Career Advancement Training for the Technical Professional

Professional Development Tips

Volume 3, Issue 1

 - Maximize Your Contributions @Work -

Home | Courses | About Us | Contact | Privacy

Persuasive Business Writing

From the upcoming new book by Susan de la Vergne

Geeks Can Write: Practical Business Writing for Technology Professionals

Taking it Personally

Business writing is often about persuading others – persuading them to buy, to invest, to be patient, or simply to have confidence in a product or service. In technical environments, writing assignments are also about persuasion, and the challenge is compounded by the complexity of the topics and the incredible rate of change that forces issues out into the open sometimes before they’re ready. The rate of change in technology, a key driver of competition, infuses technical issues with human zeal beyond what one might expect from engineers (a profession not known for emotional high drama).

Nonetheless, it is true: High tech runs wild with impassioned believers who champion one technology or another. The prospect of favoring one software product over another, one infrastructure product over another, means criticizing – directly or indirectly – the competition. People take that personally.

So how can you put forward a proposal, a report, an architectural design, or a tech strategy recommendation in writing that transcends the emotionalism and gets the points across? While there’s no guaranteed formula for success, here are some suggestions that can help. Click here to read the complete article.

Business Writing for Technical Professionals Workshop

Seven Reasons ALL Engineers Need Leadership Skills

by Gary C. Hinkle, Principal Training Consultant - Auxilium, Inc.

Here are 7 reasons technical professionals need leadership skills:

#7: Technical acumen alone is not influential.

Those who are influential with only technical know-how are technical gurus, but their influence is limited.  Not many can achieve guru status, but regardless, would you rather be a guru with - or without - business skills and interpersonal skills?

#6: Leadership is not just for managers.

Leadership and Management are different skill sets.  Jack Welch and a few others would argue this point, but most agree that leadership has little to do with "management."  Managers generally should be leaders, but it's not always essential.  Strong leaders often aren't suited to be managers, and forcing a strong leader into management can be counterproductive.

#5: Engineers lead projects.

Even engineers who aren't "Project Leaders" provide a certain amount of direction, and they need to influence others to help get their work done.

#4: Engineers should guide less experienced peers.

Guidance is direction, one of the 3 basic definitions of leadership (the other 2 are influence and authority).

#3: Engineers need to help their managers be successful.

Strong leadership skills throughout a manager's organization helps to facilitate good management.

#2: Engineers need to know how to educate the decision-makers in their organizations.

Engineers understand technology better than non-technical managers and they understand the details better than most technical managers.

…and the #1 reason:

Everyone should be interested in building character.  Leadership is mostly character and a little bit skill.  People listen to people who have integrity and who apply it well on the job.

Click here to learn more about Leadership Skills for Engineers.

Case Study: Time Allocation Metrics

A product development group consisting of approximately 35 electronics, mechanical, systems and software engineers had difficulty completing new products in line with time-to-market goals.   The team supported several product lines and had responsibilities that included product enhancements, new product introductions, manufacturing support and field support.

The team did an excellent job of supporting the top priorities, which were field support and manufacturing support while still working on enhancements and introductions.  Most of the products supplied by this company were mission-critical to the customers who owned them; down time and system performance issues in the field were unacceptable.  Manufacturing support was crucial in order to keep the line running.  However, new product development was also essential for the health of the business, so the team had to balance all responsibilities effectively with the available resources.

After several failed attempts to measure various elements of the product development process to gain efficiency, the group manager considered the bigger picture and gathered the team to brainstorm and determine the major productive and unproductive business activities pertaining to the group.  Click here to read the complete article.

Contacting Us

Persuasive Business Writing

Excerpt from the upcoming new book by Susan de la Vergne

Geeks Can Write: Practical Business Writing for Technology Professionals

Seven Reasons ALL Engineers Need Leadership Skills

Engineers are trained to innovate, but many have not learned the skills necessary to influence others and drive the most important ideas forward for the benefit of their organizations.  Here are 7 reasons that you may not have thought of why engineers and other technical professionals need strong leadership skills.

Case Study: Time Allocation Metrics

How time allocation metrics greatly improved a product development team’s productivity.