Friday, December 22, 2006

Beating your own drums!

And the saying goes, "what's there to cook when you have crap in your mind?". I have often wondered what it takes to get popular in a proffession? Whether it is necessary to be proactive and simulataneously beat the drums? or is it to keep quietly doing one's job and have an innovative approach? A mixture of both should be ideal, and I am saying after some years of working in an IT Industry.And that's even more the reasons I think we need to understand what's that we want from our profession?

I've been part of the technical communication circuit from the past 3 years; a large part of my time has been devoted to understanding the intricacies of technical writing, which I am sure will take some from time. Anyway, continuing with the mailing lists, there are discussions of all sorts; from highly technical to non-technical aspects. The addresses have been mainly writers with some experience in the field. Though the writers mainly post their queries on the mailing lists, they do want them to be personally shooted an email.What results is just the apposite.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

An article on face-to-face communication

A fantastic article on face-to-face communication by Sunder Ramachandran.

How face-to-face communication helps at work

Sunder Ramachandran (-- Sunder Ramachandran is a managing partner at WCH Solutions (http://www.wchsolutions.com), a training solutions organisation. He can be reached at sunder@wchsolutions.com.)

Today, most of your clients, colleagues and stakeholders are just a phone call or email away -- technology has made communication that simple. However, while tools like telephones and computers score high on convenience and speed, they lack the warmth and emotion that face-to-face communication provides.

In my earlier features, I have highlighted the importance of telephone etiquette, making use of online networking and business chat etiquette. However, there are some occasions where you must revive the by-now forgotten art of face-to-face communication.

Appreciating colleagues

In the words of Helen Keller, 'We are all walking with a signboard on our forehead which reads -- 'Appreciate me'.' It seems we have replaced the pat on the back with 'Thank you' and 'Good job' emails. But there is nothing that motivates someone more than seeing their boss walk up to them and appreciate them in front of everyone.

Go to your colleague's cubicle and congratulate them on the great report they sent or the presentation they made recently. I remember one of my ex-bosses who used to call us team members to his cabin just to say 'thanks' and pat our backs. The team immediately took a liking to him as most people expect a warning or feedback when the boss invites them to their cabin.

"It's difficult to build rapport over an email; I would feel much better if my boss appreciates me in person," says Ashok Krishnan, a CA with Nestle.

Criticising or providing feedback

When you provide feedback over an email or a phone call, the receiver may have a completely different perception about its relevance. This effect is amplified when you are not communicating face-to-face. The reader or listener may think you are cold and indifferent and that's why you avoided meeting them in person to discuss the issue. A face-to-face meeting gives you the opportunity to put your point across, while being sensitive and diplomatic at the same time.

"I have noticed that colleagues often use emails to avoid confronting the real issue. If someone fails to meet their target, I would prefer they tell me in person than offer an explanation over email," says Vidhanshu Bansal, a director with Pixel Webtech.

Assigning new responsibility

There is a great risk of the message getting diluted when a responsibility gets delegated through email or a phone call. Don't be surprised if your team does not show a sense of ownership or complete tasks on time if you are not communicating face-to-face. Nonverbal communication, such as tone of voice, facial gestures and eye contact help individuals understand the importance of a task and the need to complete it on time.

"We rely on conference calls, video conferencing and online meetings but, from my experience, there's nothing more impactful than meeting the team in person," says Delhi-based Ashu Gosh, a manager with Aviar IT Consulting.

Damage control with clients

If you haven't provided the product or service the client expected, you are putting your relationship with the client at stake. An apology mail would not suffice in a sensitive issue like this. Go to the client's office, if possible, without them having to call you for an explanation, and reassure them that the confidence they demonstrated when they gave you business was not misplaced. Your client would be pleasantly surprised that you took the time to come and meet them, especially when things went wrong.

"I used to interact on almost a daily basis with a client over emails without ever figuring out whether the person was male or female. When a report I was supposed to send got delayed, I made a rude comment about a female colleague which offended the client who happened to be a lady herself," says Deepak M.L, a manager with Convergys.

Resolving conflicts

Workplace conflicts are common in most organisations. The lack of interpersonal communication only worsens the situation. It's important to remember that 55 per cent of meaning in an interaction comes from facial and body language and 38 per cent comes from vocal inflection. Only seven per cent of an interaction's meaning is derived from the words themselves. So, trying to resolve a conflict over email or a phone call is often a bad idea.

"A colleague complained about another colleague and copied the senior management on the mail. I was surprised to see that mail translating into a flood of mails providing and seeking explanation. The person who sent the original mail was just one floor above the person who was at the receiving end. I had to sit down with both of them in person to resolve the conflict," says Kailasam R, a manager with Lufthansa Airlines.

Your communication style says a lot about you as a professional. In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 'You are always under examination by people around you, awarding or denying you very high prizes when you least think of it.' So leave the comfort of your cubicle and build trustworthy relationships by communicating face to face.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Moments of the 8th STC Annual Conference, Bangalore

”Exclusivity” was the theme for the recently concluded 8th STC Regional Conference held at Bangalore. The theme was appropriate as skilled technical writers presented multiple presentations on diverse technical writing topics in a gala event, spanning three days. Hotel Grand Ashok was the venue for the occasion, which it created a record turnout of more than 600 delegates. With companies like Infosys, Wipro, Dell, CSC, SUN Microsystems, Oracle, Symphony Services, and various others coming under the same roof, it was destined to be special, and it turned out to be so.

Conference Opens on December 7th

Geoffrey Hart opened the 8th STC regional conference on Thursday, 7th December. Popularly well-known in the technical writing circuit, Geoff Hart is a freelance writer, editor, and translator who specializes in scientific and technical communication. Geoffrey Hart delivered the first workshop on Editing, where he spoke of the intricacies of editing in detail, streamlined the editing process, and was never short of jokes. The audience couldn’t help but laugh when he addressed “technical writers as rabbits in a jungle.”

In a concurrent session, Timo Nevalainen addressed writers on the usefulness of content management for online writing. Timo emphasized the importance of content management saying that it is having “the Right systems for the Right People.”

Rajeev Jain (Zilog), Mary Ann Alexander (Pivotal), and Deepak/Siddarth delivered additional workshops that covered the API Style Guide, FrameMaker Insights, and Project Management. The highlight of the pre-conference workshop was undoubtedly the presentation delivered on Leadership Development/ Management excellence by SVP, HR, Symphony Services, Mahalingam. The speaker emphasized the importance of leadership in a project and supported the cause of “working with a business-oriented mind. Seasoned writer, Gyanesh Talwar, spoke on the “hot” topic brewing these days: XML in documentation and also spoke about Structured FrameMaker.


Conference Continues on December 8th

The following morning, December 8th, saw quite an unexpected turnout of technical communicators. The organizers were stunned to see the last minute registrations. Gururaj BS, the president for the STC India Community delivered the address keynote speech and shared the podium with Adobe Systems, Naresh Gupta, and Geoffrey Hart. After Gururaj’s welcome address, Chief Guest Naresh Gupta took the center stage. Naresh delivered a walk-through of Adobe’s products and the projects they are currently working on. Naresh also spoke a bit on the Adobe Captivate Beta version. During a Q&A session, when Naresh was asked if Adobe is planning to come out with a Content Management System (CMS), Naresh said they were not at all, and they are happy to work with their clients who are creating CMSs.

It was a red-letter day for STC India as Dr. Kiran Thakur, Head of the Department of Communication, University of Pune, talked on the inclusion of Technical Writing as a University program. It was the first such program in India, and Dr. Kiran introduced the gathering to the stalwarts behind the program, namely Makrand Pandit, Dr. Sunil Gokhale, and Frederick Menezes. He also gave a brief history of the program, the people developing it, its curriculum outline, and the challenges faced. He urged companies to support the program, as Pune University is a private institution and requires financial assistance to function.

Dr. Pradeep delivered “Exploiting the power of communication in Aerospace Industry,” which was followed by an interesting DITA session by Sandhya Ravishankar (Citec Academy), who suggested Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) for large documentation projects with large content. DITA is an XML-based, end-to-end architecture for authoring, producing, and delivering technical information, which was developed by IBM. She also highlighted training as a core component for writers to fully use DITA.

Next in the pipeline were interesting presentations on “MS Office Security” and “Business of Technical Communication” by Khushboo Jitra (NII Consulting) and John Rosberg (Interwoven).). Khusboo, articulate in her presentation, provided a few strategies for the password protection of MS Word documents and related some document security incidents. John Rosberg identified the business aspects of technical writing and laid a path for technical writers to identify and analyze those issues in real-life scenarios.

But the speaker of the day (in my opinion) was Francisco Abedrabbo. Francisco delivered a keynote on “Tips to Grow Your Writing Career: A Manager's Perspective.”

Amidst all this activity, Frederick Menezes (Symantec) hosted the Quiz preliminaries. Four teams qualified for the finals from the written round. In the evening, a jam session was organized for the technical writers to unwind and "kick up their heels." It certainly grew entertaining as the DJ played some peppy numbers.


Final Conference Day Activities

The final day of the conference began with a presentation on “Documentation Program Management” by Vasanth Vaidyanathan and Anjana Sriram. It was followed by Suman Kumar’s (Dell) session on usability testing. Suman briefed the audience on the principles of usability testing, with suitable examples, but did not have of time, to not go into detail. Mary Alexander, a master in her own right, spoke on RSS Blogs and forums.

Everyone was geared up to witness the all-important panel discussion comprising stalwarts like Makrand Pandit, Gururaj BS, and Sai Kavitha, which was moderated by Manoj Bokil. Each of the dignitaries spoke on their respective arenas. Mak provided his views on making technical communication a business; Gururaj spoke on the career path for a technical writer; and Sai Kavitha delivered technical communication from a manager’s perspective as a panel discussion with a Q&A session following the presentation.

Frederick Menezes hosted the Quiz final session with the gathering cheering for their favorites. The team of Akash Dubey, Vasudha Rangarajan, and Anthony Francis took the winner’s title.


Conclusion

Amidst all this knowledge sharing, the conference was a hub for various companies to set up their stalls, not only to promote their companies, but also to solicit feedback from the delegates. In addition, there were organized contests and hordes of prize awards. The 8th STC Regional Conference–Bangalore proved to be a showcase for sharing knowledge and dispersing the diversity of technical communication.