Will Kelly

WWD Post: 6 Tips For Using Google Wave On Your First Project

As Google is issuing Wave invites in a steady trickle, those fortunate enough to have an account are trying to figure out how this new tool might fit into their workflow and help them better communicate and collaborate with their teams and clients.

via webworkerdaily.com

My latest WWD post is based upon using Google Wave for the first time on a client project. While Google Wave still has some rough edges, but the new model shows great promise. I am really liking how Google Wave is managing our conversations on the project.

WWD Post: Web Office Suites: Complementary and Coopetive Technologies

My recent post “5 Web Office Considerations: Beyond the Buzz” garnered some thought-provoking comments, which got me pondering on the proper place for the web office suite (whether it is ThinkFree, Zoho or Google Apps) in today’s world.

via webworkerdaily.com

WWD Post: Access Office Live Workspace or SharePoint from Office 2008 Mac

Microsoft collaboration software is the typical corporate tool of choice, which, by extension, means that the Windows version of Microsoft Office was the office productivity suite of choice. However, a recent update to Microsoft Office 2008 for the Mac now enables Mac users to access both Microsoft SharePoint sites and Office Live Workspace.

via webworkerdaily.com

WWD Post: Book Review: "97 Things Every Project Manager Should Know"

I think project management books should be on every web worker’s reading list because — like it or not — even if your job title isn’t “project manager,” you still have to manage your own portion of the projects you participate in. Even some informal grounding in project management can be helpful for those “rare” times you are pulled into help bring a failing project back to life.

via webworkerdaily.com

WWD Post: GoToMeeting On the Mac

Citrix’s GoToMeeting, part of the Citrix Online collaborative suite, is one such service. It also meets one of my other prime requirements — the client is easily installable by users of all levels. One thing that will spoil a web conference before it’s even started is when participants have a hard time installing the local client so they can’t join the conference. This issue can happen to even the most experienced web worker, not just the technology neophyte.

via webworkerdaily.com

Random and Recent Projects

Despite some recent ups and downs in my personal life, I must say I've been pretty busy when it comes to projects including:

• After receiving my Google Wave invite, I've been pondering its potential impact on technical writing and document collaboration in general. In fact, I am writing a follow up post to How Google Wave can drown Technical Writers.
• Back to writing more for WebWorkerDaily because I had a number of distractions in October.
• Rethinking my gym workouts after taking a week off to clear my head on some personal matters.
• Plunging even further into my new iPhone 3G s.
• Getting ready to upgrade one of the Vista machines in my home office to Windows 7.

WWD Post: 5 Web Office Considerations: Beyond the Buzz

Recently, we covered the release of the Microsoft Office 2010 Web Apps Technical Preview. While it was great to get a first look at this release, it was even more interesting to pull back and read the flurry of blog postings, pundit pontifications, tweets and articles that were all over the web, ranging from those stating that this was the end of Microsoft Office, to those saying that Microsoft Office 2010 Web Apps is going to wipe Google Apps and Zoho off the map.

via webworkerdaily.com

I am a regular user of Google Docs (in fact I wrote this WWD post in Google Docs) and have experience supporting the roll out of Microsoft Office in a major government agency. Additionally, throughout my career, I've had to resolve a number of document publishing issues rooted in Microsoft Word and templates.

Web Office suites do have their place and are examples of innovation in my opinion. However, organizations have a lot of things to consider before implementing a Web Office solution that is beyond the current buzz surrounding these services.

WWD Post: Corporate Culture, Not Technology, Drives Online Collaboration

Recently, Simon reported on a couple of interesting studies looking at the use of collaboration technologies in the workplace, Forrester’s “The State Of Workforce Technology Adoption: US Benchmark 2009” and Frost & Sullivan’s “Meetings Around the World II: Charting the Course of Advanced Collaboration.” Both reports have great stories to tell about the current state of collaboration technology acceptance within corporations. However, both reports skim over what is perhaps the key element in driving online collaboration within an organization: Corporate culture.

via webworkerdaily.com

I wrote this post based on some of my experience working as a consultant and seeing inside organizations where remote working really worked and just wasn't paid lip service. Culture seemed to be the key to the success of online collaboration.

Recent Lessons Learned

Here are some recent lessons I've learned over the past few months both personally and professionally:

Lame Technical Writer Interview Questions

It seems that when an organization wants to add a contract or full-time technical writer to their staff they are at a loss as to what questions they should ask the candidates. I've certainly had some lame interview questions asked to me over the years.

At times, it has seemed that because I have a liberal arts degree, some prospective clients and employers weren't sure about my background and experience because I was not a programmer and didn't have a technical degree but it's not like they have to poke me with a stick.

Although, I must admit that the lame questions and attitudes I've experienced while interviewing have been in the minority. But oh boy, the questions do stand out to me until this day.