Welcome to my resume.

As a Senior Technical Communicator:

• Own documentation projects from inception to publication, and emphasize documentation's important role in the user experience. Result: Reinforces documentation as a key deliverable with products and services.

• Write new content and migrate legacy documentation and manage metadata in content management system (CMS). Result: Utilizes DITA standard to facilitate content reuse, inheritance, and single-source publishing.

• Collaborate with Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) engineers and product design engineers to produce risk-assessment documentation. Result: Ensures compliance with directive 89/391/EEC article 9 in the EU, ISO 14001, and OSHA 18001.

• Climb wind turbine towers and tour wind turbine factories, interviewing service technicians and production-line workers. Result: Increases understanding of the user experience to improve documentation focus.

• Collaborate with business analysts and engineers to create and improve user interfaces. Result: Enhances the user experience and strengthens relationships with product developers.

• Work with global information-management company to manage documentation translation projects. Result: Reduces translation costs and turnaround time for documentation revisions.

• Collaborate with training, technical support, and QA teams to repurpose documentation as instructional materials. Result: Capitalizes on single-sourcing for consistent information and faster deliverable turnaround time.

• Create and edit wiki pages, and promote their use to colleagues. Result: Encourages adoption and collaboration in a dynamic environment.

• Collaborate with engineers to improve product interface design. Result: Enhances user experience and strengthens camaraderie with product developers.

• Lead initiative to improve documentation according to users’ needs, as communicated through usability testing, training sessions, surveys, and interviews. Result: Stronger documentation and communication between company and clients.

• Create software simulations and demonstrations. Result: Enhances user experience and encourages learning at their pace.

• Perform software testing on test servers and report issues while documenting procedures. Result:  Errors and inconsistencies fixed before product release.

• Pioneer the use of a wiki for documentation review cycles. Result: Facilitates product development collaboration efforts and encourages more thorough reviews.

• Identify and implement business process improvements. Result: Simplifies business processes and procedures so focus remains on deliverables.

• Establish and maintain relationship with global information-management company to manage documentation translation projects. Result: Accelerates turnaround time for single-source documentation revisions to reflect product enhancements.

• Train clients, trainers, and technical support representatives on using documentation. Result:  Increases documentation use and reduces support calls.

• Write and maintain a style guide adopted as the corporate style guide. Result: Encourages standard terminology usage for consistency across documentation, training, and marketing materials.

• Serve as mentor for junior technical writers, performing peer edits and teaching technical-writing techniques. Result: Ensures accurate documentation and encourages professional growth.

• Develop usability test plans used by Business Analysts and Quality Assurance Analysts. Result:  Ensures consistent interface testing and improves product interface design.

• Edit responses to requests for proposals. Result: Ensures accuracy and consistency in cross-departmental messages.

• Present documentation improvements to other technical communicators within the company. Result: Encourages cross-team collaboration and knowledge sharing.

• Represent documentation group at product demonstrations and conferences. Result: Raises awareness of documentation department’s contribution to product development.

• Serve on special-interest committee to develop Agile documentation best practices and attend weekly stand-ups. Result: Ongoing process of incorporating iterative documentation development as teams adopt Agile methodology.

As a Freelance and Marketing Writer:

• Write blog articles, general-interest articles, trade-publication articles, brochures, advertising copy, newsletter articles, and news releases.

• Create websites and marketing plans.

• Edited estate-planning workbook used in adult-education courses.

• Documented daily and emergency-recovery procedures supporting networks and applications on platforms including HP/UNIX, LANs, and AS/400s.

• Collaborated with a colleague to develop design and production standards for a QuarkXPress desktop-publishing "how-to" book.

Tools

PTC Arbortext Editor and Windchill Content Management System (DITA and XML)

Adobe FrameMaker

Adobe RoboHelp

Adobe Captivate

Adobe Acrobat suite

Microsoft Word

Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft Visio

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft SharePoint

Microsoft Project

SAP Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)

Social-networking tools including LinkedIn, Twitter, and WordPress

Wikis

Numerous image-capturing, image-enhancing, website-creation, and desktop-publishing applications on
 Windows platforms, including Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe InDesign

IBM Rational ClearQuest software defect and change tracking

IBM Rational ClearCase software configuration management

Borland CaliberRM

Borland StarTeam

Microsoft Visual SourceSafe software source control

Employment

Technical Writer 3, Trimble Navigation, 2/12 to present.

Technical Writer, Vestas Wind Systems A/S, 11/10 to 1/12.

Senior Technical Writer, McKesson Provider Technologies (contract), Westminster, CO, 6/08 to 6/10.

Technical Writer III, Lightbridge/VeriSign, Inc., Broomfield, CO, 10/03 to 6/08.

Senior Technical Writer, Encoda Systems, Inc., Denver, CO, 8/00 to 10/03.

Senior Technical Writer, J.D. Edwards & Company, Denver, CO, 11/99 to 8/00.

Documentation Analyst III, Columbine JDS Systems, Inc., Denver, CO, 12/94 to 11/99.

Freelance Writer and Editor, 2/94 to present.

Marketing and Technical Writer, Quark, Inc., 5/92 to 2/94.

Documentation Specialist, QuickPen International, 7/88 to 5/92.

Bachelor of Science in Journalism, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS.

STC DCSA (Distinguished Chapter Service Award), 2012.

STC President’s Award for leadership and dedication to the Society for Technical Communication, Rocky
 Mountain Chapter (STC RMC) by providing excellent speakers and programs during the 2007-2008 and 2006-2007 chapter years.

Six Sigma Yellow Belt, 2011

Society for Technical Communication (STC) senior member

STC Rocky Mountain Chapter (RMC) Past President, 2011-2012

STC RMC President, 2010-2011

STC RMC Vice President, 2009-2010

STC RMC Nominating Committee member, 2008-2009

Program Manager for STC RMC, 2006 to 2008

Assistant Editor for STC RMC technicalities, 2004-2006

Northern Colorado Writers Association member, 2008 to present

Boulder Writers Alliance member, 2010-present

Toastmasters International member, 2010.

LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/kristylantzastry