Explainers | The Bishop Company ? News and Views

2D Comes to Life

noreply@blogger.com (Renee) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:52:03 PST

Doug made a 3D animated training aid from this 2D work instruction. Check out the differences and let us know what you think.

2D Visual Work Instruction Sample

3D Visual Work Instruction Sample

Word Nerd is Back

noreply@blogger.com (Renee) — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 08:19:17 PST

In case you missed it, Lake Superior State University (LSSU) just published their 2008 List of Banished Words. Included this year are some terms I'm embarrassed to say I've used, like authored and wordsmith (you can read it in my blog about last year's LSSU list!).

Funny how different words can grate on ears and how impassioned people become when they hear a word they believe has been used incorrectly. I just learned from a colleague that my choice of the word reinstall to cover the action of installing a part that was removed for a manufacturing changeover and returned to the same position irritated her "like nails on a blackboard." She believes you can only install something once; after that, you're doing something else. Unfortunately, neither of us could figure out what word would work better. Reassemble and reinsert share the same problem. Install, assemble and insert don't emphasize the fact that you're working with the same piece of machinery or hardware. Reposition or replace can have other meanings, creating confusion for a user instead of clarification. That's why I chose reinstall?succinct and clear . . . until my colleague gave me reason to pause. We still haven't found a good solution. What do you think would be a good way to say reinstall, without actually saying it?

Visual Work Instructions: The Impact on Quality Metrics

noreply@blogger.com (Renee) — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 12:26:34 PST

We've been creating visual work instructions for several years, but obtaining metrics regarding the impact they have on a company's bottom line has proven difficult. Typically, we're called in to help at the same time a company is implementing several Lean/quality initiatives. That makes it hard to figure out what percentage of the resulting improvement is due to effective work instructions alone.

The notion of giving an operator what she needs, when she needs it, in a way she can use it (visually), seems like a commonsense approach, but it's surprising how many text-heavy, confusing, unfriendly documents we see. I have to assume that's because companies haven't seen or can't imagine the impact effective work instructions can have on their metrics; therefore, I want to share statistics from two companies we worked with where we definitively captured the results.

We created visual work instructions for an international company that develops medical devices?a highly regulated environment. The procedures were complex and the workers inexperienced. The devices were intricate and expensive, allowing for only minute deviations and making quality imperative. Though we were part of an overall Lean initiative, the company was able to determine the impact our instructions had on three metrics:

Yields increased 8%
Deviations per lot decreased 83%
Training development time decreased 50%

Another company, an automotive parts manufacturing plant, asked us to help define standard best practice and create work instructions for all their operations. We created documents?laminated, easy-to-see posters?that they displayed on the shop floor. These were used to reinforce the training that had been done with the same work instructions. Our documents impacted the company's results in two ways:

Reduced secondary inspections and eliminated tertiary inspections
Reduced scrap by 50%

It may be hard to determine what share of the credit visual work instructions can claim, but it is worth measuring. We do know, based on the numbers above as well as shared anecdotes from clients, that the potential savings far exceed the cost of developing these instructions.

For many clients, the affirmation comes immediately. After speaking to a room of engineers and supervisors during a recent sales presentation where we showed before and after examples of work instructions, one of the engineers voiced what many thought: "Holy cow, if you can't see the benefits of visual by just looking at the differences . . ."

I'll let you finish the sentence.

Using Multimedia in Documentation

noreply@blogger.com (Renee) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:53:15 PST

I recently watched a movie I haven't seen in a long time?The Birds?impressed yet again with Alfred Hitchcock's ability to captivate with his camera manipulation, his focus on audience involvement, and his story's simplicity.

I'm not even going to suggest that creating multimedia training materials and job aids is anything like creating a movie, especially a Hitchcock masterpiece. I do, however, see some parallels with his techniques. For one, developers (or directors) are limited only by their imagination. Computers and technology have made creating videos, animated documents, and simulations available to the average Joe, and if you have techno-geeks in your organization (like we do), anything's possible.

A second similarity is that audience matters. Hitchcock counted on?and courted?the audience's interaction with the suspense on the screen. Though suspense isn't typical in interactive computer-based training (CBT) programs, there still needs to be a focus on gaining the viewers' attention and giving them what they need to understand and learn the material.

Finally, Hitchcock realized a simple story could be more effective than a convoluted, confusing script. Simplicity in work instructions, job aids and training materials is equally important. A multimedia document should include only the information the user or learner needs, employing illustrations in place of text wherever possible.

Knowing these attributes, when would multimedia?which allows viewers to explore the information through a variety of formats including text, graphics, video, images, narration, music, sounds and animation?be effective as a format for your work instructions or technical communications?

When you need to describe a process that can't be explained with text or static images, animation or video allows you to show fluidity.
When orientation is cumbersome or dangerous, 3D animation can move the viewer through parts or areas without physically entering them (think of a nuclear reactor).
When black and white images aren't enough, high-end color graphics can add clarity.
When you need to see concepts or intangibles, 3D allows you to visualize those spaces.
When training is involved and retention is imperative, simulations and interactive testing can target a learner through multiple senses?seeing, hearing, and touching?a more effective way to learn than reading alone.

Animations, CBTs, PDFs or web-delivered content can deliver a punch, even if you're not Hitchcock. Just remember to let the end user?s needs dictate the media you develop.

No Matter What You Call Them, Work Instructions Need to Work

noreply@blogger.com (Renee) — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 11:52:49 PDT

Even though what something is called doesn't change what something is (you remember Shakespeare's "a rose by any other name . . ."), when semantics creep into an industry, it can cause problems. I generated this list of possible terms for identifying work instructions in just a couple of minutes (and missed how many more?):

work instructions
standard operating procedures
job aids
standardized work instructions
job planning
product design documents
technical manuals
user instructions
procedure manuals
policy manuals
job skills
training tools
detailed process sheets

Isn't communication hard enough, without having different words mean the same thing? I'm laughing, of course, because we are talking about the English language here, where multiple meanings, multiple pronunciations, multiple spellings is the bane of meaningful conversation.

I don't think using different terms for an object or a process is necessarily a Lean or quality issue when it happens between different companies, but it could be an issue if it's happening within the company and hindering communication between departments. Take, for instance, the engineering department and the shop floor. If engineering is in charge of writing instructions?and they often are?they may use terms for parts that don't match what the shop floor technicians and mechanics call them. And if the engineer and the user don't agree (or confer ahead of time) before naming the parts, the potential for confusion when reading the instruction rises; i.e., if a worker wants to find out how to fix the thingamajig on the hoosit, she's in trouble if the engineer has named it the wallabaloo on the cratshis. She won't find what she needs unless she looks through the entire manual.

We were exposed to this issue when we worked with the United States Postal Services maintenance department. Barcode label printers at bulk mail centers are high-speed, high-volume machines that can disrupt an entire station if they go down. USPS maintenance, which handles dozens of machines and infrequently works on these printers, needed to diagnose and fix them quickly. Not only did they have to read through the columns of text in the table of contents to figure out what procedure they might need, they also had to figure out which term matched the part they needed to repair.

We solved this problem with a visual table of contents that allowed maintenance to identify the part based on what it looked like and/or where it was located on the machine. The user could then turn to the page of the operation that applied to it.

Even though this is a viable solution, it may not always be possible, and it could be the writer and user forget what terms they agreed to use. A better solution might be to have departments talking to each other regularly, and to have the people doing the work involved in creating the work instructions. Conversation will build understanding, and when that happens, not only will there be agreement on the terms, there will also be agreement on the standard best practice?and that is part of a Lean, quality world.

Are You a Visual Thinker?

noreply@blogger.com (Renee) — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 13:35:33 PDT

It was always our plan to have other Explainers pitch in and participate in the blog once Renee got us off the starting line. It?s all about teamwork, right? So here I am, lending a hand, and hopefully adding some value to what Renee has so carefully developed over the previous year.

My name is Parker, and I?ve been working at Explainers for about 8 years, although my association with this company can be traced back to the earliest days of my career. I started out as a technical illustrator, and along the way I?ve worked as a graphic designer, technical writer and project manager. My current position?Explainer?allows me to use all of my skills at once.

I?m writing to tell you about VizThink ?08, an interesting conference that?s being held in San Francisco in January. This would be a great opportunity for you to learn more about visual communication. Our schedule may prevent us from making the trip this year, but that doesn?t mean you can?t go! Sign up, and let us know what you think. We?d like to hear from you.

Parker

Should Blog Topics Cover the Specific or the General?

noreply@blogger.com (Renee) — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:58:50 PDT

I've read lots of Lean blogs and most keep their focus on Lean issues, rarely straying from the topic. Mark Graban from Lean Blog writes a strong one; Mike Wroblewski at Got Boondoggle chimes in regularly; and Jon Miller with Gemba Panta Rei keeps kaizen, 5S and standardized work at the forefront.

On the other hand, I write about lots of things: PowerPoint, word nerdiness, our idiosyncratic illustrators . . . Boggle for goodness sakes. Oh sure, most postings have something to do with words, several address quality and standards, and some touch on aliteracy. But these entries don't focus exclusively on work instructions or explaining or training?the things we do in the office every day, which, in all honesty, is totally Lean. (Lean people, by the way, love what we do because our ideologies match and we fill a niche. No one understands and explains exactly the way we do it, and oftentimes, people charged with quality initiatives don't even know they're looking for us until they find us.)

Some people in the office believe that the postings in News and Views should focus solely on our work and what we can do for our clients. But others think that for the blog to sound like me, the postings have to stray a bit.

My question to you is, should they? Should I talk about work instructions and shut up about Scrabble? Or should I include the bits about e-mail or organization or my own peaceable kingdom along with the effectiveness of illustrations?

Do you have a preference? What would you say to my colleagues who think in absolutes? Or to me, who clearly does not?

Opportunities to Meet

noreply@blogger.com (Renee) — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 09:00:35 PDT

Just wanted you to know we're attending a couple of networking opportunities in the Midwest. We're headed to Chicago for Business Matchmaking 2007 on Tuesday, August 28, which will give us an opportunity to talk to several large businesses.

Then on September 18-20, we'll be in Grand Rapids, Michigan, at the American Contract Manufacturing Show (AmCon). Come visit us in booth 217. We'll share samples and discover ways we can work together!

Searching on the Internet

noreply@blogger.com (Renee) — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 12:21:21 PDT

I'm telling you what, even if it is necessary and quick, searching and reading on the Internet feels like a waste of time. Why is it that the same amount of research done at a library feels more like an accomplishment? Maybe that's the curmudgeon in me (or the selective memory that prefers not to remember the directionless wandering I did in university libraries so long ago).

I guess I don?t appreciate the value of having "all this information" at my fingertips. Or the ease and quickness. I still wind up looking at articles or entries and not finding anything that helps. Or I get pulled in another direction by an entry that only slightly resembles what I need.

Our webmaster?Phil?is comfortable manipulating, searching, reading . . . doing all the things that people do on the Internet. He can answer all my questions, solve all my problems, point me in the right direction. Of course, he's also about twenty years younger and grew up with a mouse in his hand.

I wonder, though, if this preference for searching with the Internet has overlooked the social interaction that occurs at a library. In much the same way washing machines have removed us from Laundromats and DVD players have pulled us from movie theaters, our contact with humans has diminished as our comfort (and reliance) on technology has increased. I'm not saying I want to haul my clothes across town to get them cleaned, but I do know technology makes it easy to avoid face-to-face communications.

And that makes me wonder if there are social ramifications for generations that grow up preferring the cyber-world to the real world.

It's not uncommon to see many of our children playing video games instead of heading outdoors. And busy teachers sometimes have to show their third graders the lives of grasshoppers on the computer, where facts and statistics abound, instead of taking children outside for a chance to find, catch and watch the eating, mating, and flying skills of these insects. (Orion Magazine has two good articles on the role nature should play in education.) Speaking for myself, playing outdoors and learning in the natural habitat not only helped me connect to the greater world, it also taught me about empathy, compromise and survival.

Face-to-face communications, first with family, then on the playground and in school, is where you learn to intuit a person's emotions. It's hard to see anger, pain, discomfort, rejection across a computer screen. In fact, across cyberspace, it's easy to say things you wouldn't normally say if you had to look the person in the eye. People initiating taunts or threats in blogs, e-mails, or social forums often suffer no repercussions, and this type of cyber-bullying is on the rise.

This social disconnect can occur in the business world, too. While many people may prefer communicating by e-mail, the benefits of talking by phone, or better yet, in person, outweigh the disadvantages. Nothing resolves a crisis or enhances training like face-to-face contact. For many companies, the guaranteed way to sell a product is by sitting in a room and talking with prospective clients, building a relationship by sharing the enthusiasm for their product.

Here at Bishop, we appreciate the advantages of face-to-face discussions, but we also recognize that as the world expands globally, we have to rely on e-mail, phone, and web conferences to hold some of our discussions. Armed with that knowledge, we work hard to grasp the subtleties of the client's process, identify the issues and help solve problems. We make sure to verify our understanding of the tone and intent of the client, as well as the process. That way, even if our clients can't see our hand motions and nodding heads, they'll know we've listened and understood.

Once again, though I fight technology, I recognize the necessity. Libraries, however, will continue to be my preferred source for information, even though I know the Internet will eventually house everything I need. I just don't plan on giving up the social interaction and camaraderie that comes with searching and reading in libraries for a long, long time.

Aliteracy, Part 3: How We See it in the Workplace

noreply@blogger.com (Renee) — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 07:37:44 PDT

To understand the aliteracy pervading American society, I think we have to differentiate between two types. Yes, we do have functional aliterates?people who won't read, who haven't felt the thrill when they discover something about the world or themselves in a story, essay or memoir. In the classroom, teachers are trying to ignite interest in reading, asking their students for introspection, reflection, new thoughts and strategies. Though that process is muddy and unclear, teachers know that if their students wade through text to learning, understanding and innovation, they'll be hooked.

In the business world we're talking about a different kind of aliteracy called conditional aliteracy. I wrote about it in an earlier blog. It's the kind of aliteracy that can happen to any of us, even the best readers. It's the aliteracy that comes with the challenges of the job, when people are under pressure, under time constraints or under attack?literally or figuratively. These workers can't read, even though in normal situations they're perfectly capable and willing.

And while many businesses hope to elicit introspection?and often demand innovation?from their workers, that can't happen until workers understand what they have to do and feel at ease with the process. For instance, let's take an employee who has to change 10 bolts each day during line changeovers. If her job performance is rated on speed, if she's new to the process, if English is a second language, she may be confused, frantic and frustrated. Quality will suffer.

If, however, that employee has been trained to the one best practice and has access to procedural documents that don't demand deciphering, she can learn that job as well as other jobs, moving between processes and giving the company more flexibility with their personnel and product scheduling. This exposure and training also allows her to be thoughtful and critical of the processes, increasing the likelihood that she'll identify ways to improve them. Again, using our simple example, she may determine that changing a bolt by hand rather than using an impact wrench can save her three minutes, and because she has to make 15 changeovers a day, the company can save hours in a week.

Encouraging employees to remain attentive and enabling them to make change allows for this type of innovation. Here at Explainers, we advocate for those users. We want to make the procedures so straightforward that users remain free of frustration, anger, or cynicism. That means our document has to be credible, consistent, clear, and accessible. If it's missing any of those attributes, it becomes ineffective.

Because the guiding principle for us is the user's needs, a work instruction can look very different when we explain it. For example, the original directions for cleaning the water tank of this ultrasonic cleaner were conventional?outlined steps written in numeric order with the occasional photo added. By using line art, we were able to show, without any text, that the operator would need to unplug the unit, scoop out the water while wearing gloves, and document the information on a form.

Our goal is to orient the operator quickly, so that she can look at that page and know immediately what she has to do. It's not that we're against reading, it's that we want her to understand what she needs to do. It just so happens that most processes we explain are more effective when shown rather than written.

I believe lots of people still read books, and I'd like to think that E. M. Forster's speculation is wrong. He said, "It is a mistake to think that books have come to stay. The human race did without them for thousands of years and may decide to do without them again." I think teachers will convince future generations of the benefits of reading and help those who won't read "get" it. They will instill the benefits of reading to their students, sharing the aesthetic pleasures that come with reflection, the brain surge that results from learning something through words.

And while teachers are taking care of functional aliteracy, companies will win against conditional aliteracy. As they move toward or continue their quest for quality standards and lean operations, they'll create conditions that support their employees, allowing those employees to be thoughtful, efficient workers who positively affect the bottom line.

Word Nerd Traditions Live

noreply@blogger.com (Renee) — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 08:23:42 PDT

Okay, I just had to share this quick tidbit (part 3 of my aliteracy series is coming soon).

While on vacation with my family (siblings, parents, niece), we bunked in cottages on Walloon Lake in Northern Lower Michigan. Naturally, our entertainment was limited to swimming, fishing, snorkeling, boating?outdoorsy activities. But my 10-year-old niece had brought along a friend and quite often we'd play board games while sitting in the shade of two giant oak trees. Guess which game we all loved (remembering almost all of us are related). Boggle. It's not quite Scrabble, because the kids couldn't keep up with that. But they had no trouble with Boggle. In fact, after a couple games in teams, when they picked me, the former English teacher to be on their side, the girls decided they wanted to go it alone.

It doesn't get any better than that . . .

Aliteracy, Part 2: What does To Kill a Mockingbird have to do with it?

noreply@blogger.com (Renee) — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 13:07:09 PDT

"You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people
to stop reading them." Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451

I can't believe that while I sat writing this blog at lunch a couple weeks ago, two of our illustrators were looking at an Amazon.com ad that asked them to pick their "favorite father" (in honor of Father's Day). One jokingly chose Darth Vader, the other, Tony Soprano. I looked over their shoulders at the choices and said, "What? You have to pick Atticus Finch."

That stumped both illustrators. Neither knew Atticus Finch. When I explained he was the father in To Kill a Mockingbird?an Academy Award-winning movie adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning book?they both said, "Oh yeah, I think I've seen the movie, but I never read the book."

How can two people, growing up in our world today, not know Atticus Finch? Okay, I say that facetiously, but I was still disappointed. I like to think that the people I know appreciate books the same way I do, and that even though they're fifteen or twenty years younger, I'm still speaking a language they know.

A few people at work freely admit to not reading, not wanting to read. Even I don't read as much as I'd like. I blame it on a lack of time, though I could easily read twenty minutes a day and finish four or five books a year. Can we blame electronic media for the upsurge in aliteracy, then, as many people claim, or are we at fault?

And how does the way we conduct business add to it?

Because businesses and their marketing departments realize many people don't like to read, they're designing products that don't require reading. Look at the symbols and icons in our world. Look at the packaging of products?the number of those that incorporate colors and shapes as a way to convey meaning. Blogs like this are also culprits?short bursts of text, conversational, not too dense, often including pictures.

Though we'll always have our Ray Bradburys and Harper Lees creating stories that elicit some interaction with the reader, we have more and more text and trade books meeting the needs of aliterates. Instead of reading Cliffs Notes to get the gist of a book, many novels are being written like Cliffs Notes. Soon we'll only have to read a list and we'll have the book completed.

So, how do I reconcile what I've written in these last two blogs with what we do here at Explainers? After all, we are in the business of taking complicated, often textual documents, and making them easy to use. This usually requires graphics, symbols and simplified text?those "evil contributors" to aliteracy.

I'll address that incongruity in Part 3 of this series.

Aliteracy, Part 1: Why Scrabble Loses

noreply@blogger.com (Renee) — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 10:16:53 PDT

Last week, a team in our office discussed options for an exhibit we're doing at the Women's Business Enterprise National Council's conference in Los Angeles. A couple of the designers came up with the idea of playing a Pictionary-type game to attract seminar attendees to our booth. Participants would come to our booth and we'd have them choose a problem from a fishbowl and then illustrate the solution. Everyone in the room liked the idea and one co-worker noted that it would be impossible to attract attention like this with a game of Scrabble because "no one likes Scrabble anyway."

"Wait a minute," I said, "I love Scrabble. Testing my brain by creating words from letters . . . it just doesn't get any more fun!" Most of the people at the table looked at me with blank stares and two even shook their heads sympathetically.

I tell this story because I was reminded once again that I'm in the minority. Many people prefer not to read, and if they're in a high-pressure situation, can't read. It's that aliteracy thing again. It keeps sneaking into the workplace, from office to production floor, and savvy businesses are taking notice.

Though it has been on education's radar for a while, the topic of aliteracy?specifically workplace aliteracy?hasn't received much attention in the media. One of the more informative postings was Linton Weeks' article, published in The Washington Post back in May 2001. The National Endowment for the Arts' (NEA) report on literacy, Reading at Risk, published in June 2004 focused a bit more attention on literacy and the drop in adult recreational reading, but didn't address what that means for businesses.

Most people agree that television, Internet and other electronic media are the culprits for our growing illiteracy and aliteracy. They also agree that aliteracy can lead to illiteracy. One of the more troubling assertions comes from Jim Trelease, author of The Read-Aloud Handbook, a text for educators and parents. He believes that people who don't read "base their future decisions on what they used to know . . . [and] if you don't read much, you really don't know much. You're dangerous."

Because people are required to process more information every day, it is unlikely they'll gather all they need to know from television or the Internet. Dana Gioia, chairman of the NEA, believes "print culture affords irreplaceable forms of focused attention and contemplation that make complex communications and insights possible." That's not going to happen flipping channels and only reading text written in bullet points.

So what does this mean for the business world, where reading for information?purposeful reading, as former University of Houston reading professor Kylene Beers puts it?takes place? What do we do when we want employees to read, yet the nature of work, the expectations of bosses, the pressures of bottom lines have affected not only their desire but also their ability to read?

And how can I get more people to enjoy Scrabble . . . ?

(Have you seen a decrease in reading and/or reading skills in your workplace? We'd enjoy hearing from you.)

Drawing with Excel

noreply@blogger.com (Renee) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 10:54:10 PDT

Our guys?the illustrators?laughed at the notion of drawing with Excel until one of the clients we coach revealed that Excel and Word were her only options for creating in-house work instructions. We had to do some fast learning. Actually, I had to do some fast learning; the illustrators stayed away from it. As it turns out, most simple shapes are possible in Excel, and I learned quickly how to group, align, and rotate objects, as well as add dimension and depth.

As a platform for developing graphic work instructions, especially when compared with a Word file, the Excel spreadsheet format offers some advantages:

Drawing in Excel is easier than a sophisticated illustration program such as Adobe Illustrator.
You can scan photos, insert them in Excel, and then trace them into drawings. This allows you to manipulate the shapes as needed.
Once you develop a library of parts and pieces, you can easily create new instructions. Check out this example...

Of course, Excel also has some limitations:

You can't import CAD files.
Isometric/perspective views are limited.
Using color with customized shapes is tricky.

Sophistication is possible, though, if you want to take the time to practice. Look at what this gal can do. After studying her intricate drawings?including expression in the faces?I was pretty happy our client only asked me to draw machines or parts that I could reduce to combinations of squares and circles.

By the way, you use pretty much the same drawing tools in Word and PowerPoint, so once you've mastered one application in Microsoft Office, you've mastered them all.

What Do You Do Again?

noreply@blogger.com (Renee) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 10:52:43 PDT

I can't tell you how many times I've had to answer this question, and I stumble each time trying to explain it. I figured maybe if I clarify it here, the words will find their way to my mouth next time someone asks.

In simplest terms, we explain complex processes, using as many visual techniques as we can. Although the solutions we develop for each client may look different from each other, they do have a common theme: They focus on what the user needs, and they help impact specific, client-chosen results.

So when you come to our website and view our samples, you may not see any that match your exact needs?different industry, user skill level, medium . . . In fact, we can't even post most of our solutions because they're confidential. Know, however, that we have over 25 years of experience coming up with custom solutions, and that they all typically start with a phone call.

What you can expect when you call us:

When you call, you?ll probably notice that we're genuinely interested in your business, your goals, your pain points and the results you hope to impact. We?ll answer any questions you may have about what we do, how we do it and why we do it, and probably share some examples of solutions we provided for clients in similar situations or with similar goals.
After we get to know each other a bit, we will work with you to come up with a next step that makes sense. That could include a visit to your facility to present our capabilities; a pilot project you choose that we research enough to quote; or periodic updates on conferences or presentations that we think might be of interest to you.
If you choose to partner with us, we'll develop a scope of the work based on our conversations and our research, clarify the results anticipated and provide a quote that addresses your specific budget and time frame.

Here's what happens once we have an agreement in place:

First, we arrange a way to understand your process. This often includes a research trip to your facility, a transfer of current documentation, and phone conversations and meetings with subject matter experts. We'll often do a quick sketch of what we understand and verify it before we even leave your facility.
Then, we explain your process by having our team design and develop drafts of the visual work instructions?hard copy, interactive or web-based. These drafts are reviewed with a team of experts from your facility together with our project team. Final completion generally takes 2-3 drafts and is defined in the scope of the work.
Once the documents are in use as work instructions, job aids and/or training guides, you watch your metrics?established early in this process?for improvements. Our goal is to impact your results using clear, concise documentation.

We use a similar process if you want technical manuals, coaching or training, illustrations, or nursing procedures. We're really easy to talk to, and we welcome your call. And if you'd like to talk with one of our customers, we'd be happy to provide references.

Want to get started? Just call Megan, Nan, Pat or Shanna . . .

The Lack of Power in PowerPoint Presentations

noreply@blogger.com (Renee) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 07:47:39 PDT

In my teaching days, I sat through dozens of seminars and lectures. Luckily, many of the speakers were affiliated with a nonprofit professional development organization I belonged to, and they did research on what makes good presentations. PowerPoint as a teaching tool was a rare inclusion. (I can't say the same for inside the classroom.)

Then I entered the business world, where PowerPoint at conferences and training sessions is as ubiquitous as pen and paper. When I attend this type of presentation, I always wonder if I should be paying attention to the speaker or the screen.

I know PowerPoint is capable of many things?you can run video clips, add music, animate graphics?but most people use PowerPoint like a remote-controlled overhead?not much substance, not much to hold attention, more like dry white toast . . . when people are hungry for grilled cheese on rye.

Why does this happen? One reason may come from what we've learned about writing work instructions. Many of the manuals we read are written by engineers who need an easy way to get the process down. They aren't too concerned about how users feel when confronted with pages and pages of text, as long as the manuals contain all the information necessary to satisfy auditors and quality managers.

Though a speaker can develop PowerPoint presentations easily, it takes time and effort to create a presentation?with or without PowerPoint?that considers the audience and what they need to engage with the material from beginning to end.

Some people are born presenters?people who can speak without notes, speak off the cuff, captivate with their personality. I'm not one of them, and if you aren't either, what do we do if we need to showcase a product, train a group or present an idea?

Make sure your point?the essence of the presentation?is clear, consistent, credible and accessible (the same requisites for work instructions).
Don't hesitate to take a course or get some guidance on giving presentations. The local Toastmasters or a Dale Carnegie course can do wonders for confidence.
Practice the presentation so much that even though you've memorized it, it comes off sounding natural.
If you tend to use PowerPoint as a crutch?afraid you'll forget an important point?use note cards instead or ask for a podium where you can keep reminders in view.
Only use PowerPoint to show a product, set a mood, grab attention. Keep the text in a handout. The audience can turn to a page and read along if you need to point out something.

Try these tips next time you have to present. Or take up teaching. If you learn how to captivate 30 seventh graders, you can tackle any adult crowd.

Illustrators--A Bit Quirky

noreply@blogger.com (Renee) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 07:44:36 PDT

It just so happens that all of our illustrators are males, though we do have a couple female artists who choose to focus on other talents while at work. As a former teacher, I've interacted with lots of creative students, but I've never worked closely with visual artists for any length of time.

Our guys have a funny habit of decorating a whiteboard each week as a way, I think, to vent their artistic creativity. (Occasionally, drawing machines and parts can be less than mind-bending.) The 4' x 5' whiteboard balances on a chair against the wall in the north wing. They only use black dry erase pens, and Gunther has written a disclaimer at the top: "All materials drawn/illustrated or imposed upon this 'Community Creativity Board' (CCB) are hereby property of the 'Artistic Bishop Community' (ABC)." He wrote that because he wanted everyone to know their art could be altered without permission.

Typically, someone will draw a simple figure, and then others will make additions and revisions until they've covered the board. This week we have a Sponge Bob (who later got "cut" in half), a turtle with weepy eyes, a dinosaur with a unibrow, and a Pac-Man chomping after Inky up a volcano on top of which astronauts have landed. At the end of the week, Gunther takes a photo of the drawing, erases the board, and lets it stand, naked and ready for the following week.

When I write it out, it doesn't sound nearly as creative as it looks. I've convinced Phil to add a link to this week's board so you can be the judge.

� Click here for larger image

(By the way, once the illustrators read this piece, they started to "dress" the board on Friday nights because they didn't want it to be "naked." You can imagine the results.)

How Illustrations Improve Work Instructions

noreply@blogger.com (Renee) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 07:42:31 PDT

For work instructions, we use graphics over text whenever possible because of the advantages illustrations offer, including improving comprehension. Our goal is to give operators a context?a complete sense of what they have to do in the procedure?just by looking at the illustrations.

It's consistent with our recognition of aliteracy and the necessity for operators to be able to access information quickly and efficiently during high-stress moments. It also helps as a training tool. If new employees can see what's happening before they ever work on a machine, it not only helps with learning, it also aids in retention.

There are other advantages to using illustrations, including the option of manipulating the focus of attention?difficult to do with photos unless you have time to change them in Photoshop or other editing software. The accompanying PDF shows a technique we use to focus attention.

This page comes from a client's manual for servicing a hydraulic pump.

� Click here for larger image

To assemble this pump, the technician had to tighten 25 bolts using five different torque values. To identify the sets of bolts on the pump housing, we used shading to fade back unimportant details, allowing us to highlight the differences between the bolts.

Here are some points to note:

We decided to use 2D illustrations for their simplicity because detail wasn't necessary for this procedure.
We used successive illustrations of the same view (easy for an operator to follow) with different sets of bolts highlighted for the corresponding torque values.
You could achieve the same contrast with a photo editor by fading back and highlighting target areas.

Relevant graphics and simple text?we think it's the way to go for work instructions.

An Instruction Fiasco

noreply@blogger.com (Renee) — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 13:19:05 PDT

I visited my ten-year-old niece this past weekend and she, her father and I decided to play a new card game she received as a gift. I began reading the instructions out loud, then fell silent and read them to myself. I'm a visual learner, and I realized I had to concentrate to understand.

With typical adolescent patience, my niece complained (and rightly so), "I've been waiting 15 minutes and you're still reading the instructions."

I'll admit the card game was sophisticated?a bit like gin rummy?but still . . . It's advertised as a game for players 8 and up. If any business should have visual instructions figured out, it should be companies manufacturing products for children. Even if they expect the adults to explain the game to children, companies should remember that having an antsy child is distracting and fuel for tension. We adults don't want to have to work at reading in those situations. We want it easy and quick. Period.

Readability, Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Renee) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 07:40:34 PDT

As you can imagine, here at Bishop we're concerned with readability when it comes to our work instructions, nursing procedures, technical manuals . . . all of our documents. Our graphics and other visual support play a huge role in aiding comprehension, but they play no role in readability statistics. And because readability only considers text, it doesn't take into consideration the worker's circumstances. Physical distractions, job pressures and a host of other issues could complicate the environment at the time the user needs to read the instruction.

That's why we focus on clear and simple directions when we write text. We assume workers are under harsh conditions and that they want information quickly, which is why we try to write to an easy readability value.

Our suggestions for improving readability in work instructions include:

Writing in active?not passive?voice.
Using strong verbs instead of excessive adjectives.
Getting rid of unnecessary words like the or a.
Using simple words.
Naming the parts and processes with the same terms our clients use.
Using titles and subtitles that help users navigate quickly.
Deleting the words we or you.

While I wouldn't want all writing to follow these rules (I do enjoy a good Faulkner novel occasionally), I think they help those who need to read for information now.

I'll say more about the role illustrations play in readability soon.

Readability, Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Renee) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 07:37:18 PDT

Readability = the measure of how easy a document is to read and understand.

Over the years, reading and writing experts have developed several indexes that attempt to make a science out of document usability. These indexes count syllables, words in a sentence and other parameters, then plug those numbers into a formula to come up with a readability statistic people can understand.

Let me give you an example:

The text written in the above paragraph registers a Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level of 15.1, indicating a person would need three years of college to read it.
It also registers a Flesch Reading Ease number of 30, which means about 30 percent of all readers could understand the document.

How did I figure out the readability of my writing? I used the grammar tool included in Microsoft Word. You can access it from the Tools menu:

Select Spelling and Grammar.
Click on the Options button.
Check "Show readability statistics" box.

After running the Spelling and Grammar check, you'll get a box showing your readability statistics, along with other counts and averages.

Out of curiosity, I had the indexes measure this text:

Eliquat. Lor in utpat. Nosti odion senit aliscn. Verat lorto odol obor. In hent alit alit. Nulla faci blaor senis dolesit. Irit vulam onmsan. Ularem. Velnit eu feised. Do ea conlum. Zril ute dolo borp erat. In ut adia feu faci blam. In vel dion. Utat lum quatum. Velest cort del ero. Com nulla.

Even though it's unreadable, the Flesch Reading Ease index score suggests that 60% could understand it. And "Out, Out," a poem by Robert Frost which I love, scores a 3.1 with the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level index. It took me more than one pass-through to comprehend all the tragedy in this poem; I can't imagine how many passes a third grader would need.

Technically, you shouldn't check reading scores on samples that contain less than 300 words, which I've done here. And to be fair, poetry should probably be assessed in another way, but I wanted to give you a taste of what these indexes reveal.

I think these examples highlight the need to be careful about relying on readability statistics. Rules that tell you to "always write" or "never write" to a particular level generally don't work. Comprehension includes more than just reading words. Knowing your audience and the writing's purpose?and gearing the text toward those?have a lot more to do with readability than these indexes do.

Word Nerd Update

noreply@blogger.com (Renee) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 07:30:29 PDT

I discovered another website that pays attention to words. The Ridiculous Business Jargon Dictionary identifies terms they believe should be banned from the everyday lexicon of the business world. Some of the terms I would miss if deleted:

Dicker . . . to negotiate. "We just spent four hours dickering the details of this contract." (Dicker is over 200 years old. We can't throw out that history.)

Gofer . . . a subordinate worker who is often given menial tasks. (Doesn't it still apply?

And I've always loved the imagery in this one:

Lipstick on a pig . . . an attempt to put a favorable spin on a negative situation. "Tim's sales numbers are terrible. Even he can't put lipstick on that pig."

Others, I agree, should be removed:

Availability . . . a convenient way of separating the individual from the ability to manage her own time. "I'd love to come, but I'm not sure about my availability." (If she's not sure, who is?)

Spokesweasel . . . a public relations agent who possesses a remarkable gift for spin. (Hmm . . . government officials? Politicians?)

Here in the office, we've captured a few misnomers, too. People get excited, they're eager to share new information or discoveries, and they let a word slip, without regard for its legitimacy in the English language. We have a whiteboard where we collect the latest. Currently, these "Bishopisms" are making headlines:

see-throughiness
blabble ("I came around the corner and started to blabble.")
funkitude ("Give that sketch some funkitude.")
understandableness
Pong session (bouncing ideas?collaboration at its finest)

The Ridiculous Business Jargon Dictionary website welcomes your additions, but if they don't publish it, send it to us. We'll post it on the whiteboard.

You Can't Make Me Read That

noreply@blogger.com (Renee) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 11:02:51 PDT

In an early posting, I mentioned the idea that sometimes workers don't have time to read or they don't want to read. There's a term for that?aliteracy. Our own Pat Sweeney described this phenomenon in his paper, "Developing Work Instructions for Aliterate Users" (PDF), which he presented to the American Society for Quality at their Annual Quality Congress in 2003. He noted aliteracy comes in two forms: functional and conditional.

Functional aliteracy includes people who have poor reading skills, and though that can be an issue in any work place, the people I'm addressing today can be defined as conditionally aliterate. Conditional aliteracy includes those people who possess satisfactory reading skills but find themselves in conditions that make reading text-heavy material unappealing or impossible.

Let me give you an example of this. Think for a minute about what happens when the computer screen freezes (typically only when a deadline looms). Working on a PC, the first thing I do is push Ctrl-Alt-Delete and see if I can solve it with the Task Manager screen. If that doesn't work, I'll probably reboot the computer. Next, because we're not big enough to have a tech support department, I'll ask the tech-savvy colleague in the cubicle next to me for help. If I'm working from home, I may call the manufacturer's help desk.

The point is, I will run through a whole host of possibilities to solve the problem, and not until I've exhausted all other options will it occur to me to read the user's guide that came with the computer.

Quite honestly, I don't even want to read it because it's not written for me. It's written to satisfy lawyers and auditors. I can never find what I need, no matter how many different ways I try to identify the problem.

Here's what I believe computer companies need to do when they create these user's guides:

Write like they're talking to an average person?better yet, an average person with minimal computer skills.
Organize their information based on "how to" do something, not on what features they offer. (Check out what we've done as an example.)
Make their day-to-day instructions as simple as their assembly instructions:
- Color-code topics.
- Use graphics instead of words.
- Space the text so it doesn't overwhelm.

Writing like this?for the user?might go a long way toward easing the trepidation people sometimes feel when working with computers.

Word Nerd Works Here

noreply@blogger.com (Renee) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 06:51:59 PDT

I like words . . . like their possibilities, their elusiveness, like how I can deliberately manipulate them, like how the same words can mean different things to different people.

I also like how different organizations make it a point to identify new expressions that should or should not come into our language. For instance, the American Dialect Society (ADS) celebrates new additions and chose plutoed as their 2006 Word of the Year, which means "to demote or devalue someone or something." You know, like the planet that's no longer a planet.

Lake Superior State University, however, likes to identify the words we need to banish, often for their overuse or superficial nature. Included on their 2007 List of Banished Words are Gitmo, awesome, boasts and last year's ADS winner truthiness. (Check out their reasons for banishment. If you're a word nerd like me, you'll find them funny.)

Of course at Bishop, we can't play with words when we're writing standard work instructions. Our job is to make our words?the few we choose to use?as explicit as possible.

This type of brevity and clarity also finds a place in a wordsmith's heart. I like having to figure out how to tighten a phrase or cluster information to fit in a list. Both challenge my mind and my skills, and though I may be generalizing, I don't believe most lawyers or auditors aspire to such simplicity. I suspect that's why traditional procedure manuals are filled with verbiage. (Before any lawyers contact me and complain, let me say that I do know a plain language movement is afoot, and, thankfully, a committee with the State Bar of Michigan is promoting it. Now, if we can just get everyone to actually use it. . . .)

Over the next few weeks, I'll share some of the editorial reasons and techniques behind our visual work instructions, and talk about the ways illustrations affect our decisions.

E-Mail Overload

noreply@blogger.com (Renee) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 06:50:15 PDT

Since organizing is a relevant issue and a reoccurring theme for many companies employing 5S practices, I figure I have to say something about e-mail organization. Though I'm lucky enough not to receive 100 e-mails every day, I know people who do. I also know people who have thousands of e-mails stored somewhere, all waiting for something?a response, a reference . . . perhaps a burial.

E-mail, for many of us, has reached a point beyond usefulness and fallen into the realm of irritation and stress. When I have more than twenty e-mails in my in-box, I'm tempted to just hit the delete button. Surely we were not meant to hang on to all this information.

Because we're a small company, we've been given the freedom to use our skills and talents to fill niches as they become apparent. The leaders of the company happily delegate these tasks but recognize we need some oversight. Needless to say, their in-boxes are overflowing with copied and forwarded e-mails.

Recognizing this as a growing issue, we're now getting used to SharePoint, which, as I understand it, will end some of the e-mail nightmares that occur because we're trying to keep everyone informed. Instead, information?including e-mail discussions?will be stored on a server that everyone can access.

It's a good start, but as you've probably surmised, it still doesn't address all the issues. Several people have written articles with lots of solutions, and I especially like Stever Robbins' piece (a columnist for the Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge magazine). Not only does he give examples of good and bad e-mails, he also suggests that we figure out the per-minute rate it costs for each employee to read and respond to e-mail. When you multiply that number by the number of hours in a day, week, month . . . Well, you can imagine the steady trickle of money flowing down the drain.

One of his best suggestions, I believe, is the idea of training the senders. We know, of course, that we can't train clients how to send e-mails, but we can train ourselves (and maybe lead by example?).

Here are a few suggestions I like:

Use the subject line as the whole message

Include response expectations in the subject line

NRN = No reply needed

TY = Thank you

NRB = Need response by (you fill in the date and time)

Consider who you're copying and why, then tell each person what to do with the message

Edit forwarded messages so they're appropriate for the next recipient

Even congress is inundated by e-mail, and they still haven't figured out a way to efficiently handle it (though one suggestion is to increase the budget for their offices?what a surprise). Since we don't have the luxury of extra money or staff to manage our e-mail, I guess we'll have to keep finding 5S solutions on our own.