Writing Technical HowTos

[T3X4S]

Guys, need a little help.

I have been asked by a Mgr in another department to write "on how to optimize a Skype for Business meeting. – 5-10 technical lines".

I assume he means things like :

enabling QoS, making sure certain ports are open, etc

But, I am not sure what "technical lines" is.

I assume he means, something like bullet points on steps to take... like Best Practices, "pro tips" ?


If y'all have done something like this, or if you know exactly what is meant when someone says "technical lines", I would appreciate some input.  I googled this and did sort of confirm the above assumption, but I dont want to assume everything.

I am wanting to move into another department as I am not learning anything in my present role, and another department needs this to weed out the internal applicants.

I would appreciate any insight you can provide.


Thx

of course if there are any Skype for Business admin gurus out there - and you have some valuable suggestions, that'd be awesome too  

 

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

 

When I provide a "HOW-TO:", I am typically thinking of providing a step-by-step guide on how to do something, and telling the party reading the instructions what menu items to select, buttons or links to click on, and text to type in, and so forth.  I would initially provide this in text only, as that is more portable, and then go back and add screenshots or other graphics (Visio?) as needed. 

 

A program like TechSmith's SnagIt is great for drawing arrows and highlighting sections, but I usually tend to avoid going to that level of detail.  If you don't have a copy, Microsoft Paint works fine.  Just remember to save all your original screenshots and graphics and only make changes to copies.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

 

[Nick H. Supervisor]

18 minutes ago, goretsky said:

A program like TechSmith's SnagIt is great for drawing arrows and highlighting sections, but I usually tend to avoid going to that level of detail.  If you don't have a copy, Microsoft Paint works fine.  Just remember to save all your original screenshots and graphics and only make changes to copies.

Just to add to this bit, I have found PicPick to be a great replacement for home use.

 

6 hours ago, T3X4S said:

I have been asked by a Mgr in another department to write "on how to optimize a Skype for Business meeting. – 5-10 technical lines".

I assume he means things like :

enabling QoS, making sure certain ports are open, etc

But, I am not sure what "technical lines" is.

Honestly, I would just remove the word "technical." In my experience around the workplace, people like to throw words around to make things seem grander than they are.

[T3X4S]

10 minutes ago, Nick H. said:

Just to add to this bit, I have found PicPick to be a great replacement for home use.

 

Honestly, I would just remove the word "technical." In my experience around the workplace, people like to throw words around to make things seem grander than they are.

 

36 minutes ago, goretsky said:

Hello,

 

When I provide a "HOW-TO:", I am typically thinking of providing a step-by-step guide on how to do something, and telling the party reading the instructions what menu items to select, buttons or links to click on, and text to type in, and so forth.  I would initially provide this in text only, as that is more portable, and then go back and add screenshots or other graphics (Visio?) as needed. 

 

A program like TechSmith's SnagIt is great for drawing arrows and highlighting sections, but I usually tend to avoid going to that level of detail.  If you don't have a copy, Microsoft Paint works fine.  Just remember to save all your original screenshots and graphics and only make changes to copies.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

 

I appreciate it, but this is like a quick screening for an interview to get into another role/job tier.

He is asking me to give a quick rundown on optimizing SKype for Biz in Office365 admin enviro.

I think, he wants me to write less than 1/2 page with 5-10 "things".

My confusion was, is technical lines an actual thing, OR is he saying "drop me 5-10 line items of suggestions so I can see how savvy you are on this particular topic"

I think I was taking him too literally.  I have a tendency to do that.


Thanks guys

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

 

Hmm... have you considered doing a PowerPoint slide deck, with five (5) slides and three (3) lines per slide?  That would get you to 15 sentences, and presented in a pretty simple format (bullet points).

 

If the assignment in unclear, might I suggest starting a few of these to show as examples, and then asking for clarity in what sort of work product is expected?

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

 

[Daedroth]

I have never been asked to create - technical lines, but I do sometimes create 'How-Tos'. I tend to create them as step-by-step guides, so that any Tom, Dick or Harry can follow them, in case I get hit by a bus or something.

[+BudMan MVC]

So this is like a interview for another position sounds like?

 

"Technical Lines" is not a common term I have ever heard used to be honest.  And been in the biz for like 30 years.  My take on it how you have described what short bullet items to what you could do to optimize skype to get a quick insight if you know what could be done, etc.  QOS would be one such things - but keep in mind qos is not really going to be of much use over the internet.  So while it could help with traffic congestion on your local network.  Once the traffic leaves your network and goes over the public internet setting any IP precedence or DSCP values would be of no use.

 

I don't take it that it has to be like bullet items, but more a few lines going over what could be done at more of technical level vs pointing out stuff that could be done at the user level.  That is my take from what you have posted.  Let us know how it turns out - and good luck on the new position!

 

edit:  Just noticed you posted this back in FEB.. Have to assume this has already happened   How did it turn out?

[Circaflex]

4 hours ago, BudMan said:

edit:  Just noticed you posted this back in FEB.. Have to assume this has already happened   How did it turn out?

[Dan~]

Give him loads of the most likely powershell cmdlets.

 

enabling conferencing, policies, fed skype etc etc or just say "wtf are you on about" but depends on the friendship you have with your boss

[Copernic Reporter]

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