For the last couple of years we having been delivering a workshop called Building Procedures with the SOP Toolkit to water treatment plant operators in a nearby province. The workshop has been well attended and the reviews indicate that the participants have been extremely satisfied with the contents and delivery of the course. That certainly has been satisfying to me since it took a lot of work to develop the course. But I probably haven’t been proactive enough in marketing the workshop to other geographic locations or industries.

Building Procedures with the SOP Toolkit is a very practical course, and it includes the Toolkit, an assortment of useful forms, lists, planners and worksheets. Most importantly it includes comprehensive information gained from real life (and sometimes painful) experience developing SOPs for clients from several industries. The process works for us, and I believe there must be many clients out there that could put it to good use as well.

So I’ve decided to turn the course and Toolkit into a package that can be purchased online. It will include all the contents of The SOP Toolkit, as well as an ebook based on the workshop. I should say that for those of you who might be interested in taking the workshop, that is still a very viable way to access this material. The workshop is intensive and focused, and includes group interaction and exercises that are invaluable. (If any of you want the workshop delivered to your organization just contact us and we will make arrangements.)

However, if you would like to obtain the same information and study it on your own I will be making the ebook and Toolkit available for purchase online. You will be able to download the whole package as a zip file. In addition,  I will include one hour of telephone consultation with the package. If you have questions you can contact me for help. Any consultation required beyond that can be purchased at our normal hourly rates, or we can provide an estimate for additional services.

The ebook isn’t quite finished yet, but will be soon. I wanted to put an advanced notice out there to see how many might be interested in the offer. It’s a great value. If you learn just one key piece of information that helps you in your documentation project it would be worth the price of the package.

The package includes the following items:

• Building Procedures with the SOP Toolkit ebook
• SOP Assessment Questionnaire
• SOP Data Gathering Questions
• SOP Development Worksheet
• SOP Document Plan Worksheet
• SOP Planner
• List of Example SOPs (for a water treatment plant)
• Sample of a Typical SOP (for a water treatment plant)
• Sample of a Typical SOP (for a potash mill)
• One hour of consultation

So drop me an email and let me know what you think. I’ll be getting more information out on the price and availability soon…

I was surfing through a client’s website today trying to re-familiarize myself with some content for an upcoming project. They have approached me about re-writing some web content, updating some articles, and writing some new material to support new products and marketing initiatives. It was interesting to see the differences in writing styles, conceptual approach, depth and perspective between several different documents related to similar products and technologies. Some were obviously written some time ago, and described older technologies as if they were on the cutting edge. Unfortunately there was no indication of when the articles were written, who wrote them, exactly who they were written for, or their specific purpose. Obviously, several different writers created the documents, and I would guess that some were engineers, others were marketing people, and at least one was a technical writer. (I know that because I wrote some of them.)

A couple of thoughts struck me as I worked my way through these documents. This client believes strongly in information-based marketing. They provide value to their customers by supporting their products with lots of online information (as well as great telephone support according to testimonials from satisfied customers).  Their plan to update the information shows that they have recognized that the content must be up-to-date and consistent in style, focus, and technical level. On the other hand, their products connect to legacy equipment, so their documentation must provide historical information and perspective. The upshot of this is that most of the older information does not go out of date but it must be consistent in style and format with the more recent content to present a professional face to their customers.

This led me to several general conclusions, some of which may apply to you:

It’s important to clarify the purposes and goals of your online document library. For each document updated or created, you need to ask yourself several questions. Is this document primarily a marketing document? Is it a technical support document? Is it educational/informational? Is it procedural? The answers to these questions will determine the perspective, depth and format. It will also help determine who is responsible for the content.

You need to have a clear and complete in-house style guide to ensure consistency. Engineers and technologists are intelligent, skilled and competent at their field of expertise. But not all of them are great communicators, and if you give six of them the task of creating a document you will have six different document styles and structures. The same holds true for sales and marketing people. Often, even if the final documentation is created by a technical writer, a lot of the early content may be produced by an engineer or marketing person. A standardized, in-house style guide will help you to start from the right place and reduce the amount of editing needed later.

You need to create an environment that supports ongoing updating of your documentation. Probably every organization that uses documentation has this challenge. It may be possible to just archive documents that support discontinued products, but the documentation supporting current products should be up to date and consistent. The idea that you will put a “push” on updating the old stuff and then you will be done just isn’t realistic. There will always be tweaks and updates to do.

You need to include a competent technical communicator. Whether you maintain an ongoing working relationship with a freelancer, or employ a full time tech writer, you need the consistent input and expertise that comes from someone who creates documentation professionally. It’s not just expertise; it’s a matter of focus and perspective. Your engineering personnel will ensure the technical content is correct, and your marketing people will watch for a consistent marketing message. Your technical writer will focus on making sure the final product is clear, consistent, and effective.