Vicki Brown

Services

Content Management

Enhancing Productivity By Improving Communication

My Skills and Interests

I'm great at research — whether I'm ferreting out information or hunting down the best tool to install on your Intranet. I interview people, asking questions, teasing out information, and turning that into words on screen or paper. I find the missing pieces.

I love doing how-tos and introductory docs. I actually like reviewing, steamcleaning, and documenting code. I'm good with organization and process. I love doing just about anything on the web.

• Communication
  I provide proofreading, editing, updating, and/or new content creation services.

• Information Management
  I can hunt for, gather, and coalesce scattered bits of data, leading to improved documentation. If I don't have the answer, I'll find it. Then I'll write it down.

• Productivity
  I've read a lot of time management books and articles. I'm happy to share some of the processes I've found to work. I'm also happy to brainstorm new ideas and ways to improve productivity (individual or group).

• Process Improvement
  I enjoy working on process planning, review, and improvement

• Brainstorming and Strategy
  I love working on ideas for what can (and should) be done and how to proceed. I ask questions and I take pretty good notes.

• Web Tools
  I enjoy finding and installing useful web tools, such as calendars, wikis, Task managers, and weblogs. I'm especially facile with Movable Type and TWiki. I've found ways to make TWiki do many tricks which I'm happy to share.

Services I Provide:

From Mere Glimmerings of Ideas...

• goals — determining what you want to accomplish
• resources — helping you to decide what can or should be documented
• planning — working with you to put your documentation together

...To Final Documentation

• initial drafts for people who don't like to write, don't do it well, write very slowly, or have little time
• Additional drafts, until a final document is approved
• review
• updating
• organization

I can be

Writer, Editor, Proofreader

I'll help you write, review what you've written, provide suggestions, or proofread the final copy. If you need help, just ask.

Reference Librarian

I excel at looking things up. If you have a question and don't know how to find the answer, ask me! I'll find the proper person or reference, get the information, and document the results for next time.

Facilitator and Scribe

Talk, wave your arms, scribble on the white board, make notes on paper or in email. Hold a meeting where everyone scribbles and waves their arms. I'll help you convert all of that into "real" docs.

Reviewer and Sounding-board

If you want someone to listen to your ideas, or consider what you've got and make comments, I'd love to help. If you have a document you've written, from a short piece of email that needs a second pair of eyes to a complete set of web pages, I'm happy to review, proofread, edit, or critique.

TWiki Champion

I like TWiki. I've been using it for several years and have learned a lot about it. If you have questions, please ask! I also offer both personalized and "public" Q&A and training.

If you're not sure whether I can help you... ask!

Setting Expectations

I can't write what I don't know. That doesn't mean I can't help, but we'll have to work together closely and you will need to take some time to turn your thoughts into words.

How you get those words to me is your decision - you can scribble them down on paper or email; we can have a meeting where you talk and I take notes; you can write the first draft. You should expect me to come back to you for clarification or more information as the process moves along.

In simple terms, this means you're not off the hook. I'll do any wordsmithing and formatting. I'll turn your text into web pages. I'll organize everything and make it presentable. However you still have to do the planning (and you have to work with me).

I Work For You

This means that you own the documents we produce together. The end result is yours. I may make trivial changes (e.g., minor wordsmithing, punctuation, typo fixing) without your involvement.

However, major rephrasing, addressing incongruities, responding to bug reports, or responding to requests from third parties should go through you. I will take my direction from you (but reserve the right to protest).

You'll thank me later. :-)

Details