Cow TC Technical Communication Services

Today's tip for new TCs: When documenting a product that has not yet reached a feature freeze, you can waste a lot of time and effort. Make sure to add a feature freeze clause into your contract, or you will end up rewriting the same text and recapturing the same screens over and over.

I make a point of visiting TC groups whenever I travel. Last night, I attended an event put on my STC Puget Sound. I find it interesting to see the differences in the work expectations, types of projects, types of client companies, and more. There is much that we as technical communication practitioners have in common, wherever we are in the world, but there are also some fascinating differences.

There is a large hand-made sign near a homeless encampment in Seattle. The sign reads: "Seattle loves you." Nice sentiments, but there is a heart instead of the word "love" and they used an apostrophe and an S. I am trying to figure out the thought process that occurred, because that is as crazy as writing "Seattle love's you" (which, of course, is nonsensical).

Why are so many native English speakers tone-deaf to punctuation?

One of the topics that I have been presenting this year is User Compliance -- that is, how much do users read in the documentation and how closely do they follow the instructions?

British Air's latest safety video is a great example of how to use a storyline and gentle humor to make the information more appealing. I would love to see some data about whether or not this has improved user compliance.

What examples of documentation (including things like safety videos) have you seen that made you (as a user) pay more attention and follow the instructions?