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Meeting Report: December 2004

"Project Management for Technical Communicators"

Sometimes technical writers are asked to create documents with cliff-edge deadlines and bare-bones source materials. This situation often stems from poor planning or handling of the project. Tim Bombosch offered a solution to this dilemma during our December meeting: Become the project manager.

Making the Grade

Technical writers already have great skills for leading projects: They are good communicators, know how to meet deadlines, and can work closely with people to move a project forward.

You can get formal project management training by taking courses from the Project Management Institute, and become a “Project Management Professional” (PMP) for a fee. However, you don’t need to take courses to be a project manager. In fact, any writing project you are hired for qualifies you as a project manager—even if it’s just you and the computer doing the work.

The End Justifies the Project

Tim Bombosch

Projects are generally completed by following five phases:

Initiate (formally start the project).
Plan (research and set attainable goals).
Control (measure progress).
Execute (put the project into action).
Close (end the project, and get formal acceptance from management).

Tim stressed that it’s during the planning stage that you jointly agree with your management on what is the accepted close. This will save you lots of pain (and potential lawsuits).

Tim listed several attributes about projects, and what makes them different from other routine tasks:

Projects are NOT repetitive actions. They have a definite start and finish, and produce a unique product or service.
Projects are always a struggle between time, resources, and quality; but remember that throwing money at issues doesn’t always solve problems.
Projects are NOT always linear. Sometimes plans change over time. When this happens, the only thing you can do is manage the change, and alter the plan accordingly.
Projects teach valuable lessons that should be recorded, so both you and management remember these lessons for the next project.

It Pays to Deliver

Becoming a project manager is rewarding because you can often control the project’s schedule, quality, and cost. It can also lead to increases in salary and promotions, and it lets you define yourself as something more than a writer on your resume. And although it is usually more work, acting as a project manager can give you the satisfaction of successfully implementing an entire effort, not just the documentation.

So if you have the opportunity to manage your project, take it. Not only will it help you improve quality and increase job satisfaction, but you will be rewarded with new skills and chances for advancement. The sooner you learn to manage projects, the better you will be able to manage your career.

References

Use these references to learn more about project management:

Managing Your Documentation Projects by JoAnn T. Hackos
Project Management Institute
Tim Bombosch at bombosch@hotmail.com

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