Welcome to my resume.

As a Senior Technical Communicator:

• Manage single-source documentation projects from inception to publication. Result: Improves processes, promotes faster turnaround, and enables easier documentation maintenance.

• 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.

• Collaborate with training department to produce documentation that can be repurposed as instructional materials. Result: Capitalizes on single-sourcing for consistent information.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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: On-going process of incorporating iterative documentation development as teams adopt Agile methodology.

• Train colleagues on Pecha-Kucha presentation style, and lead team effort to develop and present them at a mini-barcamp. Result: Encourages adoption of new presentation skills and increases teamwork between local and remote technical communicators.

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

Wikis

Adobe FrameMaker

Adobe RoboHelp

Adobe Captivate

Adobe Acrobat suite

Microsoft Word

Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft Visio

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft SharePoint

Social-networking tools including LinkedIn, Twitter, and WordPress

Borland CaliberRM

Borland StarTeam

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

IBM Rational ClearQuest software defect and change tracking

IBM Rational ClearCase software configuration management

Microsoft Visual SourceSafe software source control

Employment

Senior Technical Writer, McKesson Provider Technologies (contract) via Adecco Technical, 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 Writer, Quark, Inc., Denver, CO, 5/92 to 2/94.

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

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

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.

Toastmasters International member, 2010.

Society for Technical Communication (STC) senior member.

STC Rocky Mountain Chapter (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.

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