In 1959, then-senator John F. Kennedy introduced a new trope to the western world when he famously evoked the Chinese word wēijī – “crisis”. It’s composed of two elements, said the future president: danger (危 – wēi) and opportunity (机 – jī). Kennedy wasn’t quite accurate in his translation, but his view of the potential […]
Telecommuting Part 2: Remote Working Policies and Infrastructure
Telecommuting, or working from home, has been a fundamental part of working in TWi since day one. In the near 10 years since the company was founded, we have developed a solid and sustainable telecommuting culture. Underpinning this culture are policies and procedures that have been developed through experience and with a clear information technology […]
Telecommuting Part 1: How Remote Working is Embedded in Our Company Culture
By Emmet Kearney on April 1, 2020 in News and Events, Technical Writing, Telecommuting, Training and Education
Whether you call it telecommuting, remote working, or simply working from home, most of us are doing it these days and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. As people and businesses come to terms with the Covid-19 pandemic, we are all facing a new reality and many companies have been forced to […]
TWi’s Favourite Technical Writing Podcasts
In a 2015 TWi post, Neil Donovan explored the music that writers at TWi listen to when we work. While music and white noise remain popular soundtracks to our focused work, the audio landscape in 2020 has changed dramatically. With such a rich and varied podcast landscape out there to explore, an attempt to describe […]
Writing Instructional Video Scripts: Eight Top Tips
When you are creating an instructional video, whether it is about a product or a concept, it is important that you first write a script. A script will keep you on topic and will inform the visual elements of your video. To get you started, we have put together a list of some of our […]
Information Development and ISO 27001 – How Does ISO 27001 Affect Information Developers?
At TWi, we recently achieved certification under the ISO/IEC 27001 standard (commonly known as ISO 27001). ISO 27001 is the industry-wide standard for information security management, “including the selection, implementation and management of controls taking into consideration the organization’s information security risk environment(s)” (Section 1). An ISO 27001-compliant organisation implements security processes and controls that […]
Effective Business Process Mapping
Perhaps your organisation wants to automate a process, improve efficiency, or move from one infrastructure provider to another. Whatever the motivation, business process mapping is often the first step in transforming business processes within an organisation. Business process mapping involves detailing the steps in a process, identifying the roles responsible for carrying out each step, […]
Looking Forward to TCUK 2019
Organised by the ISTC, Technical Communication UK (TCUK) is always a highlight of the conference calendar for technical communicators in Europe. This year’s event promises to be no different. Taking place over three days from September 10th to 12th in Warwickshire, UK, the 2019 programme features a great line-up of speakers on the theme 10. […]
Writing FAQs: Dos and Don’ts
In recent years, FAQs have become a controversial issue in the web design and technical writing world. FAQs originated in the 1980s on discussion boards where regular contributors compiled lists of FAQs so that they wouldn’t have to repeat information for newcomers. Since then, FAQ pages have become a standard part of most websites, without […]
Writing User Manuals: Five Top Tips
Writing user manuals is a common requirement of the technical writer’s role across many different industries. It’s also not uncommon for this task to fall to someone who is not a technical writer by trade — and in this case, writing user manuals can seem like a daunting task. We’ve drawn on our expertise in […]
