Professional attributes

Intrinsically motivated

Absolute commitment to quality, continuous improvement, and 100% useful, value-added content

What do I mean by "added value" with respect to technical manuals? I mean that procedures should not simply document the obvious, but capture the native knowledge of SMEs.

If an instruction is to be highly useful to an experienced technician, the technical writer must delve deeper into the process to find value beyond what is easily discovered or surmised via existing documentation and drawings. This can be accomplished by asking the right questions of technicians already experienced in the particular procedure or process.

With respect to graphics, I have techniques for extracting their maximum value instead of merely allowing them to occupy space on a page with only an implied connection to the text. This is in addition to ensuring every sentence, paragraph, and illustration is well-designed and of clear benefit to the user--no wordiness or low-utility filler material.

FAQs

Expert User:
Adobe Framemaker
Adobe InDesign
Microsoft Word

Veteran, US Navy--for details, follow the Marine link.

Creative, outside-the-box thinker

No matter if I'm hired as an independent, agency contractor, or employee, I always "think like a consultant."

This means I always look for ways to provide added value to my employer. My technique is to continually view tasks from numerous angles and apply problem-solving imagination.

Quality and continuous improvements happen when one seeks out and is open to the ideas of others, sees beyond the rules, and does not limit their thinking to "the way it's always been done."