• Larry Kunz on Responding to feedback starts before the review

    Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes! These are all great tips for ensuring that the review begins with everyone having the same set of expectations. It's the best way to ensure an effective review that everyone will feel good about. May I add just one more recommendations? Unless the process is...
    Posted Mar 13, 2012

  • Job Coaching on How Job Coaching Prepared Me for Technical Communication

    Hi Kristi. You've put together a great post here. Job coaching can offer a new perspective on your career that's completely tailored to your specific needs. Best wishes, Alex.
    Posted Feb 22, 2012

  • Tom Johnson on When is it time to hire the technical writer?

    Kristi, you make many good points with this post, and although my recent post explored the alternative point of view, I agree that some advantages only take place through early integration. Adjustments to interface language is one of the main advantages. Once an app is out there, it's much harder...
    Posted Feb 03, 2012

  • Yael Saar on Writing is prototyping: Dear Sugar

    Oh, I love this. And since I call my work Permission-Based Healing, I am so glad that Sugar and you dish it so wisely. Let the prototyping begin!
    Posted Jan 30, 2012

  • Kristi on Design School, With an M.B.A. Sidecar

    Thanks, Karen! It is so wonderful. My first week did not disappoint. And I'm hearing that 100-hour weeks is probably an exaggeration, especially at the beginning.
    Posted Aug 26, 2011

  • Karen Mardahl on Design School, With an M.B.A. Sidecar

    All the best to you Kristi! This sounds wonderful exciting. Yes, it's hard work, too, but I also think you're going to have loads of fun along the way.
    Posted Aug 24, 2011

  • Kristi on How Do You Define “Design?”

    Here is a more concrete, concise definition from later in Buchanan's paper: "[T]he plan, project, or working hypothesis which constitutes the "intention" in intentional operation . . ."
    Posted Jul 25, 2011

  • Kristi on Testing content: how do you find the right testers?

    Yes, that would have been a good idea. Maybe before the next Summit, we could do some testing and give them suggestions for next year.
    Posted May 27, 2011

  • Kristi on Testing content: How do you scope the testing?

    Excellent. What kinds of documents do you think you will test?
    Posted May 27, 2011

  • GUO QIAOYUN on Testing content: How do you scope the testing?

    I am very interested in this session. AND we are try to do some doc testing this year.
    Posted May 27, 2011

  • Ben on Testing content: how do you find the right testers?

    Kristi, The group of test participants needs to be as similar as possible to the intended users of the document. You don't need a lot of them. There are also many other types of tests that can be employed. (Alice Preston wrote a great summary of these at http://www.stcsig.org/usability/newsletter/0401-methods.html) that don't...
    Posted May 24, 2011

  • Kristi on Testing content: how do you find the right testers?

    Here are some ideas from the Sacramento workshop for finding users: recruit on Craigslist and offer incentives ask someone who has access to find willing participants among users piggy back on a class or event
    Posted May 22, 2011

  • Kristi on Testing content: how do you write effective scenarios?

    Solutions discussed: Involve someone who has access who is enthusiastic, avoid complex scenarios, use paper prototypes or simulations. I want to pose a new problem: how do you wrangle paper prototypes out of technical communicators and product specialists? We all want to put our best work out there. So how...
    Posted May 22, 2011

  • Kristi on Testing content: How do you scope the testing?

    One solution discussed during the workshop: Mix it up; test a variety of things. My thoughts: this lets you compromise, and it lets you test which testing formats work well for your content. It also means you can test very early ideas without worrying about them being enough to warrant...
    Posted May 22, 2011

  • Kristi on Grassroots Doc Testing Workshop: Chicago Summary

    Hi Ben, If I'm understanding correctly, MaryKay and Paul are speaking more to the idea of trying to define a narrower scope for the testing: focusing strictly on usability rather than validating the content. That said, the revisions I've made to the format of the workshop are geared towards making it absolutely...
    Posted May 08, 2011