I have a lot of very technical tech writing experience, where the focus was providing the information required by technicians to install and configure a product ASAP. I always focus on delivering the required deliverables on schedule at the best quality possible.
I have moved a lot (USA, China, Russia, Germany, Israel, Japan and Belarus), and along the way I have lost a lot of my previous work. But this page provides some interesting work I have done for various employers in the last 15 years.
At Sychronica.com around 2005 I created documents that described in detail how to remotely manage mobile phones for Orange UK. I used all mobiles myself, and wrote the following documents from scratch.
Funambol asked me to improve a white paper as a test for a job. My version and their original version are below. Note that I did not really understand the subject, and never got Funambol's original source files (only the PDF). I can write good white papers that are well-organized, concise, and well-written.
At HP Shanghai I was asked to document a "synchronizer". The synchronizer was a program that would synchronize database updates in systems A and B. My task was to document in detail how to configure a synchronizer between Service Center (SC) and Quality Center (QC).
I found a developer who helped me setup SC, QC, and the synchronizer in a VM on my own laptop. I then created an example synchronization configurations and documented in detail.
The following is the release version of the document.
I tagged Framemaker text so that I could create a release and internal version of the document from the same source files. I like simple text processes that allow multiple versions of a file to be created from a single source file.
The following is the internal version. I used the internal version to demonstrate synchronizer installation/configuration for a group of 20 programmers.
Omnicell bought a small company in Lebanon, Tennessee, and I was tasked with creating a complete set of documentation to describe the Tennessee company's bar code hospital inventory management systems. I used all of the equipment myself and create a very technically accurate installation/configuration guide.
Note: I only have the "internal" version of the doc, so you will sometimes notice some strangely formatted comments in the PDF.
At EPAM in Minsk, Belarus, I wrote the following 600-page document that describes how to install and use EPAM's Project Management Center (PMC). PMC was an internal product that EPAM wanted to start selling externally. I installed everything (Tomcat, Apache, Oracle, PMC DB, etc.) on my own PC (quite complicated).
This is an internal document with a great deal of internal commentary.
I write user guides from the user's perspective. I use the systems myself and pay great attention to technical accuracy. I work as independently as possbily, requiring minimal assistance from SME's.
The following describes in detail how to use the Optiflex system described in above installation guide.
VPMS was a product created by a small company near Munich that PMS Micado (later Mynd) bought in 2000. I was tasked with creating the basic documentation that showed how to use VPMS to "easily" create websites for the auto insurance claims industry with no required internet programming experience.
That was the sales pitch given to Mynd. In reality VPMS was extremely difficult to use. But I figured it out and documented in detail.
Around the year 2000 I thought about trying to write a book for Java beginners. I downloaded most of the examples from the java.sun.com website, did them myself, and then documented. Although I never finished the book, it does show an interesting approach and interpretation of the OO paradigm.
I did some work for IntelliJ Russia for a few months around 2003. Within that short time I managed to create a draft quick start and a tutorial. All examples and doc content are my own original.
Mynd had a contract with Dekra Stuttgart to use the frameworks to create a complex Java application. The following shows what I wrote to explain how this was done.
The following release/internal doc describes a complex transaction mechanism. The text is all my original (I consulted the SME's and tested the product myself).
I am a big fan of single-sourcing documents in the simplest way possible. The following 3 documents (a PDF and 2 helps) were all created from the same source files. Using Framemaker, I would import styles, use different books, and use Webworks to create help.
I am quite familiar with DITA, but for most of the projects I have worked on DITA is simply too time-consuming and complicated.
The following docs from the VPMS project show how I also create internal and release versions of help
At HP Shanghai, for the CIT project I entered text on a customized system that required XML, scripts, XMetal, DocID, Doc2XML, VMWare, Araxis Merge, FTP clients, and Perforce. All this just to enter text and create documents.
I had to remotely connect to a VM in Paris. This was almost impossible to use. The developer of this documentation system had left the Paris office several years earlier, and noone wanted to figure out how to modify the system.
I suggested moving the entire documentation to Framemaker. The French team did not want to do this, so I suggested a compromise: Running their script-based system on a local PC with no VM.
I had 3 goals:
(1) Install the VM on my computer. Easy to do, but connecting with Perforce was a problem.
(2) Run without a VM.
(3) Document in detail how to do (1) and (2).
The following document describes my modified CIT documentation processes.
The following document describes how to access documents in the Lotus Notes DB that I maintained for VPMS. I always document clearly my work processes so that others can easily work with me.
