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Special Interest Group:
Making the Transition from Technical Writing to Usability
Fred Drake, Group Manager of Technical Writing and Performance-Centered
Design, Shared Medical Systems Corporation, a provider of software and
business solutions for the Health Industry located in Malvern, Pa.
Whitney Quesenbery, Vice President, Design Services, Cognetics Corporation,
an interface design and usability company located in Princeton, NJ and
Washington, DC
Thursday, July 1, 1999, 5:15-6:30 pm
Who's willing to brainstorm and exchange "lessons learned" on the migration
of a technical writers to usability analysts and interface designers. Many
companies are turning to their technical communicators to become the staff
for new initiatives to integrate usability into their product development
teams, in addition to their role in creating the complementary user
assistance (wizards, cuecards etc.) And individuals, tired of documenting
increasingly complex and difficult-to-use software, are looking for ways to
change the software itself.
For SMS, a shift to a more performance centered focus (made with the help
of Gloria Gery), also revealed a need to simplify the design of the
software interface. A five person "performance-centered design" (PcD) team
was created from the technical writing group. Additional expertise during
the transition was obtained from Cognetics Corporation. The group
cost-justified, built and now use a dual-suite usability lab. The next
stage - the evolution of the bulk of the technical writing group - is now
under way.
This SIG will provide an opportunity to share experiences, observations,
successes and setbacks with others making their own transition. The format
will be an open discussion, looking at the challenges his transition poses
for the organization and the individuals. Some topics for discussion include:
- What new skills are needed and how can they be developed?
Some of the basic technical communication skills can be applied directly to
design and usability, but others must be developed. What are the most
pressing needs for new skills development, and what is the most effective
way to retrain existing staff? Are colleges providing the education
required for writers to create the advanced user assistance to complement
the UI (e.g. cue cards , wizards.)
- What culture changes occur in the department or organization as a whole?
How should the new group be structured and where does it fit into the
organization. For example, one company has merged its human factors,
graphical presentation staff, and their technical writing group (while
encouraging writers to enhance their HF/usability skills). They created a
second job family with an increased set of skill requirements, hire almost
exclusively into the new family, while they migrate the original technical
writing team. What other organizational solutions have been tried?
- How are compensation scales affected? What job and department titles are
appropriate to communicate the new roles?
As technical writers gain new skills and move into the software development
arena, they should also move into new (higher) compensation scales. How can
a department cost-justify this change? How important is compensation in
creating internal respect and status? What promotional criteria are
appropriate and how can the changes be implemented without undue corporate
upheaval?
- How can an organization retain people it has retrained?
Are companies finding that their new usability experts are leaving the
company for new opportunities? Why? What can be done to create a situation
which encourages retention?
- How can we ensure the transition succeeds?
The session "Making it Happen: Integrating a User-Centered Design
Methodology into the Corporate Structure" (co-presented by SMS and Charlie
Kreitzberg of Cognetics) looks at what it takes (culture change, process
change, etc.) to introduce UcD/PcD into a large software development company.
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