Will Kelly

New WWD Post: 4 More Tips for Using Google Wave on Your First Project

After writing “6 Tips for Using Google Wave on Your First Project,” I’ve been learning more about Google Wave as my client and I use it for document collaboration and communication. Since I wrote the initial post, we’ve gotten a better handle on the features that are helping manage our Waves and related communications.

via webworkerdaily.com

New WWD Post: Project Management Tools: Beyond Gantt Charts

In my career as a contract technical writer, a project management pain point I’ve seen time and time again is in the communications of project schedules and status. The venerable Gantt chart is a project management staple, but stakeholders without formal project management training may find them difficult to understand.

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Handbell Choir Concert

Yesterday, I took a break to catch a handbell choir concert at church to try to get myself into the Christmas spirit. It was an enjoyable diversion on what was otherwise a cold, wet, and nasty Northern Virginia day.

A test post from OneNote 2010 to TypePad

This is a test from OneNote 2010.

My Favorite Web Apps for 2009

Web applications play a major part in my current professional work and there are some rather than others that join my list of favorites. Starting to write for WebWorkerDaily this year really gave me exposure to a lot of new applications and web services. Here are some of my favorite web services for 2009:

WWD Post: The Web Worker’s Client Site Survival Guide

While many of us love working in our home office or other alternative venue of choice there will often be times when your projects take you to a client site for an extended period of time. I’ve spent time on and off client sites for a majority of my career, and know it can be difficult for some workers who are used to working from home.

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WWD Post: 3 Tips for Learning Google Wave

I’ve been pondering how new users can get up to up to speed on Google Wave since writing “6 Tips for Using Google Wave on your First Project.” Learning Google Wave right now is going to require a “hands on” approach, because the platform’s still at an early stage, leaving its users to chart their own direction and usage scenarios.

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Snow!

I am spending the day inside enjoying the snow and working on some freelance projects.

3 Things Nobody will tell you about Remote Writing Projects

I've become sort of a student of remote working because of my freelancing and consulting work. A special area of interest is the changes (both good and bad) in dynamics and project management  that sometimes occur when a remote technical writer joins the team.

While this post speaks more about remote technical writing projects, you may find that you've bumped up against one or more of these things while working as a remote writer:

Apps I am watching in 2010

I get a lot of exposure to new applications writing for WebWorkerDaily and just plain being a technology early adopter. As 2009 is coming to a close, there are some applications that I plan to keep an eye on in 2010 both as a writer and future user.

Microsoft Office 2010. Through multiple lives as a computer book technical reviewer and later a technology writer, I've been tooling around with Microsoft Office Betas since Office 2000 and can say the stability, speed, and usability in the Office 2010 Technical Preview blows them all away and I look forward to seeing this latest version of the venerable Office suite go final.