Technical Communicators in Nontraditional Roles April 2005 Larry Kunz Senior Technical Writer VERITAS Software Technical Communicators in Nontraditional Roles

April 2005 What’s a Nontraditional Role? Any job not typically associated with the technical communicator’s craft For example.... Writing customer proposals Hiring yourself out as a project manager

Technical Communicators in Nontraditional Roles April 2005 Why Talk about Roles? Adds value for the organization Increases your own value Develops a key survival skill –For individuals –For organizations

Technical Communicators in Nontraditional Roles April 2005 The Research Jamie Conklin research project Findings available soon

Technical Communicators in Nontraditional Roles April 2005 Choosing the Right Role Know the business Know your skills and interests Work with your clients or with your boss Pick something manageable to start

Technical Communicators in Nontraditional Roles April 2005 Case Studies Policies & Procedures * Sales & Marketing * Proposal Writing User Interface Design * Instructional Design * Software Development Analysis/Project Management Volunteer Work * STC SIGs exist for these roles

Technical Communicators in Nontraditional Roles April 2005 What’s the Upside? Visibility Recognition Broadening skills Satisfaction

Technical Communicators in Nontraditional Roles April 2005 What’s the Downside? Who has time for this? I’m setting myself up for a fight Will it really make a difference?

Technical Communicators in Nontraditional Roles April 2005 Discussion

Technical Communicators in Nontraditional Roles April 2005 For Further Information See the KeyContent site: – index.php?page=NonTraditionalRoleshttp:// index.php?page=NonTraditionalRoles Case studies Research results (coming soon) Other info as it becomes available