Category: Business

Do you know about Document Map in Microsoft Word?

Post author By admin
Post date August 4, 2011
1 Comment on Do you know about Document Map in Microsoft Word?

Whenever I go through a Word document with clients and they ask where a section is, I always refer them to the Document Map. Frequently, they don’t know what it is. Do you know what it is?

In short, Document Map displays the table of contents on the left side of your screen. This is helpful when searching for sections in a document even if there is a table of contents (less back and forth). You just have to make sure your text has heading styles applied to it correctly.

To find it and use it, follow the steps below.

Tags Manuals, Microsoft Word, tehnical writing, useful

Business E-mail Uncategorized

John Hancock takes it to the web

Post author By admin
Post date July 15, 2011
2 Comments on John Hancock takes it to the web

In a quest to provide marketing information to my coworkers, I started doing some research on email signature etiquette. I was very disappointed to find that almost every article on the subject is an angry tirade with little practical advice. What’s more, many of them conflict with each other. So I kept digging and came up with what I think are the keys to an appropriate email signature—presented here in calm, concise language.

Business ROI Training Uncategorized

Oh, Dr. Kirkpatrick! Measuring Training Outcomes In An Imperfect World

Post author By admin
Post date July 1, 2011
1 Comment on Oh, Dr. Kirkpatrick! Measuring Training Outcomes In An Imperfect World

Recently I came across this article at the CommLab India blog which presents an interesting opinion on measuring the training effectiveness using the Kirkpatrick model (diagram shown below). The author conjectures that the only practical way to measure this in practice is through Level 2 assessment (i.e., “testing” the student’s retained knowledge). Level 3 and Level 4 (degree of application of concepts and achievement of training objectives, respectively) are unreliable, the writer argues, since these types of measurements don’t exclude external factors, and thus make it difficult to attribute enhanced performance exclusively to training activities.

Business Writing

Newsletter (Re)Designed

You’ve seen the email version of the inaugural edition of our monthly newsletter. Now see the original pdf.

Newsletter pdf

Business Language Writing

Words That Sting

Buzzwords are just like bad pop stars: they appear mysteriously, gain fans like the plague spreads, and seemingly vanish; yet new ones are constantly appearing. Why do we continuously go through this cycle?

STS has banned buzzwords. I learned quickly that even saying “buzzword” meant trouble—someone would be on a rant soon. So I made a list of the most-abused words with suggested alternatives. I hope I haven’t just created the new lingo.

Business Writing

Joining The Team

I did not like change.

Last Monday I began a major new chapter: my internship at Shoap Technical Services. I was hired to do marketing for the summer and given a great deal of freedom. I was encouraged to let my mind run free and to tackle any project I thought I would enjoy doing to increase sales. It’s an aspiring PR girl’s dream. But like I said, I didn’t like change.

Business Process Writing

Free Yourself From Uncertainty: Defining Scope of Work and Setting Expectations

Post author By admin
Post date May 2, 2011
2 Comments on Free Yourself From Uncertainty: Defining Scope of Work and Setting Expectations

I recently completed a project to create a document defining the types of functionality and relationships associated with the various database columns and tables in the back-end of a client’s medical billing software. While the project was fun (at least in the sense that I got to work on something nerdy and technical), it was also a sobering reminder about the uncertainty endemic to the world of consulting.

Business E-mail Process Tools Uncategorized Writing

Do Your Homework!

Recently, I’ve been attending lots and lots of meetings. I like talking to people, learning, brainstorming, smiling, etc. One thing that has been pretty consistent though is that people are not doing their “homework”. Teachers didn’t talk about the importance of homework in our 17+ years of schooling for nothing.

Business E-mail Humor? Language Writing

A Quick, Easy Way to Save Bandwidth and Not Annoy People

Post author By admin
Post date April 18, 2011
No Comments on A Quick, Easy Way to Save Bandwidth and Not Annoy People

As technical writers, we at Shoap Technical Services feel strongly about words. We feel they hold more power when chosen carefully and used with purpose. We pride ourselves on only writing as much as needed to accurately convey a message, without allowing room for waste.

That’s why we reserve a very special type of hatred for one of those semi-universal annoyances of modern business culture: the e-mail footer disclaimer. It should come as no surprise, then, that we took great pleasure in reading this Economist article explaining exactly how pointless these are. It all boils down to the fact that most of these disclaimers are unenforceable since they seek to impose contractual obligations in a unilateral way.

So please, please, save your bandwidth and mine. Kill the disclaimers.

Business Process Screencasting Tools Writing

Unexpected Tools of The Trade: Your Smartphone

Post author By admin
Post date March 16, 2011
No Comments on Unexpected Tools of The Trade: Your Smartphone

In technical writing (as well as other areas of life), having a smartphone on me has saved my butt on more than one occasion, and not just for looking up directions to a client site or doing some quick on-the-spot research on some byzantine technical topic that I need to understand.