Emerging Technologies

Newsletter of the East Bay Chapter of STC March/April 2003	Emerging Technologies: An Online Project Information Solution

	by Don Huntington EBSTC Member
	Over the past decade or so, I have been perfecting an online method for reporting project status that has the wonderful qualities of being both unobtrusive and always available. I have learned that by maintaining an online page for every project I’m working on, I can provide all interested parties a tool for knowing exactly what I believe the project status to be at any time they are interested in knowing it.
The Power of Effective Status Reporting	All of us who are post-novice in the technical communication business are familiar with the power of effective status communication. We also like project status to be reported in a somewhat efficient way, as well. However, how often have we all been involved in seemingly interminable project staff meetings in which 90 percent of the communication seemed irrelevant and the 10 percent that we desperately needed to know was missing or only ineffectually communicated to us? The person we needed was not in attendance, or failed to bring the information we needed—or any of a thousand other things went wrong. It is a joyful thing, therefore, to provide an uninterruptible channel of communication through which others can see exactly the information they want to know about our projects—and can see it any time they wish. I have been providing this wonderful service simply by creating an online web page that reports the current status of every project I am working on. Such a page provides a number of wonderful benefits.
Anytime-Anywhere Information	In particular, status information on a web page is not limited by time or location. All interested or concerned people have to do is punch in the URL to access the information any time, day or night. The web page solution also provides an effective tool for discussion and coordination. When discussing a project with a client, boss, employee, whomever… you can open the page on your computer while they open the same page on their computer and you can discuss together the schedules and issues that you currently display. This works as effectively when you are in different rooms (or continents) as when you are sitting side by side.
Maintainable Information	One great thing about online information, of course, is that you can change it at the drop of a hat. And, as my buddy, the guru, likes to put it, “You can carry around a great big box of hats.” I’ve often been on the phone with a client or manager, going through the details of the delivery, making changes in real time as we revise the information. By the time we hang up I’ve already uploaded the revised file. Such felicitousness of communication (if you will permit my exuberance) serves to protect me against the most serious problem I think we face—the problem of unpleasantly surprising the people we work with. I’ve learned that most people are forgiving if we are going to miss a deadline as long as four things happen right away: They know about the problem as soon as we know it. They know exactly why the problem is going to happen. They know exactly what we are going to do about it. They know exactly what the revised schedule has now become. The web page solution provides an effective way of meeting all of those requirements.
Just Do It!	I encourage you to try creating status-reporting pages for your project web site. The solution has immeasurably increased the economy and proficiency of my project tracking and reporting. I have never used this with a boss or client without them commenting on how much they appreciated being kept informed about the project details. Next issue I’ll report some details on things I’ve learned about design, formats, contents, details of implementation, and use. I’ll provide a template for such a page and will show you a technique for using this solution that might change your professional life.

DMV Home \| EBSTC \| STC \| Contact Us Copyediting-Who Needs It? \| An Online Project Information Solution \| Style Guides to the Rescue What Does Video Capture Have to Do With Writing? \| Alternative Jobs or Alternative Job Search Methods?