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Write On: Exploring New Directions in Technical Communications

5 Posts tagged with the itsm tag

Award-winning documentation

Posted by mmarques Nov 6, 2009

- By Michele Marques, Lead Information Developer, ITSM

 

It's that time of year, when local chapters of the Society for Technical Communication (STC) hold competitions. Every year, local chapters hold competitions for print and online documentation. Then, the best of the local entries move on to the society-level international competition.
In 2007 I entered the BMC Remedy IT Service Management Data Management Administrator's Guide in the Toronto chapter competition. This guide describes how to install and use the data management tool for BMC Remedy IT Service Management.

 

I entered the competition because:

  • This was a new manual - everything good (or bad) about this manual was my responsibility. Many times, I work on manuals that have other contributors - or that originated with previous authors.
  • I wanted to find out how my documentation held up to international standards.
  • I wanted to get feedback from technical writers outside my organization.

 

I ended up winning a merit award. It felt great to get award and feel validated for my work. But the feedback was especially helpful. People from outside my organization had a different take on what works and what could be improved. Today the guide is better than ever.

 

I'm fortunate to work with a team of writers and editors, but for a lone writer, the competition might be your best opportunity to get feedback from experienced technical communicators.

 

The postings in this blog are my own and don't necessarily represent BMC's opinion or position.

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0 Comments Permalink Tags: stc, documentation, competition, itsm

Conference round-up

Posted by mmarques Oct 30, 2009

- By Michele Marques, Lead Information Developer, ITSM

 

Wow, what a week for conferences! Yesterday I dropped by the BMC virtual conference, and earlier this week I attended Lavacon.

 

BMC Virtual Conference: Simplify & Automate IT

The BMC virtual conference was a really cool way to check out information on a variety of IT topics without leaving my desk. I watched the presentation on The Future of IT Management. Then I dropped by the Dell booth in the exhibit hall, to see what they had to say about their experiences with BMC Remedy IT Service Management.

 

I didn't get into any conversations, but I scrolled through the conversations in the networking lounge and in some of the exhibit booths. People were talking about BMC products and everyone was excited about the virtual conference.

 

Although the conference took place on October 29, you can still drop by. You can view any of the presentations on demand, pick up literature from the exhibit hall, and see what people were talking about

 

Lavacon

Lavacon is a professional development conference for senior, lead, and management technical communicators - and for the past few years has been paired with a regional Project Management Institute conference. It's a great conference that includes sessions and workshops that I wouldn't get at other technical communications conferences.

 

Sessions that I attended included:

  • Introduction to Strategic Planning by Alexandra Piacenza - There's only so much that she could cover in this brief session. Planning for innovation was especially interesting.
  • Creativity session and Leadership workshop by Lisa DiTullio - Interesting ideas about promoting creativity. Lots of discussion about the difference between Management and Leadership.
  • Zen and the Art of Managing Up by Emma Hamer - How many times do you run around in a tizzy, because your boss has an urgent request for information, and you have to figure out how to get the information? Emma had some great suggestions for ways to be proactive that can prevent these sort of disruptions.
  • Strategies for Coping with User-Generated Content by Sarah O'Keefe - Sarah opened with the video United Breaks Guitars as the ultimate in user-generated content that a company wouldn't want and then moved on to talk about strategies to involve users in a positive way in your community.
  • Influencing without Authority by Andrea Ames - Andrea has achieved a high level of influence that extends beyond technical communication.
  • Critical Thinking Skills for Conflict Resolution by Bonni Graham - We played a conflict role-playing game that helped show how personal biases and personal goals affect how people act in conflict. I'm not sure yet whether this knowledge will help me deal with conflict. I was really bad at picking up on people's hidden agendas.
  • Management Challenges with DITA by Jim Smith and Vivian Aschwandan - Whether you're a manager or a writer, some of the biggest challenges with DITA are knowing "what is a topic" and dealing with what they called "stealth topics" (such as tasks hidden in concepts).
  • DITA 1.2 and the DITA Open Toolkit by Robert Andersonand Leigh White - Although this workshop was fraught with hardware challenges, I'm now eagerly awaiting some of the new features of DITA 1.2, especially the conref extensions.

 

The postings in this blog are my own and don't necessarily represent BMC's opinion or position.
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0 Comments Permalink Tags: itsm, virtual_conference, conferences, bmc_software, dita, technical_writing, lavacon

- By Michele Marques, Lead Information Developer, ITSM

 

I'm looking forward to BMC Virtual Conference: Simplify & Automate IT on October 29. Because I spend much of my time documenting BMC Remedy IT Service Management, I'm looking forward to find out how Dell as been using BMC Remedy ITSM. I hope to also check out "From Hype to ROI: Getting Value from Virtualization, the Cloud and Automation" as it's such a hot topic.

 

Check out the list of sessions and virtual booths at  http://www.bmc.com/simplifyit and let me know which are your hot topics.

 

Hope to "see" you there! With no travel costs and no conference costs, it's easy to justify.

 

The postings in this blog are my own and don't necessarily represent BMC's opinion or position.
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0 Comments Permalink Tags: itsm, virtual_conference, virtualization

- By Michele Marques, Lead Information Developer, ITSM

 

Today I just read the news that BMC Software has been awarded the first official ITIL® software certification. How cool is that?

 

OK, if you're reading my blog because you're a technical communicator, maybe you're wondering why I'm so excited.

 

ITIL stands for IT Information Library®, and consists of a set of guidelines about good practices for IT departments. Used by thousands of organizations around the world, ITIL has become the de facto standard for IT best practices. I heard about ITIL before joining BMC, and since I joined have become ITIL Foundation certified (like most others).

 

When I first started working at BMC Software, I wrote documentation about BMC Remedy Service Desk. Even though I now write about other tools and products within BMC Remedy IT Service Management Suite, I'll always think fondly of BMC Remedy Service Desk.

 

What does all that have to do with the new certification? This ITIL certification is specifically: BMC Remedy Service Desk 7.0.3 Gold Level Process Compliance for Incident and Problem Management.

 

The postings in this blog are my own and don't necessarily represent BMC's opinion or position.
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0 Comments Permalink Tags: bmc_software, itil, itsm

Welcome to My Blog

Posted by Alena Hitzemann Jul 23, 2007

- By Michele Marques, Lead Information Developer, ITSM

 

An introduction to Michele Marques and her Write On blog with talk.bmc.com.

 

Although I've been writing personal blogs for some time, I feel a little nervous with my first corporate blog here at talk.bmc. I probably don't know you, and you don't know me. I'm no longer used to speaking publicly. Although many years ago at the Schulich School of Business, I gave a presentation to 600 incoming MBA students.

 

As a technical writer, I've become accustomed to anonymity. Plenty of people read what I write (manuals, white papers, technical bulletins, and so on), but only a few people know those are my words.

 

In case you haven't already read my bio, let me introduce myself. I started with BMC a couple of years ago as a technical writer. I write about products in the BMC Remedy IT Service Management (BMC Remedy ITSM) suite and solutions using those applications.

 

Recently, I had the opportunity to meet some customers. I came away from that meeting surprised and energized. Surprised - because some of their challenges were different from my preconceptions. Energized - because I had ideas I wanted to bring to our documentation that might enhance the customer experience. Hopefully, your experience.

 

I'm glad to have this opportunity to blog at BMC, because this will give me a forum where I can talk about ideas and get feedback from: customers, people in environments similar to our customers, and to others who are facing similar challenges.

 

Are you a customer? Are you providing IT service? I'd love to hear from you, to learn more about your challenges and what information you're seeking.

 

The postings in this blog are my own and don't necessarily represent BMC's opinion or position.
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0 Comments Permalink Tags: blogging, technical_writing, itsm, customers
mmarques

mmarques

 Member since: Sep 10, 2007

At BMC Software, I'm a Lead Information Developer for ITSM. In this blog, I explore ideas about communication, especially regarding software documentation. Please leave a comment to add your thoughts to the discussion.

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