Outlines Save You Tons of Time
Tweet Outlining works for any size document. From a quick blog post to an 100-page proposal, outlining can save you tons of time. Creating a detailed outline also helps in putting structure in the document’s logic as well. Two of my favorite types are a linear outline and mind mapping. Today, I will talk about a linear outline. Before Outlining Before beginning, you will need to really think about what is the main goal of your...
Read MoreFree Requirements Traceability Matrix Template
Tweet Here is a free requirements traceability matrix (RTM) for you to fill out when you are gathering requirements for a project. I created it for a CMMI-Level Three project I was on. It has bidirectional traceability. This means that you can trace a requirement from the beginning til the end of the entire software lifecycle. There are automated tools that can replace this RTM. However, they are usually extremely expensive. If your...
Read More6 Help Tools to Help Your Users Out
Tweet When a new system is developed, you always want to have end-user documentation that users can access to get a better understanding of the tasks they can perform. Hopefully the users will receive training, but you can’t count on that happening. Therefore, you want to have different types of help documentation that users can read when they are in a bind. Another reason to do this is that you don’t want to overwhelm your...
Read MoreUsing Acronyms and Abbreviations in Proposals and Tech Docs
Tweet Acronyms and abbreviations are one of those things that I always see people getting wrong in documentation. When you are delving into a heavy technical jargon area, you can’t be lazy in defining them. This is especially the case when you have stakeholders, who are not in your organization and will be reading the document. Acronym vs. Abbreviation (or really Initialism) There is a very small difference between an acronym and...
Read MoreFive Quick Tips on How to Create a Good Cheat Sheet
Tweet Projects usually have user manuals that are in-depth how-to guides for users. However, user manuals, even if they are online, do not make sense all of the time. When you get a new gadget, it usually comes with a quick reference that is a one-page pullout sheet, and a user manual that has more pages. You should have the same approach to end-user documentation. I just created a few cheat sheets for a project that I’m writing...
Read More
