CIDM Matters

Theodore Wolff, Danfoss
October 15, 2019

A few weeks ago, I spent three increasingly frustrating hours assembling a new TV stand with one of those fancy mounting stands on the back of it. I started the evening full of hope that I would soon have a new, safer way to display our TV and reduce the danger to our […]

Mary Dickens, Cengage
October 1, 2019

Technical communicators are often called upon to support multiple development teams; it’s rare for every team to have a dedicated Technical Communicator (TC). To deal with this, writers on a high-functioning TC team need to be able to take on stories for sometimes unfamiliar products and technologies, avoiding silos of expertise in favor of flexibility. Inadequate user story writing leads to confusion and delays work completion. […]

Kathy Madison, Comtech Services
October 1, 2019

All things associated with measurement was the theme of this year’s Best Practices conference last month in Austin, Texas.  Doug Hubbard, the keynote, kicked off the conference by challenging us to rethink our perceptions of the concept of measurement, the object of measurement and the method of measurement.  He started by defining measurement as an expressed reduction in uncertainty based on observation. […]

Sabine Ocker, Comtech Services
September 15, 2019

During last month’s CIDM Round Table, member participants shared some insights and observations on the role and significance of technical writer job descriptions in their organizations. […]

Emily Luijbregts, Siemens DIS
September 15, 2019

Women remain an underrepresented group across all STEM fields and despite attempts to improve the gap that exists in gender numbers and salary, women still remain a minority in STEM fields. The AAUW 2015 Solving the Equation report states: […]

Patti Lutsky, PTC
September 1, 2019

Many companies are looking to repurpose their existing textual repair procedures into an augmented-reality format.  If they have the CAD data for the equipment, then a tool like PTC’s Creo Illustrate can be used to create input sequences that are based on the CAD data.  But what about the textual aspects of the AR?  […]

Rilind Elezaj, Day Translations, Inc.
September 1, 2019

User Experience is a pretty huge deal in design. This is why predicting and anticipating what we can expect is not only popular but also quite smart. Here are 5 predictions of what users will love in UX in 2019, based on existing patterns and market data. […]

Mark Schubert & Ulrike Parson, parson AG
August 15, 2019

Intelligent content has been a buzzword for quite a while now. It is a promise to deliver all the content you need at the right time. For example, you’re a service technician going to maintain that PrettyBigMachine, you’ll need the maintenance instructions for all the components that are up for scheduled maintenance, plus a list of required tools and the time you will need for your work.

Sabine Ocker, Comtech Services
August 15, 2019

During last month’s CIDM Round Table member participants observed that all top-notch organizations must exude both excellence and quality. They identified several critical measurements, which are summarized in this article. […]

Dawn Stevens, Comtech Services
July 15, 2019

Ask any technical writer what is the measure of success for their work and they will tell you that their documentation must meet the needs of their users – it must give users the information required to answer their questions, solve their problems, and complete their tasks in an effective and efficient way. […]