Office Productivity
A Simple Critical Path (PERT) Analysis for Time Estimation of Writing Projects
Time estimation is one of the critical tasks in any technical communication project. How long will a project take? When will you start doing it? And when do you expect to finish it? Similar time-performance related questions are usually not easy to answer with 100% precision due to the number of variables that are usually…
Read MoreShould You Always Write to Communicate? How About Good'Old "Talking"?
© Ugur Akinci OK, I admit the irony upfront: this is a written argument about talking 🙂 But given my daily workload, I unfortunately still don’t have the time to create well-produced videos. So writing is still the quickest way for me to put an idea across. Yet, this is an important issue that also explains…
Read MoreHow to Map Out a Process for a Successful Technical Communication Department
© Ugur Akinci How do you run a technical communication department? How do you make sure your team works on a documentation project as it’s supposed to and pulls the oars in the same direction effectively? One way to do this is to draw (mentally or literally) a Process Map. Here is one offered by Chris…
Read MoreHow to Use Google for Simple Arithmetic Operations and Unit Conversions
Do you know that you don’t really need a calculator for simple arithmetic operations and (selected) unit conversions? You can do the four basic operations comfortably by typing it directly into Google Search Window: You can do square roots and exponents as well: You can use Google for some simple unit and currency conversions as…
Read MoreHow to Use Google Tasks to Increase Your Productivity
Tucked conveniently right inside Google Mail is the personal productivity booster Google Tasks that I use to keep track of all kinds of different tasks. I for example use Tasks regularly to keep track of various article ideas and writing projects. To launch this nifty little utility, log in to your Google Gmail account (free)…
Read MoreA Great FREE Online Typing Program to Improve Your Personal Productivity
© 2011 Ugur Akinci If you need to improve your typing skills by learning how to type 10-fingers here is a great free online program: http://www.sense-lang.org If you know other online typing programs, feel free to share it by commenting. Many thanks in advance!
Read More6 Different Ways to Distribute Large Technical Documents
© 2011 Ugur Akinci Large files have always been a distribution headache for technical writers. PDF files, book files of all kinds, PPT files need to be planned and generated always with an eye towards their distribution. If your files are too big to send around, review and approval processes will be jeopardized. Here are…
Read More7 Alternatives to Adobe Acrobat for Creating PDF
© 2011 Ugur Akinci Adobe Acrobat is an excellent software for generating PDF copies of technical documents. Once something is converted to PDF, you can view it on any OS platform in the same format. However, Acrobat is not a cheap software. That’s why you might want to have a look at these more affordable and/or open-source…
Read MoreHow to Name Files in a Technical Documentation Project
© 2011 Ugur Akinci Naming files — it sounds like something easy to do, doesn’t it? But I know from experience: it can actually become a very complicated and tangled-up affair with productivity-killing consequences. The root of the problem lies in the fact that the name should make sense not only for the creator, the…
Read More4 Reasons Why All Companies Should Have Terminology Management
What is Terminology Management? Terminology Management is a vital technical communication function for all corporations. Larger the corporation, more urgent is the need to have a standard catalog of terms and concepts used consistently across all levels of the organization. The goal of a terminology is to provide a set of terms that are well-defined,…
Read More