usually the ones with the
fancy titles and it would help if she knows this from
the start.
-----------
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!!!

JS: I'd say this is a good start; here are some
others:
- Definitely give her the product to play with and let
her blow it up and put it back together a few times.
;) 
- Give her some basic TW tasks (doc updates, for
example) so she starts off slow and feels she's
accomplishing something productive. 
- Expect lots of questions about why things (product,
UI, writing style, etc.) are the way they are and try
to steer her away from confrontation and towards
constructive dialog with the engineers if she thinks
something is 'stupid'. 
- Once she gets settled, suggest she takes some
classes at a local university/college. 

HTH! Good luck with your training and I hope things
work out for you both!

Regards,
Justin


	
		
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