This is Part 7 of our The Life of a Project Series. It's great when a project goes as expected; when all the required material is given to the technical writer, all the SMEs are there to give their input and review the document in progress, and it all comes together on time. I've had many projects like that over the years. By far, the most amazing project I ever had - in all my years as a technical…
This is Part 6 of our The Life of a Project Series. A massive project requires...well, massive resources. On both sides. On our side, we had three writers working to finish this project on time. We set up a protocol for dealing with the client and within our company. All work went to a single point of contact on our side. To be honest, there were two points of contact. One senior writer, with many years of experience, a…
This is Part 5 of our The Life of a Project Series. The difference between a MAJOR project and a minor one is often what currently exists. Before you can calculate whether deadlines are realistic or you've got another one of those impossible documentation mountains to climb, you need to assess the materials on hand. The earlier you do this, the better the estimate will be and the less time wasted. In this series, I'm trying to combine general…
This is Part 4 of our The Life of a Project Series. I'll start by saying that outlining a project is at the same time very important and very difficult. At times, it is even impossible. When it is impossible, obviously, you shouldn't waste your time doing it. In the case of this project, I could stop right here because there was no time to make an outline. But, even more critical, there was nothing on which to base…