Keynote presentation for STC France annual conference, 2009

1. IT’S NOT IN THE
JOB DESCRIPTION
OR HOW BEING A TECHNICAL COMMUNICATOR
CAN ALSO TURN YOU INTO A(N). . .
Ray Gallon
Culture Communication Technologie

2. ENTOMOLOGIST... Wait a minute!
The control room
is AC, but the
Take your place in the rocket is DC!
never-ending search
for BUGS
Get your company out
of impossible situations

3. GENDARME...
Enforce standards and practices:
Procedures
Terminology
Consistency
Style
User experience
Quality assurance

4. The
Terminology
Police
I t ’ s a t ha nk l e s s t a s k ,
b ut so me b o d y ’ s go t
to do it!

5. NETWORKER...
even multicultural

6. FIREFIGHTER...
Be the first to discover
that two teams in your
project are working at
cross purposes
without realizing it!
Mediate conflicts
Be the user’s advocate
when someone
proposes a solution
that’s easy for them,
but bad for...

7. EVANGELIST...
Someday, sometime, you will
certainly need to persuade some
colleague or other that your
customers need to be informed.
Typical counter-arguments (I didn’t
make any of these up):
“The interface is so good you
don’t need information”
“Nobody reads the
documentation anyway”
“Who cares, we’re M___soft!”
“Interface? Choices? Everything
needs to be configurable”
Just like an evangelist, sometimes
you have to thump “the bible” and
fight against ignorance.

8. What we Specified

9. What they programmed

10. HUMAN FACTORS
EXPERT...
Performing serious
analysis

11. HUMAN FACTORS
EXPERT...
Performing serious Applying intelligent
analysis design ideas

12. HUMAN FACTORS
EXPERT...
Performing serious Meeting user
analysis needs

13. HUMAN FACTORS
EXPERT...
Meeting user
needs
Using common
sense

14. PSYCHOTHERAPIST...
You understand
everyone, and
everyone’s point of view
- because you’re a
translator
Because you understand
everyone, you can make
them feel good about
themselves
When you make people
feel good about
themselves, you
contribute to team unity!

15. ...IN SHORT, THE GLUE
THAT HOLDS IT ALL
TOGETHER
HAPPY STICKING!

16. THANKS - ENJOY THE
CONFERENCE!
infodesign@culturecom.net