Notes from 55th International STC Conference
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 1-4, 2008

Stop Wasting Time: Ten Things You Can Do to Make Yourself More Efficient

Scott Abel

Scott Abel is a content management strategist and structured content evangelist whose strengths lie in helping organizations improve the way they author, maintain, publish, and archive their information assets. Scott’s website, www.TheContentWrangler.com, is a popular online resource for technical writers with an interest in content management.

Session Description: The presenter’s thesis is as follows: Most folks complain they don’t have enough time to move their careers forward. Most of the time, this is simply not true. There’s plenty of time in each day, but we’re used to wasting it on time-sucking tasks that provide little or no business value. Learn ten of the biggest time-consuming tasks we perform each day and how to accomplish them more efficiently.

• Tip #10. Stop misusing software: E-mail is not a meeting scheduling tool (i.e., not direct e-mail to a distribution. Outlook’s built-in meeting scheduling protocol is much more efficient).
• Solution: MeetingWizard.com (functions similarly to Outlook’s built-in system). Freeware. More complex version for sale.
   
• Tip #9. Push back: reclaim your time. Collaborate in efficient, time-saving ways using real-time communication.
• Solution: Google Docs. Freeware. Wiki-like online collaborative editing environment. Toss in the telephone, and you can avoid endless e-mails resolving multiple reviewers’ diverging opinions on the document. Interchangeable among several protocols. Can revert to earlier versions of docs. Can accept/reject changes; define user privileges, etc. Another option is Thinkfree.com. Another is Zoho Work Online. Skype (internet phone; free except for certain situations) can be used in combination with Google Docs. You may get some resistance from people who are not comfortable with an online collaborative work environment.
   



• Tip #8. Learn to manage e-mail. E-mail is often a huge time-sucker.
• Solution: Help is available from Lifehacker.com, a productivity guru who helps you to be more time-efficient in handling of e-mail.
   



• Tip #7. Tag it! Then, share it with others.
• Solution: http://Del.icio.us: (no www). And other tagging services can help you find what you want to remember. Del.icio.us is bookmarks on steroids. It organizes all your bookmarks by key words you will recognize (folksonomies... as opposed to taxonomies... personalized). Example: Yankee Candle Factory; they tagged their product under a clever branding idea called “house warmer.” Needless to say, that failed to trigger any Internet search engine spiders.
   



• Tip #6. Get a mobile device and use it. The iPhone and others can help you stay connected and get things done faster.
• Solution: Many different products exist. The price continues to go down.
   



• Tip #5. Don’t get sucked into listservs. Listservs can be an important source of information, but they can also suck time. Example: What is the best way to motivate people? Tech writer personal preference collides with reality.
• Solution: Don’t get sucked in.
   



• Tip #4. Learn to create useful mashups, combinations of products brought together into one product (e.g., maps and directions; 10 things to improve your portfolio plus a YouTube video on the same subject). You can program in several different parameters and mashup protocols can search for solutions that meet all parameters (e.g., apartment search at given radius from work within given price range that allow pets)
• Solution: Yahoo’s http://Pipes.yahoo.com and Microsoft’s http://www.Popfly.com can help; many other services are popping up daily. Example: Mashup “STC Voices and Voices from Around the World.” De-duplicates the online repository of STC newsletters to eliminate multiple publications of material from STC Office. This is called “service design.” Book: Document Engineering.
   



• Tip #3. Take advantage of project management tools.
• Solution: Tools like BaseCamp, TadaList, and Todoist can help you stay organized, minimize work. Don’t overuse this, or you will defeat the purpose.
   



• Tip #2. Use reminder tools.
• Solution: IWantSandy and Jott are two popular tools that provide convenience and service. Sandy explains how to use e-mail: issue key reminders and it will interface with your e-mail system (e.g., tie in to Calendar; tie in from iPhone or Blackberry). http://www.IWantSandy.com. Jott lets you give verbal commands from your cell phone. Jott remembers it, transcribes it, sends it to your web site to remind you later. Would be great for dictating notes for book, capturing thoughts while you have them. Can involve others (e.g., family). http://www.jott.com
   



• Tip #1. Seek the wisdom of crowds.
• Solution: Ask for help from your customers, peers, or the general public. http://www.Biddler.com is an online editing tool that helps you improve your videos. You can annotate a video as you can a .pdf in Acrobat. Each user can insert review comments on how to improve the video. Another source is the presenter’s forum: http://www.thecontentwrangler.ning.com. A blog-like environment where users can share information about products, themselves, etc. (e.g., http://www.dita.xml.org. Wiki Knowledge Page. http://www.Dita.users.org