View From the Other Side...and Back Again

by Nancy Halverson

The view from my window as I write shows sunshine on green trees with flowers and blossoms everywhere. If I turn slightly, I can see the fields of the Mayfield valley -- it's like a wall of green, spotted with dry-stone fences and farm cottages. Sheep are grazing, and a few horses are out for some exercise. 

England's Spring

My suburban quarters come at a high cost, but when you can enjoy looking at the world from this angle, it's worth it. Spring is a little longer season here than in Southern Ontario -- it seems to go from February until June (and sometimes right into autumn I'm told). New things constantly appear in gardens and each week the predominant flower changes. This week it's rhododendron that I'm noticing most. Unbearably light individual flowers in huge poofy clusters - their colours becoming almost fluorescent in the sunshine. Truly a sight to take your mind off the daily grind. 

Childcare -- New Arrangements

My work-life balance has been keeping me pre-occupied lately. As always, childcare issues crop up and we need to make adjustments. This time though, we're going for a solution that will balance all our needs, I hope. My girls want to spend time at home (small as it is) with their own toys and cats, so we've found an after school nanny for them. Sounds expensive, and it is, but they're my children after all -- where better to spend the money, right? (At least, that's what I keep telling myself.) 

The new arrangement hasn't started yet, but I'm hoping that they'll get along and get a chance to start a routine before school breaks up for the summer at the end of July. It'll be nice to just pull into my own driveway and find the kids playing in the yard or on the street, maybe with homework finished and some fresh air in their lungs. 

Childcare -- Canada vs. England

Childcare is even more of an afterthought here, I find, than it was in Waterloo. Companies (and schools) in Waterloo seemed to tolerate the ideas and realities of family life with a lot more grace. My company here gives me three days for unexpected absences -- over three years!! So, when a child is ill, it's not a simple case of calling in or working from home. I have to foist the kid on some kind victim (aka friend) and take the 'bad mom' hit. My husband's job allows him to work from home, but he sometimes has those annoying obligations like meetings or urgent deadlines that get in my way. 

The government here has had to bring in legislation to force employers to consider requests from parents for flexible time. But, as far as I can see, that only means that they have to wait a day to say no. There's a grudging attitude, I feel, towards people who have family obligations. My schedule has to change quite often -- last minute things usually. Schedules seem to be flexible in theory, but inflexible in practice. It's not too bad, I guess, just a few sideways looks and explanations requested, and referrals to the company handbook. They haven't fired me yet. 

Spring Cleaning at Work

The actual work has taken on a new dimension, as we're revamping a very large online help system. Cleaning up the writing, creating a consistent style, and checking the accuracy of the information. My boss is calling it our spring cleaning. We've got four writers now, all working on separate sections of the same guide. We're getting quite good at calling each other (two of us work in Sheffield, two in Leeds) so we don't all work on the same area. And of course, there are the spreadsheets to update so we know what stage each section is at, and who's responsible for what. The project originally was scheduled for about five weeks, but, as usual, I'm pretty sure that deadline will slip. There's just too much ground to cover, and nothing urgent on the horizon. 

The Great Debate

And, like all tech writers, the questions turn into debates and broader questions with more debates. One interesting one last week started with a simple enough question -- do we provide the navigation for all our software's screens (reached by prompts, not menus) for every screen? Some screens would need 15 routes described. So, we went the task-based route -- let's try to predict the user's most likely routes to the destination and what tasks they will be performing. That won't work, because we truly don't know the tasks. Enter the bumbling outsider (me) who asks the truly ridiculous question…has anyone on the design team ever done any task analysis? Project manager: what's a task analysis? Design team leader: the short answer is…no. Well, looks like there might just be a bit of difficulty trying to figure out the most likely routes then?! We've left the question for our doc manager to sort out -- she was on vacation last week. It's just her sort of thing though, so I'm sure she'll be thrilled. 

Feedback About My Meeting

I'm still getting feedback from people on our informal meeting in April here in Sheffield. People who want to be a part of it next time keep e-mailing me, and the list is growing. I've received e-mails from a past president of the Trans-alpine chapter (European) who says that they have similar informal group get-togethers in many areas of Europe. They call them local interest groups, which sounds perfect. I'll be getting more information on that soon. It's still tough adjusting to life without an active STC, and 100+ members in one area. The whole of the STC-UK's chapter has only 120 members! 

The ISTC (Institute of Scientific and Technical Communication)

I should say here that there is another organization, the ISTC, which has eight times that membership. The STC is seen as a very American-centric organization (not an unheard-of opinion elsewhere) and the ISTC's seen as more of an English organization. The membership fees for the ISTC are very steep, as are their conference fees. Nothing seems to come from the genuine wish to share professional ideas, but more from a point of view of making some money from the activities -- but this is just my outsider's opinion. 

I've yet to fully investigate their events (although I've always been put off by the cost whenever I've contemplated actually going to one). I'm heading down to London for the annual general meeting of the STC-UK chapter in June. I want to see who's around and who might be interested in doing some cross-disciplinary work with me and the others I met with in Sheffield. It's something that I'm looking forward to, especially as some bright light's suggested me as a vice president of the UK chapter. (You can stop laughing now… I'm checking it out; it's not a done deal.) But, it could be done, maybe. I'll have to see what they'd be looking for me to actually do. Time commitments are difficult for me to gauge at this point -- we're just about to start some major renovation work on our house, etc. We all know that everything takes more time and effort than you originally predict, right? 

In Conclusion

I hope you've enjoyed my little pieces in The Quill, and I'll be sure to keep in touch with what goes on in the STC-UK chapter. It's a long summer ahead of us now (well, hopefully!) and I hope you will all wish for sunshine and fine temperatures for the last two weeks in July, when my family and I will be in Southern Ontario for a visit. It's going to be great to be 'home'.