Will Kelly

Snow hits my Local Area

I am thinking this weekend is going to be all about writing, some light house projects and watching the 1st season of Magnum PI on DVD,

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! I get to stay home this year and avoid the roads today.

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.

Recent Lessons Learned

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

Catching up on Work

I am spending my Saturday catching up on some work. It's good to be busy again.

The Wisdom of Youth. The Wisdom of Age

Some elements of the Generation Y workforce and corporate america try to  perpetuate the myth that Generation X and 40 + workers are not up to date on technology and not able to adapt to changes. This is a pretty broad generalization. I heard this a lot during my last contract and job hunt.

There is a certain wisdom with youth. Generation Y workers can bring an unjaundiced and fresh perspective to the workplace. However, they lack the wisdom of experience and can run aground in situations that require real time in the field and experience with the learned diplomacy and street skills.

The Statue of Limitations on Original Ideas

While it can be hard to admit to many organizations, ideas do get recycled. Take for example, in politically hot climates where executives are fighting to hold onto their jobs and bloated compensation plans that don't take into account their competency and body of work. It's all about survival mode these days.

For a while, there has been a running joke with some of my friends and colleagues about the Statue of Limitations on Original Ideas to account for stolen ideas. The Statue of Limitations on Original Ideas starts the moment a manager or executive shoots down an underling's idea and and expires the move the manager or executive recycles the ideas as their own creation.

Gaining Perspective While Cleaning Out My Home Office

I've been spending some of my downtime cleaning out my home office. My work as a technical writer, computer book technical editor/reviewer, and freelance writer have made me a pack rat.

The other fact is that my office is at the highest point in my town house so I have to carry things up two flights of stairs meaning some things stay up there.

Will Today's Economy Further Thin Out IT Contracting Firms?

The thought passed my mind today after hearing about more than one low ball technical writing contract off and on over the past few months is if today's economy, corporate indecision, and skewed corporate perceptions that the perfect senior person can be found for cheap is going to further thin out the IT contracting firm herd.

I say this because the bulk of most recruiters salary is paid on a commission basis meaning they have to place people and the fact that some IT contract openings have been open for months as employers get lost in indecision, hand wringing, and a myriad of other issues I can only pretend to understand.

Contractor versus FTE

It never ceases to amaze me the connotation that being a contract IT worker has with some organizations especially in light of today's economy.

Car payments, mortgages, and other bills don't discriminate whether they are paid from money a person earns from contract work or as a full-time employee. Employers need to remember this fact.

Saturday was the Hungry for Music Crawfish Boil

It was nice to get outside, eat Crawfish, drink beer, and catch up with some friends I haven't seen in a while.

Revisiting a Technical Writing and Contracting Career

I recently had an interview for a contract that was so not a fit but one of the questions was Why do I stay a technical writer when it must be such a dull and boring profession?  After the interview when I was peeling rubber out of the parking lot, I took a few moments when I was decelerating to think about some of the more interesting moments (at least to me) from my career to date:

Kelly's Laws of Non-Disclosure Agreements

I've recently had cause to rethink of the whole concept of Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) as of late and I am finding the whole concept has been prostituted by tech companies (prompted by their attorneys) because they are way too insecure of their intellectual property (or lack thereof).

A Culture of Continuous Technical Education

Through the course of reflecting on my professional career , I've come to realize the importance of working in environments where continuous technical education is imperative to the success of projects and overall company health.

Authority

Spending much of a my career as a freelancer, contractor, and consultant has really left me with a problem with authority. I am not saying this in an ooh ooh I am sooo cool and a maverick sort of way. It's a personal development I am not very happy with right now.

The thing is our current economic downturn and general corporate dysfunction shows the IT industry and corporate America in general is in a leadership crisis. Projects, productivity, morale, and corporate earnings suffer everyday undermining American leadership in the world marketplace.

Taking Sides

I've had cause to reflect on my professional career as of late and the lessons I've learned working inside so many diverse organizations both large and small.

Sheer dysfunction and stresses like the current economic downturn are driving a wedge into many cross functional teams as managers and departments seek to cast themselves in the best light to senior management often at the expense of their coworkers in other departments.

Things your Technical Writer or Requirements Analyst isn't Telling You

Executives, programmers, and engineers may think they are exclusive castes but there are many tell signs that technical writers, and requirements analysts know.

1. You don't know as much about our technology as you portray. This is not a bad thing. However, you make it suck because you aren't willing to sit down with the people who know and educate yourself about technology. Your underlings are willing to help if you would only ask. You can't hide forever.
2. Your emotional blustering and posturing only serves to degrade your credibility.
3. You are phoning it in and have been doing it for sometime.
4. You lack problem solving and analytical skills.

Reflections on Eating Out Alone

Whether I am traveling or working from home, I like to go out to eat alone and have a lot of observations on the experience.

When I was freelancing, going out to lunch was a much needed diversion and getting out of my home office though I frequented one of my normal haunts so the bartenders and other staff knew me.

While on business trips my experience with dining out alone has been somewhat different

First Snow of the Year!

As seen from my home office window...

Nine Years

Today is the Ninth Anniversary of my Father passing away. In some ways it feels so long ago but other ways it feels like yesterday. I miss you Dad.