Conant Correct by Claire Conant

This has to be my new favorite product. Okay, so my last post told about my frustrations with technical support. After my last response to them, I provided them the .nfo file that they wanted, and explained my concerns. In return, their support guy turned around, using their own tool, Jing, and gave me a little video with audio to explain what the .nfo file contains, and what precisely he was looking for.

He also showed me how with Windows Vista, some drivers are still being updated, and he found a new update for my video driver. I’m going to install that and see what happens.

I responded back to him and thanked him profusely. Seriously. How cool is that that he used their own product to provide what is now excellent service. Perhaps I was just cranky and tired earlier.

Moral of the tech support story: a little goes a long way. And use visuals and audio when you can. Jing can help you do that.

In a fast-paced world, full of instant gratification, fast information, quick, lightening speed visuals and sounds, it’s important to stop and read - or listen to - what your clients are telling you before you go running off to solve their problems. This is particularly true of support people of all types. I consider myself a support person of sorts, as I’m supporting an author or a client to make their message heard.

This particular topic comes up as I am dealing with a technical support person at TechSmith - creator of this fabulous new tool called Jing, that my colleague, Beth over at Life on Avenue Z, told me about.

I downloaded Jing and it’s the sweetest screen capture invention for free that I’ve seen yet. It shows up as a little half sun on the edge of your computer screen. When you hover over it, it expands to give you three options of capture. Click one, and off you go. You can even reposition where the half sun sits on your monitor.

After a few days, I needed to contact HP support for a completely  unrelated issue. After that issue was resolved to my satisfaction, I restarted my computer and noticed that Jing was no longer working. The half sun was frozen in place and was inactive. The only way I could get JIng to work was by launching the commands from the task bar - not my preferred method because I think that Jing’s screen launcher is the coolest method. So, I uninstalled Jing, and then reinstalled it. Still not working. I sent Techsmith an email with the problem:

"I love this tool, however, after a session with HP tech support yesterday for an unrelated issue, Jing is not working. I have the yellow half-sun graphic, with a black quarter circle near it, and when I hover over the yellow half sun, nothing works, but it did before. Hmmm. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling Jing, but still the same issue."

Their response:

"We have had a few reports of this problem, but we have not yet found what is the cause. It is interesting that you describe this happening after working with HP. What kind of problem were you troubleshooting, was this a problem with your computer, or were you servicing a printer? Please give me some details of what was done on that call, as it may offer a clue as to what made this change in Jing’s behavior.
I would also like to get a System info file to help me troubleshoot this problem. Please click start > run and type msinfo32.exe then hit "ok". This brings up System Information. Click file > save as.. to save a .nfo report. Attach this to your reply."

Since there was no "save as" option, I sent them a .txt file - a bit nervous though as to why they need all that information. That file offers up everything about my computer. How do I know this support person is honest? But, I digress…

So, my response to her added more clarification:

"We were troubleshooting why my built-in microphone wasn’t working after Microsoft had me change my operating system from Vista Home Premium to Vista Enterprise. I loaded Jing onto Vista Enterprise and it worked fine. Then the troubleshooting with HP - we updated audio drivers and the BIOS. That’s all that I know we did - HP had remote control, but I was watching. I’ve attached the system information as a text file. There was no "save as" option, only save or export, so I chose export. Hope this helps. Oh, and Jing works, if I choose the image capture from the taskbar, not from the half sun at the top. I can’t move the half sun or get it to work, so I just turn off Jing now when I reboot."

Here’s the response I just got back that fried my eggs this morning:

"your system info file is not useful in this format, please try this again, and choose "Save" to save in the .nfo format.
If you updated your audio components or major Windows components after installing Jing, this may be causing Jing to not appear correctly. Please unisntall Jing, then reinstall Jing, and let me knwo if this solves the problem.
Jing should still work for you, this is just a display problem. If you click "More" in the task tray icon for Jing, then go into preferences, you can uncheck "show launcher" to make the sun icon at top go away, then you can use Jing from either the task tray, or you can also set a hotkey, also in the preferences window.
Please advise."

Um…. didn’t I already tell her all that? In my first message I told her I’d already uninstalled and reinstalled it. I also tole her that it still works from the task tray (what I called the taskbar.)

Seriously. If you are a tech support person - and I say this as a reminder to myself as well - make time to stop, digest what your client tells you, before shooting from the hip. This tells the client you respect their time, you respect them, and it also gives you all the information you need - or most of it - to really troubleshoot the problem successfully and quickly, the first time - without ticking off your customer and making them repeat themselves.

And now I’ll probably have to eat my own words because I could be firing this off too fast and someone else reading my messages to the support people could be as equally confused as she was - so perhaps it’s all my fault anyway.

I just received an automated email newsletter and this was the opening line:

I have allot of information to share with you.

That should read “a lot” not “allot”.

The audience of this newsletter are people buying fabric. Some of these people might not recognize the error, and many might. For those that do recognize the error, the image this typo presents is - to me - one of a company who doesn’t pay attention to the small details.

Details count.

Just like with a resume, every contact you have with a potential customer should be perfect, always presenting your best foot forward. Mistakes like this are easily corrected, but better corrected before they’re sent out.

Few appreciate the benefit of a good editor.

I used to work for a corporation as a technical editor. My role was mainly to focus on all the technical documentation (user guides, installation manuals, operations guides) but the marketing director insisted that everyone in his department send their documents through me for a final editorial pass before they were distributed outside the company. It was my job to “save the company from any potential embarrassment.” I caught problems like this, ensured consistent messaging throughout all the documents, and made sure that a consistent tone and style was applied. However once he left the company, the support for true editorial compliance left with him.

Can you afford not to have an editor?

Maybe fixing a small error like this one I saw won’t make a huge difference in this company’s overall sales, but since you never know online who is reading, can you afford to take the chance? The one person who is turned away from your site from something so easily corrected could just be the person who has a thousand dollar order to place. Or more.

A little background

I’ve been writing and editing for years in one fashion or another, but always in the corporate environment, for a long time in Human Resources, and then in the technical communications arena. I have had the opportunity to write and edit just about every type of corporate communication possible. It’s something I enjoy and something I’m good at - or so I’m told.

However, I grew weary of corporate head honchos and other management types determining my worth and setting limits to how successful I am, regardless of how hard I work. A few years ago, I was in my manager’s office. I recall mentioning to him something about starting a writing and editing business. I think then my thoughts were centered more around the idea that he should start it and I’d come work for him.

Consulting anyone?

Fast forward a couple years. That manager left, and I assumed his role - unofficially - leading a team of two technical writers, as well as managing the implementation of a corporate intranet upgrade using Microsoft SharePoint 2007. I was smart enough to know that I was lacking in some critical areas of expertise, so I hired some consultants who could handle the technical side of the implementation and I worked closely with them. It was during this time that I realized I really liked the consultant side of business.

Once the implementation was complete, I changed sides and started to work as an editor for a consulting firm. I absolutely loved it. I loved working with different clients, I loved the exposure to a variety of topics and businesses, and I got to see how the inside of a consulting firm works. I also had the chance to work with some very intelligent and creative people. I remember during the hiring interview telling the hiring manager that I’d start my own writing and editing consulting firm, if I had the courage, which I didn’t at the time.

Change comes unannounced

On December 14, 2007, that consulting firm reorganized and I was essentially laid off. It came as a complete surprise as I was still finishing up a project for a client, and we expected there to be another phase to that project. However, over the holiday period this gave me some time to reflect on my future and what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted more flexibility in my lifestyle, more control over my income, and more control over my career. Starting my business seemed to be the best option.

Starting Up

Once I made the decision to go solo, I came up with a business name and got my business license. That previous consulting company still contracts out work to me and I have work coming in from other places. I’m quickly learning to appreciate the ebb and flow of working for oneself - primarily the financial fluctuations. Once I understood how this worked, I learned to panic less and believe in myself.

Where will it lead?

I really like this new lifestyle I’ve chosen.As I go along, I’ll share with you some of the events that have occurred as I start my own business. I’m not sure where it will all lead. Perhaps someday I’ll own my own staff of fabulous writers and editors, or perhaps I’ll continue on my path of working for myself, by myself. Time will tell.

I found out from my fellow freelance copywriter, Beth from Avenue Z Writing Solutions, that Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2008 is free. So, that’s what I’m using for now. Seeing as there’s only me here, and I don’t (yet) have a complicated employee and accounting system, it seems the easiest way to go. Downloading was easy and with most Microsoft products being released lately, there seems to be an emphasis on usability. I’ll report back with more when I have used it more extensively.

In the world of Agile project management methodology, retrospectives are held at the end of each sprint. A sprint is a short period of time, usually two or three weeks, in which a software is revised and a potentially marketable version is ready for release. I was first introduced to Agile methodology a year ago when I was placed at a forensics software development firm as a technical writer. Retrospectives aren’t a new concept. They are part of the “plan-do-check-act” cycle that most businesses use.  What is different, in my opinion, is the short cycle of review that the Agile methodology employs. I think this short cycle works because memories are fresh and courses can be altered swiftly before the project veers too far off track.

In life, everyone performs retrospectives, but at different periods of time, often at yearly intervals. On New Year’s Eve, we look back at the year to see what occurred and then we look forward to see what we want to do differently. On our birthdays or anniversaries we take stock of our relationship and feel gratitude for our successes or sadness for things that might not have turned out how we had hoped.

I grew up in a family that loved sailing. My father raced small, one or two person boats, and he and my brother were champions in their divisions. At the end of each race, win or lose, while folding the sails, hosing off the boat, and tying up the loose sheets (ropes), there’s discussion about what went wrong or how they nearly lost it to a competitor but with the sails set just right, they won.

Retrospectives inspire change, and I always say to myself, that which does not change dies. The reason retrospectives work is because they help us keep a sharp perspective on where we’ve been and where we want to go. (And I don’t think its a coincidence that the word retrospective is so similar to the word perspective.) Retrospectives keep us focused on doing the right thing so we can be successful at whatever we choose.

How can they work for a freelance writer and editor? The same as they do for a major corporation. The point is that even though I am a freelancer, it’s important that I conduct my daily work life as a business, not as a hobby, if I want to be successful. And how do I do that? I can do this by:

• Defining short-term and long-term goals for my business
• Establishing regular intervals to evaluate my own progress in relation to my goals
• Conduct self evaluations regularly - what did I do well, where can I improve, what additional training do I need?
• Review my finances on a regular basis so I know whether I’m making a profit or a loss
• Be regular and disciplined about my work schedule and activities

I thought of this topic today because I realized it was a year ago today that I started working for a consulting firm and my first client was the software forensics firm mentioned above. I’ve learned about the consulting business from the inside, about Agile methodology, about being unemployed, and how to start my own freelance writing and editing business - all in the last twelve months. My plan is to start documenting some of what I learned and how I can apply that to become a successful small business owner. Stay tuned.

Next up: How did I get here and where do I want to go?

Technorati Tags: Agile,software development methodology,freelancing,writing,editing,business,start-ups,retrospectives,perspectives