STC Berkeley: March 2006 Monthly Meeting

Agile development is an approach to developing products that relies on an iterative process in which each iteration can be as short as a few weeks. The team sets its goals for the iteration, works for the prescribed time, then evaluates where they are, and sets goals for the next iteration. The output of an iteration is a complete piece of the product, including documentation. It's fast paced and not for everyone!

Jennie Abbott is a technical communicator who has worked on agile development teams. She has developed a way to use online help to coordinate the development process. She will describe how, early in the development process, she used RoboHelp to turn the initial development documentation, written by the project lead, into a help file in the product.The project team used the help file to coordinate their work. It served as an internal reference and central repository of information about the product throughout the development cycle. Conditional build tags allowed the information to be available for internal use, yet remain hidden from customer-facing output. Having a help file before there was an application ensured a solid place for documentation in the consciousness of the developers -- and on the team.

Jennie will summarize the best features of this work and show how you can apply the same techniques to your projects.

Speaker:

Jennifer Abbott

Jennifer Abbott has been working as a staff technical writer in Alameda since 1997 with an Engineering team that has rolled with the waves of corporate changes from ViewStar to Mosaix to Lucent to Avaya to eiStream to Global 360, Inc. Currently one of a small Documentation team, Jennifer develops and maintains HTML Help projects of various sizes for system administrators and API documentation for developers.

Monthly Chapter Meetings

The Berkeley chapter meets the second Wednesday of the month.

Continuing in March, 2007 we will meet in the Town Room (on the second floor) of the Shattuck Plaza Hotel in Berkeley, CA.

Program Ideas
Fees
Agenda
Location and Directions

Chapter Meeting Program Ideas?

If you have a suggestion for a meeting topic you'd like to hear more about or if you'd like to be a presenter, send an email to Mary Ann Campbell, VP of Programs.

Chapter Meeting Fees

For the meeting and dinner, reserved on the Chapter's website in advance:

Members: $18
Non-members: $21
Student members: $15

For the meeting and dinner at the door:

Members: $21
Non-members: $24
Student members: $18

Note: If you do not reserve dinner in advance, dinner may or may not be available on a walk-in basis. We order dinner for the number of reservations plus a few walk-ins.

To attend the program only:

Members and non-members: $12
Non-STC-Members: $15
Students: $10

NOTE ONE: Non-members are always welcome to STC meetings.

NOTE TWO: All members of the San Francisco Chapter of the IABC are welcome to register for Berkeley STC General Meetings at the member price.

If you wish to pay by cash or check, send email to that effect to treasurer@stc-berkeley.org, and then bring payment to the meeting.

If you wish to pay be credit card, please reserve using our online storefront.

Interested in becoming a member?

Chapter Meetings Agenda

6:00 -- Networking, conversation
6:30 -- Buffet served
7:15 -- Chapter business, announcements, jobs available*
7:30 -- Formal program
8:30 -- Conversation, off-line questions for the speakers, follow-up on job announcements
9:30 -- Clear the room, move conversations to the sidewalk

*Attendees are encouraged to announce open positions. Please bring job listings for distribution. Recruiters may introduce themselves, but may not describe open positions in detail. Save that for one-on-one after the program.

Location and Directions

Shattuck Plaza Hotel
2086 Allston Way
Berkeley, CA

The Shattuck Plaza Hotel is located at 2086 Allston Way in downtown Berkeley, immediately west of Shattuck Ave. We meet in the Towne Room on the second floor.

The Shattuck Plaza Hotel in Downtown Berkeley, just off of Shattuck

The hotel is within walking distance from the Berkeley BART station; meter parking on the street is free after 6:00 p.m.

The Shattuck Plaza Hotel Lobby

Directions to the Shattuck Plaza Hotel

By BART:

Emerge from the Berkeley BART station.
Walk south on Shattuck one block.
Turn right on Allston.
The Shattuck Plaza Hotel is on the left.

By car:

Metered parking on the street is free after 6:00 p.m.

From north of Berkeley: I-880 south and get off at the University Avenue exit. Follow University east to Shattuck and turn right. Allston is three blocks south of University, and the Shattuck Plaza Hotel is on the South side of the street.

From south of Oakland: SOUTH: Take I-880 north to downtown Oakland, and then bear right onto I-980. Take the Martin Luther King exit and bear left to merge onto Martin Luther King Way. Turn right onto Adeline just past the sharp curve. Adeline will merge into Shattuck Avenue. Turn left on Allston and the hotel will be on the left side of Allston.

From San Francisco: Take the Bay Bridge towards Oakland (I-80 East). At the end of the bridge, take I-80 east towards Berkeley. Get off at the University Avenue exit. Follow University east to Shattuck and turn right. Allston is three blocks south of University, and the Shattuck Plaza Hotel is on the South side of the street.

From far East Bay: Take Highway 24 West through the Caldecott Tunnel. Exit at Highway 13 north towards Berkeley. Turn right on Shattuck Avenue. Turn left on Allston and the hotel will be on the left side of Allston.

Please email webpage corrections or webpage comments to:

Jim Dexter (internet@stc-berkeley.org)

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