TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Re: Absence of FrameMaker from your skill set -- what does it say?
Subject:Re: Absence of FrameMaker from your skill set -- what does it say? From:Stuart Burnfield <slb -at- westnet -dot- com -dot- au> To:Techwr-l <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Mon, 3 Aug 2009 19:29:15 +0800 (WST)
All I'd add to what's already been said is that you should consider the range of skills your group has now compared with what you expect to need in, say, 1-2 years.
> I'm one of the writers and I use Frame, two others use Word,
> and a fourth uses RoboHelp...
> There's a strong sentiment among some of our managers
> in favor of standardizing on Frame.
Then it sounds like much of the future work will be done in Frame, though Word or RH will still be the right tool for some jobs. Your company already has some Frame skills (yours), so that's an acceptable starting point, but more would certainly be better. If you're the only expert, expect to spend a lot of your time on the three Ts (templates, training and troubleshooting).
With another experienced Frame user on board you could share the load. No doubt the two of you will be familiar with different techniques and different parts of the product. You'll learn from each other and be better teachers to the others.
However, I'd much rather work with someone good than someone who has the right badges but who looks like they could be a burden.
List Frame skills as a plus but also list other skills that you need more of. Pick the best writer who can also enrich your group.
Stuart
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices. http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
