Tuesday

Complete Lead Reviews

All technical writers are responsible for developing their documentation projects as needed and driving their projects to completion, but we offer a "lead review" as part of the process to help verify our company standards and to serve as a second pair of eyes. As a manager, I review a lot of documents to ensure that the presentation, style, and grammar are consistent and of high quality. I also make sure the content seems complete and makes sense to me because I have an outsider's perspective. If I can understand it, then our customers should too.

For all documents produced in my group, I review the document at least once—although sometimes several times if the document is new or we made a lot of changes—and then I complete a signoff checklist as a last verification before publishing the document.

Because I manage the documentation for the DAQ hardware product lines, I also review DAQ content from other groups to make sure that the content is correct and clear. Today I review a document from a technical writer in LabVIEW to make sure the DAQ content is accurate. The manual is pretty long, so I might have to finish some of it on another day.

Play Volleyball

Developing friendships with other employees is a key part of being successful in the workplace. When members of a work group have fun together, they learn how to communicate effectively with one another. Improved communication increases productivity and reduces tension during aggressive deadlines.

Tuesday evening my product group reserves the volleyball court for our weekly game. Playing volleyball is a great way to finish a hectic work day. For my group, it's a good time to relax and hang out. It also helps us meet people from other groups in a laid-back setting. In addition to playing volleyball, people at my company play roller hockey, basketball, and Foosball to unwind.