Steve Plays Twenty Questions
Recently, Steve sat down to answer questions on a wide range of topics.
I Googled you. Do you sell Herbalife on the side?
No, that’s not me. I should also point out that I’m not related to Menno de Jong, editor of Technical Communication. He’s Dutch; I’m Chinese.
But was that you singing at the STC Open Jam?
OK, that was me. I’m active in music performance, and I’m also part of the BossTunes, a group of Boston-based STC member. We performed at the Dallas, Baltimore, Seattle, and Minneapolis conferences, as well as at the Boston publications awards banquets.
That sounds like fun. What about your professional experience?
As a technical communicator, I’ve done a little bit of everything, including writing, editing, illustrating, training, and managing. I learned the craft at Honeywell Information Systems, starting in 1976. I then worked at Digital Equipment Corporation, where in September 1992 I was appointed a Consulting Technical Writer. Since then I’ve been a documentation manager, principal writer, consultant, and documentation project manager. Currently I work at Camiant as a documentation manager.
Have you done things outside of technical writing?
Yes. I’ve written professional papers, magazine and newspaper articles, fiction, poetry, and a trade paperback. I’ve designed and delivered courses, seminars, and workshops, in the US and Europe, on technical and professional subjects. I’ve been an instructor at the Massachusetts School of Law, a proofreader for the Dummies Press, and a compositor for an academic book.
You have a degree in physics and astronomy. Has that helped you as a technical writer?
I think it’s made me more mathematically inclined than most writers. I had to learn FORTRAN to get through the labs, which involved me with computers. And I got my introduction to user-interface design. One of the professors hired me to input all his stellar photometric observations. I learned the hard way that late at night, after hours of mind-numbing data entry, when you forget to save the file before quitting, the editor really ought to warn you!
You’ve spent more than 30 years the field. How has the role of the technical communicator changed in that time?
I wrote my first manual on a typewriter. (My cubemate used pencil and paper!) I worked with an editor, an illustrator, a production coordinator, a compositor, and a proofreader, and the print production cycle took thirteen weeks. Now I use a laptop computer. I am my own editor, illustrator, typesetter, and proofreader, and the PDF production cycle is a few hours. Today we may be called upon to create documents, Web content, video, wikis, or podcasts. We do so much more than writing!
Yet I think that the core skills of technical communication have not changed at all. We still learn a technical subject, determine our target audience’s needs, and communicate just what they need to know as clearly and concisely as we can. I tell people I do exactly same things I’ve always done, just completely differently.
Speaking of tools: Word or Frame?
Given the choice, I much prefer FrameMaker to Word, but you go to work with the tool you have, not the tool you want. I’m flexible. I’ve created documentation using FrameMaker, Word, MacWrite, nroff, VAX DOCUMENT, Excel, even (and I shudder to say this!) PowerPoint.
Have you been active in your home community, Boston?
For nearly 20 years I’ve served the chapter competitions as a judge, lead judge, best of show judge, and judge trainer. In 2001 I was elected to Boston’s administrative council. Then in 2002 I was elected second vice president, and served in automatic succession as first vice president, president, and immediate past president. During that time I helped revive the chapter newsletter and chaired numerous committees. And I’ve presented at lots of program and local SIG meetings. I was given Boston’s Landers/Carbrey Spirit of Volunteerism award in 2007.
How about SIG involvement?
I’m an active member of the Management SIG and the Information Design SIGs, and for many years I wrote a newsletter column for the Quality and Process Improvement SIG.
And Society-level involvement?
I am finishing up my term on the board of directors. I am the chair of the Certification Task Force. I’ve participated in the International Technical Publications Competitions as a judge, lead judge, and best-of-show judge. And I’ve presented papers at eight annual conferences.
You say you have experience leading other non-profit groups. Can you elaborate on that?
Thirty years ago, I was a founding member of a volleyball league, and took over running it when it was down to five teams. Four years later we were packing the gym with 20 teams, and the league is still going strong. At Digital Equipment, I founded another volleyball league, and they’re still around too as an independent entity. Finally, I served for two years as president of my community chorus. These experiences have taught me how to work with volunteers, operate within tight budgets, and create sustainable processes. I also learned how important it is to attract new members—and keep existing ones happy!
What did you accomplish as an STC director?
Well, the Board’s achievements are collective, so I will speak to what we accomplished together. Because of the economic meltdown and subsequent recession, the Society faced the worst crisis in its history in 2009. STC was on a course to bankruptcy. Thanks to hard work by a lot of people, we changed our future. We’ve entered the New Year solvent, with a balanced budget and a sustainable business model. I think STC will be around for years to come, and I am proud to have contributed to that accomplishment.
The Certification Task Force is charged with collecting the information needed for the Board to make a yes-or-no decision on certification. After 45 years of discussing the issue, I think we will reach that decision this year on my watch.
Now you’re seeking a new role on the Board. What does being secretary entail?
Unlike other board positions, the secretary must be process and detail oriented and well organized. A good secretary can keep the group on agenda, manage discussion time, and remind people of previous decisions. (You don’t want to go back on decisions because you forgot you made them!)
The secretary sits on the Executive Committee, which meets even more often than the full board, and on an as-needed basis. You need the flexibility to attend all of those meetings. Fortunately, my job affords me that flexibility.
The secretary is still a voting board member, and as such must have a strategic focus. Not everyone can think strategically. You can’t micromanage; you have to set goals and directions for the good of the Society a whole, and leave implementation to the staff or to volunteers.
What do you see as the biggest issue facing STC today?
Our biggest issue is still the existential one: Will STC be around next year? We’ve made huge strides, and I think the answer is yes, but we’re not out of the woods yet. We have another tight year ahead of us before we’ll know if our recovery plan has worked.
Assuming it does, we need to rebuild our membership base. Fortunately, there’s a big market out there. There are over 150,000 technical communicators worldwide, yet STC’s "market share" is under ten percent. To regrow, we need to tap into new demographics and new areas of practice.
There’s a communication gap between the Society, chapters, and members that I think needs to be addressed.
Finally, we need to establish STC as a force to improve the field for everyone, practitioners, clients, and consumers alike. It’s significant that the US Bureau of Labor Statistics is working with us to define the job of technical communicator. STC members have made important contributions to worldwide standards, and I think it’s important that we devote resources to continuing to do so.
As Secretary, how can you address these problems?
I have a three-prong platform, with the acronym "STC," though that’s just a coincidence.
- Speed: I have ideas to collect and post information faster, both before Board meetings for directors and afterwards for members.
- Transparency: I want to share as much information with members as we can within the legal constraints on an association.
- Communication: I’ve seen how messages can be both miscommunicated and misinterpreted. I want to ensure that we send out a steady, clear, and consistent message on multiple channels, including our Web site, our blog, and appropriate social media. Also, I think community secretaries need the same kind of support as community presidents and treasurers get, and I’ll work to establish that channel.
Some people say that the current board got us into the mess we’re in, and should be replaced with experienced business leaders who can balance a budget, make tough personnel decisions, and make radical changes instead of clinging to outdated ideas.
We’ve heard that, believe me! This past summer was... intense.
So what do you say to them?
I say we do need people like that on the board! But I also say that I have demonstrated all those traits. You want experience? The last 18 months have been like a crash MBA program. We cut over a million dollars out of the STC budget. For the first time in years it’s balanced—and for the first time ever, it’s based on a sustainable business model. We reduced our lease costs by $200,000 a year and reduced our contractual obligations for future Summits. We replaced granting money without accountability with zero-based budgeting, starting with the Society’s own budget.
As for personnel decisions, we’ve reduced staff and won concessions from the rest.
We’ve made radical changes to long-time STC traditions. The printed Intercom and Technical Communication are now a thing of the past. STC’s Notebook Blog provides information about what’s happening now, not last month, and it’s available to all members. The Summit offers much more technical depth and focus, pre-conference certificate workshops, and with SUMMIT@aClick you can get all the conference sessions—which you can’t even do in person!—without paying hotel fees. By the way, these are all revenue streams now.
I know STC doesn’t allow negative campaigning, so say something positive about yourself and your qualifications.
I have a great deal of relevant experience, not just at the chapter and Society level, but as a secretary in another non-profit organization. As a non-profit leader, I’ve worked with good secretaries and bad, and I know what’s important in the role. And I’ve been able to observe the excellent example set by Char James-Tanny, so I already know what to do. I am a process-oriented and detail-oriented person, which are critical traits in a secretary.
But all technical writers say they’re detail and process oriented! Can you give a specific example?
In my 2000 conference paper, "You Get What You Measure—So Measure Quality," I described tracking documents on seven attributes and seven milestone dates. At my current job I’ve added original, current, and actual dates. I think you’ll agree that’s a lot of detail! Of course I established documentation templates, review and approval processes, and a style guide. As far as process goes, not only am I familiar with the ISO standards for software documentation, I helped write the proposed revision.
One more question. Why do you want to do this?
I’ve been an STC member for more than 25 years, and it’s had a huge impact on me professionally and personally. I’ve gotten more than I’ve given, and I feel I have more I can give back. It takes new board members at least a year to come up to speed; I’m up to speed now. I don’t want to just leave in the middle of our recovery from crisis, turn the problem over to others to solve, and disengage.
