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Spotlight on Sue Phelan
In 1977, Sue began working at Chevron Corporation, the third largest oil company in the United States with over 34,000 employees based in San Ramon, California. While working as a computer operator, she realized the group needed company procedures to increase productivity. One day, she approached her supervisor to ask if she could formalize procedures for her group. Her supervisor would allow it only if she wrote them in her spare time. Sue decided to create the needed procedures and by doing so took the first step towards her new career as a technical writer/editor. After writing those first procedures, Sue's management recognized she was a good writer though she never was given the title. Later, when Sue worked as a technical support analyst and programmer, she wrote many support guides and also worked in the background creating and editing documentation for other projects. Launching a New Career During a fortuitous Chevron downsizing, Sue launched a new career as a contract technical writer/editor. In 1996, Chevron realized Sue's talents and rehired her as a contractor and asked her to build a team of technical writers. One and a half years later, Sue was rehired as an employee and currently heads all technical documentation in the ChevronTexaco Information Technology Company (CTITC). Her eight-member group supports the technical people in CTITC by improving their processes and then her team of writers documents them. Though Sue enjoys managing her group, her real love is editing. She likes helping others by editing their procedures or documents. She says, "Sometimes no one knows I have edited a document but I still enjoy the work." In her free time, Sue enjoys gardening, reading, and going on cruises. She is married and has a 15-year-old son who she considers her "best project." Sue also is active in the East Bay STC Chapter; she currently is this chapter's Resume Counselor. Through innovation, determination, and hard work, Sue has created a critical role for herself in the technical writing world.
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The Devil Mountain Views -- Nov/Dec 2001 |
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For employees in large corporations, procedures are
critical. They institutionalize learning and create an efficient process. Without them employees would not know how to perform routine tasks. Sue Phelan had to create these in a major corporate setting almost from
scratch.