Work experience

With over twenty years in business and technical communications, I’ve designed, written and produced a wide range of  publications using a variety of hardware/software configurations as publishing platforms—including Microsoft Word, WInHelp and HTML under Windows, FrameMaker under UNIX, and QuarkXpress under the Apple O/S.

My special interest is in the “communications” half of technical communications, but learning new technical subject areas has never been a problem.

Printed publications

• vendor capabilities brochures

• requirements, functional and technical specifications and design documents

• users' guides

• software release notes

• system reference manuals

• hardware and software installation and troubleshooting guides

• systems development proposals and RFP responses

• employee training materials

• customer and employee newsletters

• white papers with a technical-engineering focus

• technical periodicals

• publication style guides and technical-writing project guidelines

Electronic publications

• online application help systems for multi-level user assistance, including Windows Help and HTML Help, and including hyperlinks at field level, keyword indexes, crosslinks, tables of contents, and embedded graphics

• standalone help systems for training and tutorial use

• full-colour graphics overhead presentations with a sales or management focus, including sound and animation

• World Wide Web pages, including full self-contained Web sites

Leadership and management experience

The following is a summary of general management skills and experience acquired over my technical publications career.

Team Building   I have enjoyed building several successful tech publications teams, in organizations both large and small, by using careful recruiting techniques and a strategy of seeking “complementarity” rather than duplication of skills. (That's just a fancy way of saying that it is better to have three people who do three different things especially well than three people who all do the same thing especially well. Within the technical communications field there are several sub-specialties—technical, visual, editorial—and it is rare to find a single candidate who excels in all of them.)

Strategic management support   By careful coordination with development project managers, as well as senior management, I ensure that my teams are well-positioned to respond to changing organizational objectives and priorities.

Effective liaison with customers and end-users   I have always tried to be a careful listener to customer and end-user needs and requirements. Only by focusing on customer business needs and performance expectations can the product documentation effort be successful and cost-effective.

Detailed work history

Please contact me to request a detailed resume in PDF or Microsoft Word format.

Back to top