Category: Technical Writing

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Localization: Training & Development in Norway

by Jen Weaver Follow us on Twitter View our profile on LinkedIn
 
As we make our way towards Scandinavia, let's explore some common cultural facts about Norwegians and their expectations when it comes to Training & Development.
  
Test your knowledge of Norwegian Culture

  1. True or False? Norway remained neutral during World War II.
  2. True or False? Norway is a monarchy.

Quick Tips for Training & Development in Norway1:

  • As members of the least punctual culture in northern Europe, Norwegians often run 10 to 15 minutes late for appointments. Be prepared to wait, but always arrive promptly yourself. While it's common for meetings to begin a bit behind schedule, be sure to end your classes on time, especially if they run until the end of the workday.
  • While English is widely known in Norway, the official language is Norwegian and may be the preferred language for use in your training materials. Even when fluent in English, many Norwegians prefer written communication in their native tongue.
  • More analytical than emotional, Norwegians tend to view outside information cautiously, and they are often slow to make decisions.
  • Communication is typically blunt and straightforward, and it's the cultural norm to accept statements at face value.
  • Individual freedom and independence are highly valued. As such, any kind of debt is avoided, as it's viewed as an impediment to one's freedom.
  • Family units are perceived as a way to maintain stability and structure in life. Norway's social welfare system perpetuates this support as well and is a great source of pride for the Norwegian people.
  • Gender roles are greatly minimized in Norwegian culture, as both parents share childcare responsibilities and women have great freedom in behavior and personal or professional aspirations.
  • Norwegians are quiet people, so avoid speaking too loudly or boisterously.
  • Talking with your hands in your pockets is considered too casual for business interactions, and the American "okay" gesture is perceived as rude.
  • Although Norway is a very affluent country, gift-giving is not acceptable in business interactions due to strict anti-bribery laws.

Knowledge Answers from Above:

  1. True. Although it was occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II.
  2. True. It's a constitutional monarchy with the king as chief of state.
References:
 
1Morrison, Terri, & Conaway, Wayne A. (2006). Kiss, bow, or shake hands (2nd ed.). Avon: Adams Media.
 
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Developing international training and development materials? Contact Jen at Carmazzi Global Solutions. And if you love Jen's articles, check out her new Localization mini courses.
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Technical Communication: Applying Lean Principles to Documentation

by Megan Pitkin Follow us on Twitter View our profile on LinkedIn
 

While I was working as a bedside nurse, my organization decided to adopt a new way of approaching patient care and improve workflow: Lean. As described in this article about Lean in health care, "Lean is an industrial managerial system that aims to eliminate process waste in the forms of transportation, inventory, motion, waiting, overproduction, over-processing, and defects."

While Lean was originally intended for industrial applications, the article describes the efforts of Dr. M. Peggy Hays, associate professor in the UAH College of Nursing, to bring industrial Lean practices in healthcare.

"Nursing staff today have more and more duties," said Dr. Hays. "How can they make their job more efficient so they can focus on patient care, which is why they got into the profession in the first place?"

According to the article, Dr. Hays said that "healthcare applications [for Lean] include unearthing greater efficiencies in emergency room waiting times, operating room use, use of nursing rounds, medication rounds, processing patient paperwork in administrative offices, and workflow of the staff."

The planning and assessment phase for my unit started with the team receiving Lean education and concluded with a list of probable projects and action items needed for the week. Because the main action item was patient wait times, data was collected for the time it took for call lights to be answered.

An initial assessment found that we walked over five miles each shift between patient rooms for medication delivery, gathering of supplies, locating equipment, and patient care needs. After streamlining workflows, reorganization of the medication rooms, and standardizing equipment processes, my walking was reduced by a mile for my first shift of the implementation week. With the improved processes and reduction in the amount of walking required for the nurses to complete their tasks, there was a significant decrease in call light wait times.         

Seeing how successful Lean was in my unit and throughout the organization, I began to question if the Lean principals could be applied to the materials I used in my Electronic Medical Records (EMR) training classes. While adopting an industrial process in the creation of training materials may sound like a stretch, I'd like to illustrate one simple way that I applied the Lean principles to a PowerPoint presentation I use in my classes.

Since standardization is a key Lean component, I used my organization's approved fonts and colors on my first slide.

Applying Lean to technical documents.

I also organized my lesson plan sections and agenda using approved colors, and I used the colors in a very deliberate way. For example, in the image below notice that "Locating the Patient" is a dark purple on my agenda slide.

Applying Lean to technical documents (agenda slide colors).

I used that same dark purple banner on all of the slides in the "Locating a Patient" segment of the course. (One of those slides is shown below.)

Applying Lean to technical documents. More color coding.

Lastly, I color-coordinated the supporting training materials, like pocket guides, so that they match the colors used in the presentation.

Applying Lean to technical documents. Pocket guides.

As a nurse, it is encouraging for me to see more hospitals doing an excellent job of implementing Lean tools that manufacturing has been evolving for more than half a century. As an Instructional Designer, I have been pleased with the overwhelming positive feedback I have received by adopting these Lean philosophies into the creation of materials for EMR classes.

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If you like Megan's articles, you'll love her live, online classes such as Train the EMR Trainer.

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Localization: Training and Development in New Zealand

by Jen Weaver Follow us on Twitter View our profile on LinkedIn

As cold weather looms in the United States, our friends in New Zealand are preparing for the summer season. Let's take a warm excursion to the Southern Hemisphere to explore some common cultural facts about New Zealanders and their expectations when it comes to training and development.

New Zealand Trivia:

  1. True or False? New Zealand was the first country to grant women the right to vote.
  2. True or False? New Zealanders refer to themselves as "Kiwis."

Tips for Training & Development in New Zealand1:

  • Truth is based on objective facts; emotions and hype are not deemed appropriate in business presentations. Stick to the facts when developing your training materials.
  • Business interactions are more formal until credibility and rapport are established.
  • Despite their proximity, do not confuse Aussie culture with that of the Kiwis. They are entirely different people groups.
  • The Maori tribespeople are the earliest known inhabitants of New Zealand, and Maori is still one of the official languages. But with English being the other official language, most Maoris speak English fluently.
  • Kiwi executives value individual achievement and are internally motivated. As such, many experience anxiety regarding professional growth or pending deadlines.
  • Expertise is greatly valued, so be sure to communicate your corporate and personal achievements to demonstrate aptitude in the subject matter you're training.
  • Tardiness is a serious faux pas; even social events start on time.
  • A first-name basis is common in New Zealand business interactions, but wait to refer to your counterparts by their first names until invited to do so-or at least until they set an obvious informal tone in your interactions.

Trivia Answer from Above:

  1. True. In 1893.
  2. True, and the kiwi–the flightless bird, not the fruit–has become a national emblem.

References:1Morrison, Terri, & Conaway, Wayne A. (2006). Kiss, bow, or shake hands (2nd ed.). Avon: Adams Media.

Developing international training and development materials? Contact Jen at Carmazzi Global Solutions. And if you love Jen's articles, check out her new Localization mini courses.

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Adobe RoboHelp: In Word We Trust

by Willam Van Weelden Follow us on Twitter View our profile on LinkedIn
 
If you have attempted to create printed documentation with RoboHelp, there is a good chance you have run into a macro error. RoboHelp uses Word for printed documentation, and this error occurs if Word's security settings don't allow macros.

You can enable macros in Word, but that may not be enough. Some Help Authors receive unspecified errors when generating printed documentation even with macros enabled. To solve this, RoboHelp projects must be added to Word's trusted locations. I'll show you how to both Enable Word Macros and add projects to the trusted locations.

Enabling Word Macros

  1. Start Word.
  2. Click the Office button (Word 2007) or go to the File tab (Word 2010-2013).
  3. Click Options.
  4. Select Trust Center and then click Trust Center Settings.
    Adobe RoboHelp: Trust Center Settings
  5. From the Macro Settings area, select Enable all macros.

    Adobe RoboHelp: Enable all macros

  6. Close the Trust Center and the options.

Go to RoboHelp and generate the printed documentation. In most cases, RoboHelp will create a Word document out of your Help System. If RoboHelp still doesn't generate the printed documentation, you likely need to add your RoboHelp projects to Word's Trusted Locations.

Add RoboHelp Projects to Trusted Locations

  1. Start Word.
  2. Click the Office button (Word 2007) or go to the File tab (Word 2010-2013).
  3. Select Options.
  4. Select Trusted locations and then click the Add new location button.
    Adobe RoboHelp: Add new location
  5. In the Microsoft Office Trusted Location dialog box, click the Browse button and open the folder containing your RoboHelp projects.
  6. Select Subfolders of this location are also trusted.
    Adobe RoboHelp: Subfolders of this location are also trusted
  7. Click OK to close the Microsoft Office Trusted Location dialog box.
  8. Close the Trust Center and the options.

Go to RoboHelp and re-generate the printed documentation.
 

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Looking to learn RoboHelp? We offer a live, two-day online RoboHelp class once a month. Feel free to contact us to learn other ways to meet your RoboHelp training requirements.
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Adobe RoboHelp: Multilevel List Sub-Numbering

by Willam Van Weelden Follow us on Twitter View our profile on LinkedIn

A few weeks ago I showed you how you can use multilevel lists to easily create complex lists with multiple levels. But multilevel lists are far more powerful than I could show you in a single article. This week, I'm going to expand on the multi-level list theme by teaching you how to add sub-numbers to lists: 

Sub-numbering is important for many procedures and legal documents. You simply can't have sub numbering in RoboHelp without multilevel lists, unless you want to manually type in all sub-numbers. But with multilevel lists, you control this behavior right from the style sheet!

To add sub-numbering to a Multilevel List, first Create a multilevel list. Then, on the Project Manager pod, double-click your style sheet to open the Styles dialog box. 

In the Styles dialog box, select your multilevel list. From the Apply Formatting To drop-down menu, choose a level that will use the sub-numbers.

 

Click in the Edit Style field and, from the Insert Level drop-down menu, choose 1.

 

Click OK to close the Styles dialog and save your changes.

And that's it. From this point forward, any of your multilevel lists can include sub-numbering (as shown in the image below):

 

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Looking to learn RoboHelp? We offer a live, two-day online RoboHelp class once a month. Feel free to contact us to learn other ways to meet your RoboHelp training requirements.
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Adobe RoboHelp: Multilevel Lists

by Willam Van Weelden Follow us on Twitter View our profile on LinkedIn
 
Multilevel lists are an often overlooked RoboHelp feature… a shame because multilevel lists are very powerful. As the name suggests, Multilevel lists allow you to create complex lists with multiple levels. For example: consider what you would have to do if you need a list that uses upper alphanumeric characters on the first level, lower roman on the second level and bullets on the third level.

 

You can achieve the numbering scheme shown above by using a standard numbered list, but you would need to assign the correct list styling to every list level. That's a lot of manual labor. And it's not easy to quickly change the list style, especially if you've applied the style manually across multiple topics.

With multilevel lists, you create a single style that can be used in multiple topics throughout a RoboHelp project. And best of all: you control everything through the style sheet, allowing you to change all the multilevel lists in a central location.

In this article I will show you how to create and use a multilevel list. I will focus on the basic settings first. With these basic settings you can use Multilevel Lists in your projects. In a future article I will show you some cool things you can do with multilevel lists.

Create a Multilevel List

  1. On the Project Manager pod, double-click your style sheet to open the Styles dialog box.
  2. In the Styles dialog box, right-click Multilevel Lists and chooseNew.
    Adobe RoboHelp: Creating a New Multilevel List
  3. Enter a name for your list style and press [enter].
  4. From the Apply Formatting To drop-down menu, choose Level 1.
    Adobe RoboHelp: Selecting a list level.
  5. From the Paragraph Style drop-down menu, choose a paragraph style. (I recommend using the Normal style so that the list uses the default topic formatting.)
  6. From the List Style drop-down menu, choose a list style. (In my example I chose upper-alpha.)
    Adobe RoboHelp: List Style.
  7. Return to the Apply Formatting To drop-down menu and select and format other levels as needed. (In the sample list pictured at at the beginning of this article, I formatted the first three levels.)
  8. When finished, click the OK button to save your changes.

The Multilevel list is now set up and ready to use.

Apply a Multilevel List To Topic Text

    1. Open a topic and select some text.
    2. Click the Create a Multilevel List tool. Adobe RoboHelp: Multilevel List tool
    3. Select your Multilevel List in the Available Lists Styles field and then click the OK button.
      Adobe RoboHelp: Multilevel lists

Note: To change the level of a list item, click the Increase Indent  or 
Decrease Indent tools. 

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Looking to learn RoboHelp? We offer a live, two-day online RoboHelp class once a month. Feel free to contact us to learn other ways to meet your RoboHelp training requirements.
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Fundamentals of Designing and Developing Cost-Effective eLearning

When: September 22-25
Where: McCormick Place, Chicago (Part of the Online Learning Conference Certification program)

There are multiple tools available that will let you create compelling eLearning content including Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, TechSmith Camtasia Studio, and Adobe Presenter. But which tool is the best, most affordable option for your needs?

Once you select your eLearning tool, what's next? How do you get started creating your first eLearning content? Once you start, how long is it going to take you to finish? What's the real cost for your effort? Are there hidden costs? How will you be able to measure the effectiveness of your eLearning?

Join IconLogic's Kevin Siegel for an intense, tool-agnostic, hands-on workshop where you'll get a jump start on  building your first eLearning course.

Among other things, you'll learn:

  • Strategies for building effective eLearning
  • The eLearning development process
  • How to create an eLearning script and/or storyboard
  • How to get started on creating eLearning content using Captivate, Storyline, Camtasia or Presenter

More information.

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Localization: Training and Development in Ireland

by Jen Weaver Follow us on Twitter View our profile on LinkedIn
 
Most of us have limited awareness of Irish culture beyond Saint Patrick's Day and leprechauns. Never fear! Today's article explores some common cultural facts about the Irish and their expectations when it comes to training and development.

Test Your Knowledge of Irish Culture

  1. True or False. Ireland has one official language: Irish.
  2. True or False. The Irish are known as a cold harsh people, aka "the Fighting Irish".

Quick Tips for Training & Development in Ireland1:

  • Strains of pessimism run deep in the Irish due to hard times throughout history. You may struggle to communicate optimistic outlooks when training learners in this country.
  • Surprisingly, Irish is a second language to those who are fluent in it. Irish is a required subject to study in school and is necessary for careers in academia and civil service, but the native language for Irish inhabitants is English.
  • The Irish tend to be fairly open to risk and make decisions based on a combination of facts and emotion.
  • Irish culture does not place significant value on wealth, and many people believe the poor should receive the same respect as those who are rich and successful.
  • Irish expect punctuality but tend to be slightly more relaxed than the English when it comes to time. Deadlines may be interpreted as approximations or suggestions, so be clear on your expectations or include a buffer in your timeline.
  • While Northern Ireland is part of the UK, never use English or British symbols in your training materials. Some helpful examples include; the British flag, Royal Guardsmen, double-decker buses, or red post boxes.
  • In training, sports analogies will go over well, especially if you reference popular Irish teams.
  • Avoid controversial, political, or religious topics in casual conversation. If someone else broaches the subject, refrain from commenting unless voicing areas you agree with. Many older generations are especially conservative, and you risk alienating your audience if you disagree.
  • In general, the Irish refrain from exaggerated gestures. Be mindful of this cultural trait, as emphatic gesturing may not translate well to this audience.

Culture Answers:

  1. False. Ireland actually has two official languages: Irish and English.
  2. False. Many Irish people are extremely welcoming of strangers and are known to strike up conversations on the street. Irish friendliness and hospitality are easily recognized characteristics of this culture. The "Fighting Irish" is actually Notre Dame's athletic nickname.
References:
 
1Morrison, Terri, & Conaway, Wayne A. (2006). Kiss, bow, or shake hands (2nd ed.). Avon: Adams Media.
 
***
Developing international training and development materials? Contact Jen at Carmazzi Global Solutions.
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Adobe RoboHelp: Get the New Responsive Layout

by Willam Van Weelden Follow us on Twitter View our profile on LinkedIn
 
One of the hottest new features introduced in Adobe RoboHelp 11 is Responsive HTML5 layouts. The Responsive HTML5 output dynamically changes the way the content is presented based on the device the reader is using. For example, while a reader on a desktop might see a traditional table of contents on the right side of the page, someone using a smart phone will see a table of contents that is optimized for touch: 
 
Adobe RoboHelp: Two responsive layouts.  
 
Responsive HTML5 output uses Screen Layouts, the skins for HTML5 output. With these skins you can control how your output will look for your users.
 
If you have used Responsive HTML5 before, you may have seen the following layout in the gallery:
 
Adobe RoboHelp: Old Gallery  
 
The image above shows the Responsive Layout as it was delivered when RoboHelp 11 was released. You'll be happy to know that Adobe released an update of this layout with the RoboHelp 11.0.1 patch.However, even if you have installed the patch you may still be using the old layout.
 
While Adobe provided instructions on how to manually install the new Responsive HTML5 layout, they are hidden away in the release notes and you likely missed them. If so, here they are:
  1. Close RoboHelp.
  2. Using Windows Explorer, search for%appdata%\Adobe\RoboHTML. 
    (The RoboHTML folder hidden within your AppData folder opens.)
    Adobe RoboHelp: Searching for the RoboHTML folder within AppData.
  3. Rename the folder 11.00 to 11.00_old.
    (A new 11.00 folder will be created when you restart RoboHelp.)
  4. Start RoboHelp.
You can now use the improved Responsive Layout for your output:
  
Adobe RoboHelp: New Responsive Layout.
 
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Looking to learn RoboHelp? We offer a live, two-day online RoboHelp class once a month. Feel free to contact us to learn other ways to meet your RoboHelp training requirements.