The theme for Intercom this month is Change Happens: Are We Ready? Four feature authors address this topic with articles that focus on change. Bonnie Demback provides best practices for transitioning to an Agile workplace based on her research of technical writers working in an Agile development environment. For 20 years, she was a technical writer following the Waterfall systems development lifecycle. To help adapt to Agile, a very divergent methodology, she researched the process and found SMEs who have successfully written documentation using Agile.
Victoria Deen McCrady writes about Millennials in the workforce, what distinguishes them from other generations, and how experienced technical writers must anticipate the needs of these new novice users. She asks, what do you do to make new Millennial users “sticky” when they often assume a veneer of technological sophistication that can make it more difficult for them to adapt to new interfaces? Her article includes perspectives from an EBSCO user research analyst and the owner of a technical support company, characteristics of Millennials’ website interaction, and some take-away advice.
In “Preparing New Writers for Change,” Aimee Whiteside shares her biggest mistakes as a technical writer to help new writers cope with transitions and organizational changes. Drawing from research, she outlines six critical skills for new writers to weather change (data gathering/problem solving, detail orientation, organization, project management, teamwork, and written and oral communication proficiency) as well as six essential core competencies (collaboration, flexibility, innovation, patience, personal mastery, and systems orientation).
As a woman, I found Emily January Petersen’s article particularly interesting. From interviews she conducted with female practitioners in professional and technical communication, she has uncovered innovative suggestions for building and boosting personal networks. For many women, and especially those working as lone writers, this article will offer some best practices for changing your networking techniques.
In addition, to these four features, there are three columns in this issue. Thomas Barker’s column The Academic Conversation focuses on technical writers as change communicators. Fer O’Neil and Joy Cooney, guest columnists for Derek Ross’s Ethics column, use two case studies to highlight the problems of deadline-driven decisions. And Brian Still’s column Trends in Usability suggests how to construct a better user experience via site visits and user shadowing.
I hope all Intercom readers will join me in giving a warm welcome to STC’s newest staff member, James Cameron, Communications Manager and Assistant Editor. If you have any ideas for Society Pages or My Job/Off Hours articles, please contact James at james.cameron@stc.org. We are very pleased to have him onboard!
