“You fuck them, you kiss them”

Sounds absurd, isn’t it. But those were the words from a project manager while I was having a conversation about what should be the qualities of a project manager. Then, I did a Google search on top 10 qualities or top five qualities of project manager and I got a host of results on the same. There are number of articles that are available that will tell you what should be the quality or qualities of a project manager. Here are some of them that I found the most critical of them that I felt should be the most important qualities of project manager.

First and foremost, a good communicator

Communication holds the key for any project manager as you need communicate well with people with the team members all levels in a project. A project manager should be able to clearly communicate the goals, responsibility, performance, and expectations within the project. It has been known that communication helps the project managers to support individual and team achievements by creating explicit guidelines to accomplish the results. However, you not only have to be a good communicator; instead, you need to be a good two-way communicator, which means it is important that apart from giving information, you need to take feedback, and handle it correctly.

Possess a shared vision

A project manager should possess a shared vision that should be common with the team. A great leader or a manager is one that lifts their team and provides a vision and spirit to change. According to Bennis "They offer people opportunities to create their own vision, to explore what the vision will mean to their jobs and lives, and to envision their future as part of the vision for the organization." (Bennis, 1997)

Cool like a cucumber

Sounds like a phrase from Navjot Singh Sidhu’s book of dictionary but it’s a fact that the project manager need to be cool and calm under pressure situations. We do no live in a perfect world where projects would be delivered on time and without any problems. As the project proceeds towards completion, there are bound to be some problems to occur. However, a successful project manager is one who stays calm at such situations and takes these problems with a positive attitude. It is always recommended to never let your team see you sweat because of the problems that may occur in the project. The ability to stay calm when everything seems to go wrong is vital.

Able to delegate tasks

Again, an important quality of project manager is to be able to delegate tasks to the team. In fact, this is the most essential element for the project manager. There are a number of tasks that should be delegated to different team members as you simply cannot do everything yourself. You must be able to demonstrate your trust in other people by allowing them to get on with the work they are best suited for. This allows you to focus on the tasks that require your skills. So, it goes without saying that the project manager should be able to recognize skills and expertise of the team members and delegate tasks accordingly.

Possess good problem-solving skills

Apart from all these, the project manager needs to also have good problem-solving skills. Project management is all about solving typical problems in a project. You need to ensure that right things happen at the appropriate or right time. There may be certain barriers that may occur in a project, and it’s up to you how well you remove those barriers. You must be able to look at those barriers and see a way around them. In addition, you also need to be creative to solve problems in your project.

Have good team building skills

A successful project manager is one who binds the team together to achieve a common objective. The project manager need to be able to understand the process and moral force required for transforming the group of strangers into a single cohesive unit. In addition, you as a project manager should know appropriate leadership style that needs to be followed during each stage of team development.

Empathize with the team

A good project manager needs to also empathize with the team members. By empathy, we mean that project manager need to have a good understanding of the team members. In addition, the project manager needs to understand that there is a life outside the workplace. However, you need to be sure that you do not mistake empathy with sympathy. Though, the words may sound similar but they both are mutually exclusive.

Passionate about work

It is generally said that a project manager without passion lacks dedication to their work. The project manager needs to be passionate about the project and must be enthusiastic with right attitude for the team members to follow and respect their decisions. The project manager who have a negative attitude and are not enthusiastic let the team down. The team wants a project manager who has a “can do” attitude. An enthusiastic project manager stay committed towards the goal, and expresses this commitment through positive attitude.

Good understanding about industry

A project manager must possess some industry knowledge and skills that are required for the project. To put it simply, you as a project manager should know what you are doing and should be able to guide the team. The project manager needs to know who the client is and the sort of industry the client is involved in to better suit the requirements.

Integrity

A project manager is one who is able to display high degree of integrity throughout the project lifecycle. This helps improve your chances of success, strengthens your position as a solid leader and earns you respect from both client and project team. As defined in the English dictionary as “Steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code”, integrity is something a Project Manager needs time to develop and demonstrate, but once you have established yourself to the team members as a leader with a great deal of integrity, you will find that your working relationships improve dramatically. By integrity, we also mean that as a project manager, you should be able to “accept responsibility for a mistake that you or one of your project team members have made” and “defend a project team member or client when a situation arises”.

Conclusion

All these qualities are a “must have” for a successful project manager. However, this does not mean that these qualities are sufficient for a successful project manager. There may be more than these qualities. As each project is different from another, all these qualities are used at random but in accordance to the needs of the project. However, the key is that the successful project manager needs to know how to maintain stability in the project and should be able to do whatever it would take to get the task done.

Till then, happy project managing!

References

• http://www.promana.net/qualities-needed-to-be-a-strong-project-manager/
• http://analogperceptionz.blogspot.com/2011/06/are-you-qualified-to-be-project-manager.html

Have I misused something? - Commonly used confused words in technical writing – Part I

Do you use certain words interchangeably? While writing any technical documentation, you might have encountered few commonly confused words. These words appear and sound similar but have different meanings altogether. While writing, you not only need make explicit use of the vocabulary but also understand the proper usage of commonly-used words. Otherwise, it might confuse your reader and the result is that it might affect your documentation in terms of user experience. It may not be possible even to catch these confused words while using the spell check utility of any authoring tool. Remember the golden rule in technical writing, “Do not be solely dependent on spell check to find out mistakes related to the choice of words”.

In this two-part series article, I will list some of the commonly used words in technical writing which are often misused while writing any technical documentation.

Here are some of those confused words that you use in your technical documentation:

A while Vs Awhile

A while, a combination of article and a noun, which means a short time or a period. It is used as a subject of a sentence usually used after ‘for’ preposition. Consider this example, “I sat for a while before continuing my journey”.

Awhile, is an adverb, which means for a short time or period, and it is used without any preceding preposition. Consider this example, “I slept awhile before the dinner”.

Affect Vs Effect

Affect, is a verb, which means to have an influence or to attack or infect. Consider this example, “The weather conditions will affect the number of people”. The word “Affect” may also be used as a noun to describe a facial expression. For example, “The woman took the news of her husband's sudden death with little affect”.

Effect, a noun, refers to something that occurs due to some action or an event. It also refers to the power to produce an outcome or achieve a result. Consider this example, “The prescribed medication had no effect on the patient's symptoms”.

All ready Vs Already

All ready, is a phrase, which refers to “completely ready” or “completely prepared”. Consider this example, “We are all ready and excited for our trip to Goa”.

Already, is an adverb, which refers to something that has happened before the present time or by this time. Consider this example, “We asked if he could accompany us to trip to Goa but he had already been there before”.

Beside Vs Besides

Beside, a preposition, which means to be at the side of or next to. Consider this example, “He was sitting besides her in the class room”.

Besides, an adverb or a proposition, which means “in addition to” or “also”. Consider this example, “Besides him, Ram and Shyam also went to watch the movie”. 

Criteria Vs Criterion

Criteria is used as a plural noun, which is similar to “phenomena”. Consider this example, “Robert detailed the six basic criteria for accepting a client”.

Criterion is used as a singular noun, which is similar to “phenomenon”. Consider this example, “The only criterion used to judge a salesperson’s performance was sales”.

Comprise Vs compose

Comprise, a verb that refers to either “to include” or “contain”, and is used when discussing a whole that consists of parts. Consider this example, “The rock comprises of several minerals”, which also refers to “The rock ‘consists’ or ‘is made up’ of several minerals”.

Compose, a verb, which means “to make up” or “make”, and is used when discussing parts that make up the whole. Consider this example, “Many ethnic groups compose our nation”.

                            

Callout Vs Call out

Callout, a noun, which refers to an act or an instance of calling out something. It is usually used as a label in order to identify parts of an illustration. Consider this example, “You need to add callouts to this presentation to highlight few important points”.

Call out, is a phrase, which refers to speak in a loud voice or shout. Consider this example, “She called out the names of all the participants attending the music competition”.

Cite Vs Sight Vs Site

Cite, a verb, refers to a short note to quote something. Consider this example, “When writing research papers, you are required to cite their source of information”.

Sight, a noun, refers to something that can be seen or to see or spot something. Consider this example, “As we grow older, our sight is affected the most”.

Site, a noun, refers to a physical location such as a house or a neighborhood. Consider this example, “Yesterday, I visited the site where our new home will be built”.

Discreet Vs Discrete

 Discreet, an adjective, refers to being careful or cautious or not to cause an embarrassment. Consider this example, “You need to be discreet before proceeding with this venture”.

Discrete, an adjective, refers to being distinct or detached from others or to be separate. Consider this example, “He divided the team into two discrete groups, performers and non-performers”.

Disc Vs Disk

Disc, a noun, refers to a compact disc or a CD-ROM/DVD-ROM. Consider this example, “You need to use Windows 2000 Professional Compact Disc in order to install Win2k operating system”.

Disk, a noun, refers to a flat circular plate. Consider this example, “The hard disk consists of some important information”.

Especially Vs Specially

Especially, an uncommon adjective, refers to something that is exceptional or in a noteworthy manner. Consider this example, “My mother knitted a pullover especially for me”.

Specially, a common adjective, refers to something that is used for a particular purpose or that is distinct. Consider this example, “This session has been specially conducted for the experienced IT professionals”.

Few Vs Less

Few, an adjective, relates to number and refers to the things that can be counted. Consider this example, “There were fewer apples in the super market today”.

Less, an adjective, related to the amount and refers to the things that can be measured. Consider this example, “He has less than five minutes to board the plane to go to the United States of America”.  

References

Refer here,

• http://homepage.smc.edu/reading_lab/words_commonly_confused.htm
• http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html#d

Bidding Good Bye to the year 2009!

“If it didn't bring you joy

just leave it behind
Let's ring in the new year
with good things in mind

Let every bad memory
that brought heartache and pain
And let's turn a new leaf
with the smell of new rain

Let's forget past mistakes
making amends for this year
Sending you these greetings
to bring you hope and cheer”

These are some of the wonderful lines from a beautiful poem that I found while I was searching the Internet. Yes, it is true that the year 2009 is about to end, and the countdown has just begun. We have just few days before the year 2009 will hand over the baton to the New Year, 2010. Everyone must have some very good and few bad memories in the year 2009. So, let’s just forget the bad ones but just let us just ensure that we won’t commit those again in the New Year. So, what is it that we can do to ensure that we as Technical Writers can do better in this industry, and be upbeat with others? Is there any mantra to succeed, and have a dream job? What is the kind of job that we should look forward to in the New Year? These are some of the questions that you must be wondering while you are bidding farewell to the year 2009, and that whether the New Year will be good for the Technical Writing market. There are few things that you can do in any situation to have a dream job. Let us discuss some of them in this article.

1. Go networking!
Network! Network! Network!
This is the new mantra now for getting hired as a technical writer. And, by network, I don’t meant to say LAN, WAN, and MAN.. ..What I mean to say is that you need to join a social networking group in Technical Writing. Though, there are so many such groups available in LinkedIn, TWI, TWIN, and so on. But, it is you who have to decide which to choose from. Of course, the best one up till now is STC because it gives you an opportunity to interact with technical writers around the globe. It might consume your time when you busy with your work pressure and meeting deadlines. But, lest ensured, it will reap you results sooner or later. By networking, you might not get hired in your dream job but it will definitely give you a chance to expand yourselves as you will come in contact with many people, which will help you in your career growth. And to add to it, these social networking groups also include many reputed employers.

So, Go Networking from the day ONE of the New Year. Join a Technical Writing social networking group.

2. Jack of all, and master of ONE
You must have heard of this phrase many times now. But what is really means is that you need to master in one tool that you have been using throughout your career, and become an expert. But, at the same time, you need to gain some knowledge and hands on experience on almost all the major tools that technical writers use. Of course, you might be wondering that how is it possible to learn each and every tool when there are so many tools available in the market. But, you can at least learn those tools that are the most demanding ones in the market.

So, Master one tool but become a Jack of all the tools.

3. Build your resume
In order to have your dream job, you must create your resume in a manner that it impresses the employers first hand. And, to do this, you must include some of your best projects that you have undertaken throughout your career. Do not forget to include the following things while including the project details:

• Project name
• Project description
• Client you worked on for the project
• Domain that you worked on
• Skills / tools you used in the project
• And most importantly, the role you played in the project and the team size.
  

4. Stay ahead of the rest, and be qualified
Though, you might be working as a technical writer; but, you also need to ensure that you always stay ahead of the others as the skills sets change continuously. For instance, today you might be working in Framemaker but tomorrow there might be some other tool in the market that may become a “Hot” requirement for employers. So, you need to just take time out to find out the latest tools and techniques used in technical writing. As I said earlier, you can do this if you have joined any social networking groups such as STC or TWIN. You need to subscribe to any industry magazines where you can find any specific specialty such as software, hardware, or engineering. You must learn on the latest tools, and get yourself equipped with latest technologies in technical writing otherwise you might just fade away.

5. Get yourself acclaimed
Start the New Year by getting acclaimed in whatever you do whether it is into writing an article for a newsletter or volunteering for a position in a social networking group. Getting acclaimed might not necessarily find you a dream job but it will definitely give you a sense of satisfaction. Rather, it will also put you in contact with professionals in your field who can recommend you, and give you advice about companies and the career paths that you can choose from. Volunteer for a position that you feel it’s appropriate for you. For example, you can choose to interview a renowned personality whom you feel has brought laurels to the field of Technical Writing, and get it published in a magazine. You can also become a design a layout of a newsletter or a magazine if you are really creative or join a coordinating committee in a social networking group to organize various meet-ups, workshops, seminars, and so on technical writing.

6. Master the Interview
Job Interviews are arduous and it’s hard to match with the requirements of the interviewer. But, we can at least try our best by remembering the basics and stay confident in what we do at the present. These days, most interviews happen over the telephone so we will not know the facial expression of the interviewer. So, here we are with a drawback while facing an interview. The key lies in to believe in one self, and do not ever lie or amplify your skills. You should stay positive about your abilities. Remember, if you stay honest then you may get your dream job as compared to when you are dishonest with the interviewer.

Conclusion

Let us just summarize whatever we have discussed so far

1. Go networking!

2. Jack of all, and master of ONE

3. Build your resume

4. Stay ahead of the rest, and be qualified

5. Get yourself acclaimed

6. Master the Interview

While, there is no sure shot way to get a dream job as a technical writer but the things we discussed will get you at least closer to your dream job. If you apply these methods in the year 2010, then it might increase your chances to succeed in the career of technical writing.

Domain knowledge: Is it essential for technical writers and content developers!

A lot is talked about how domain knowledge is essential for technical writers in today’s industry. Before even we go into detail into why is it important, let us first understand what you mean when you say “Domain Knowledge”.

A standard definition of Domain knowledge is that it is knowledge about the environment in which the target system operates. It is critical for a technical writer to acquire knowledge about a particular domain because a technical writer often acts as a bridge between the end-users and software developers. A Domain is generally defined as an area of interest or an area which you are communicating about. A domain is also defined as a particular environment that you are already working in or interested to work.

As a technical writer, you are required to understand the market specifics that vary from different geographies. You need to understand the overall trends in the market, as well as technology and economic trends that could impact product performance, who are the competitors, what are their strengths/weaknesses, and where are they heading. All this information and much more constitute to “Domain Knowledge”. But, you must be wondering in your mind, why at all it is essential to gain domain knowledge when you have Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to do the job for you. As a technical writer, your job is to develop documentation for the software. The rest shall be left for the SMEs to validate it. Then, why has it become so essential today to gain domain knowledge?

Agrees Mohan Babu K. in his article that business domain knowledge is extremely important particularly in an offshore environment.

So, gone are the days when you were just writing just for software. Today, at one stage when you are writing for software and on the other, you would be also writing for a financial institution.

Why Domain knowledge?

Acquiring knowledge of a domain always helps you to add variety to your profile. It adds some spice to your resume. It is better when you acquire knowledge in more than just one domain. There are various business domains where you can acquire knowledge on such as:

• Finance
• Human Capital Management (HCM)
• Telecom
• Retail
• Industrial & Distribution
• Electronics / Semiconductors
• Medicine
• Biotechnology
• Banking
• Engineering
• Aviation
• Building & Public Utility
• Consulting/Professional Services
• Defense
• Educational Institutions
• Shipping
• Government
• Hardware and Software
• Healthcare

And, the above list is endless. However, it is utmost essential that you master in one particular domain and acquire knowledge on each of the other domains. This will help you to stay upbeat with the current market scenario. But, the question is that Is domain knowledge an essential requirement for a technical writer?

Knowledge of a particular domain (s) is considered as a secondary requirement for any job opportunity of technical writers. The first and foremost requirement is to write clearly, and an ability to grasp the new concept (s). So, if you have this ability to grasp any new topic or domain, you can do a wonderful job as a technical writer. Thus, I feel that Domain knowledge is not a primary requirement for technical writers. Knowledge of a domain helps you to interact with the SMEs in a better manner thereby fortifying your interpersonal relationship within the organization. It also gives a confidence among your client who feels a sense of satisfaction when you are able to understand what the client is trying to say. It happens sometimes, when a client speaks about a concept and you are not aware of. But, if you have knowledge of the subject being spoken about by the client, this gives a level of confidence to not only the client but to you even. In other words, remember the golden rule, “Domains stay but the technologies change thereafter.”

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time, there was a Project Manager who used to work in a multinational software company. Or, should I start with “Once upon a time..”; but, since I am telling a story so I have to use it. Nevertheless, the Project Manager is still working there. It’s only that his life has been reformed now, and he is an improved person.

So, the Project Manager used to work 24 hours a day and seven days a week, and he was dedicated to his job. He had already been a recipient of many “Star Employee” awards in the company. Let me tell you about his personal life. He was married and had a good-looking wife. He also had a 6-year old son who went to a private school. But, since the Project Manager was always dedicated to his work…so he didn’t even had time to know about his child’s well being. Moreover, what class he has been into and he don’t even noticed his child’s first walk. Therefore, one day, when finally, he had nothing to do at office, he decided to go home a little early. That was a surprise for some of the people working in the company, and some even saw him in amusement. But, finally the day has come when he decided to go early. Therefore, he called his cab and asked the cab driver to drop him early today. When he reached home, a six-year old boy (who was his son) opened the door who failed to recognize his own dad and asked him, “Who are you?” The boy then went to his mother, and said, “There is someone on the door whom I don’t know”. His mother came running to the door, and first felt surprised, and then felt a little angry. Surprised because her husband has come before even his usual time, and angry because her son had failed to recognize his father. But, she didn’t express her anger to his son; instead, she looked at her husband and just gave an indication with her eye like it saying, “Look, your son don’t even recognize you”. That was the most embarrassing moment for the Project Manager because his own son didn’t even recognize him as his father. He didn’t say a word to his wife or to his son. He quietly stepped inside the house, and went to his room. Then, he closed the door and locked it from inside. He then took out his family album which he didn’t have time to take out all through these years.

At least, we have an advantage to watch our past through the photographs which makes us realize that what we have missed and what we have done.

The Project Manager quietly kept turning the pages of the album, and saw the moments that he had missed, the moments that he could cherished, the moments that were much better than those awards and trophies which he won in the company, the moments that he could have enjoyed while he was busy bringing profits for his company. He kept on turning pages of the album, and with each page turned; a drop fell from his eyes making him realize of the fact that he has missed so many cherishing moments. Then, finally, he came to picture where he saw his son with a trophy, which was not similar to one he had received in the company because it was much smaller. But, he was happy that his son too had won a trophy but sad that he wasn’t there to enjoy and celebrate the moment. Finally, the album ended, and he made up his mind; that was the end of the day. Because from there on, he will be a refined person and he vowed to himself that he will come early and spent time with his family, which includes his wife and his son and enjoy every moment. He wiped his tears, and opened the door with a smile like he had just been born or like a doctor opens a door when a child is born showing signs of happiness. He then sat down to have dinner with his wife and son…and listened to his son’s wildest things, and enjoyed them.

The moral of the story is that “Work but in between also do not forget to spent time with your loved ones..your family, your family may include anyone, such as wife, son, mother, father, or anyone else….because they need your time more than your money. Money can be earned but not TIME because it is time that’s precious and not MONEY…TIME is more precious than thousands of diamonds because once you lose it…you are left with only memories and nothing else.

Am I a “Good” Writer?

Many times, I ask myself a question that whether I am a “good” technical writer or a “bad” technical writer. I wonder what will be the definition of Good and bad technical writer. Being a technical writer, it is my job to put scientific and technical information into easily understandable language. I must empathize with my audience because it’s the audience who will appreciate my efforts, and not the client. Technical writing is a noble profession because it brings me closer to my audience, and allows me to convey only one meaning to the audiences. As a technical writer, I must not write in complex sentences filled with jargon and impressive words. When I started my first job as a technical writer, I had certain doubts in my mind such as whether this job will interest me or whether I will be able to earn enough money compared to my colleagues who earn a lot of money, or whether I would be able to communicate well with the programmers/developers. However, after having work for so long years as a technical writer, I have found an interest in this field. Now, I look back and realize what might have been the effective tips and techniques I got from my peers and managers to come at this level.

Tips and Techniques
Here are few technical writing tips/techniques to differentiate between good and bad writing.

• THINK BEFORE YOU WRITE: As a technical writer, it is essential that you must think before you start writing a document whether it is a user manual, a proposal, or any training manual. It is extremely important that you must analyze a product, process, and procedure that need to be documented. You must first understand yourself clearly what you are writing about. It is as good as saying that “Put yourselves in your audience’s shoes”. Think how your audience will react to the product or a system. As a technical writer, you must consider yourselves as an "advocate" for the user, which means that you explain a system clearly from the audience’s perspective, anticipating the questions and problems of an average user. In this way, you may even provide suggestions to the system or procedure while is in the design phase.

• KISS: The word "KISS" means, keep it simple and stupid. When I say simple and stupid, what am talking is to keep your document simple and you should not make use of drawn out and complex sentences in the document.

• “ALWAYS FOLLOW THE TASK-BASED METHODOLOGY”: I found this heading from a website, and found it interesting. Now, you must be wondering what this “task-based approach” is. Consider a scenario where you got a host of information from a team of developers / programmers, and now you begin your phase of writing. While you documenting (user manual, training manual, or any proposal document), you might confuse yourselves to put all these details and give a proper shape. Thus, you must follow a task-based approach which means that you should always break a particular concept into different tasks. This will affect in structuring your document properly. A task-based approach allows you to analyze what tasks will the audience of your document want to perform. This will help you to benefit in terms of organization, readability and usability of a document. For example, consider a scenario where you wish to write a user manual for MS Word. For this, you should first describe how to start MS Word, create a new document, print a document, and work with a document and save the document. However, some of the technical writer might not agree with me as they would feel that a structured-based approach will be definitely a good option to write a document. It is certainly not wrong to use a structured approach as it is also essential to include structural information if your document is to be complete. However, you must understand from the audience’s perspective that an audience always wants first of all to accomplish a task, and then find out about the unessential details.

• AVOID USAGE OF PHRASES IN TECHNICAL DOCUMENTS: As a technical writer, when you should keep a document simple and sweet, it also becomes essential to avoid any usage of phrases in your document. These phrases may complicate a sentence and may even prove to be dull and boring. For example, you mustn’t use phrases such as “afford an opportunity to”, “in view of the fact that”, “prior to”, “with reference to”, and “for the purpose of”. Instead, you should use simple words such as allow, because, before, and about which have the same meaning but have a soothing effect to the audience.

• ALYWAYS MAKE USE OF ACTIVE VOICE: While you are writing a document, always remember to use active voice instead of passive voice. This makes your document interesting to read and even helps you to avoid using any lengthy sentences. Active voice usually is shorter and more direct than a passive voice, which is more complicated and lengthy.

• AVOID VERBOSITY: This is the most common tip that you may find in most of web sites. Verbosity means long-windedness, which means that you must not tell the audience about how much you know about a product or a system. However, you should understand how your audience will understand your document. For this, always remember to keep your sentences in a document as concise as possible. Keep your sentences crisp and make it interesting to be read.

• ORGANIZE USING HEADINGS: It is always said that a “heading” often summarizes a particular section for what you want to say to the audience. A heading may allow your audience to browse your document, and even skip certain sections that might not of immediate interest to the audience. Thus, it becomes utmost essential to organize your document with proper headings such as “Creating a Document”, “Saving a Document”, or “Closing the Application”. In addition, it is also recommended to use a “gerund” form while writing your headings. A gerund is a verbal that ends in -ing and functions as a noun. The term verbal indicates that a gerund, like the other two kinds of verbals, is based on a verb and therefore expresses action or a state of being. A heading should not also mislead an audience. It should clearly depict the contents of that section.

In the end, I would like to quote that Technical Writing, though might look a boring profession to some people as it involve a lot of writing but it also at the same time helps the audience to understand a complex product or a system. So, take on the flight of technical writing but before that do always remember to fasten your seat belts which tighten you for your safe journey.

Mentoring Technical Writers!

In the recently concluded mentoring programme organized by STC India chapter, I was asked to rate the programme. Sometimes, we are put in such difficult situations where we have to do what we find the most difficult to do it. The programs like this really should happen once in a while because it not only benefits those who are in need but also those who are willing to spend their time for such unique cause. Apart from work, these activities also form an important part of an individual working in a corporate environment. In the recently published article "Maintaining Work-Life Balance) in the Indus newsletter (http://stc-india.org/indus/), I have clearly outlined the benefits of maintaining the Work-life balance and how essential it is for each one of us to spend as much time with our family as we do with our work. Continuing on the same topic, I believe that we can maintain a balance between work and personal life by being associated with the work itself, and that can be done by participating in such activities. It is all about to rejuvenate your energy levels. By mentoring another technical writer, we got to know our strengths and weaknesses as well. I feel proud that I have been a part of such a program, and would definitely like to participate in more such programs.

If anyone of you is willing to learn technical writing, do contact me at my email: anuj.anujkapoor@gmail.com.