Since leaving the high-school teaching environment in the mid 1990’s, I always seem to have been drawn to companies and projects that have needed to radically change their approach to the design and development of user and training documentation for business processes, software and systems. Probably because I fell into generation W, as in still needing to write by hand (or the pre-MS Office generation), and found that I always needed to teach myself before I could teach others.

Reflecting on how current financial and business times are changing how society in general is doing things, I have no doubt that my landscape as a technical writer, instructional designer and training materials developer has changed.

* Content heavy material is out - Creative picture based and interactive solutions are in

* 100 day training projects are out - Rapid prototyping is in

* Telling people how to learn is out - Letting people explore their own path is in

With more than 10 years of experience in planning, designing, developing and managing the production of software product documentation and training material, I find it quite difficult to put myself into a single or simple "writing" box. Throw facilitation and train-the-trainer handovers along with changing times into the mix and I know that it's time to create material differently.