Professional Lingo

Continuing the discussion of writing the letters that I’ve described in previous posts, I’ve found that even when you think you’ve conveyed an idea properly for your audience, there is still a fine-tooth comb that you can pass over your writing with.

For example, I spent the better part of four days working on the Master Application List Letter to Application Owners. This is the letter that we are going to send out to the members of the department (and others) that own the applications that we will be analyzing and collecting data on.

After the time that I spent alone on the letter, I met with one of my mentors, Garrett Treager, and we spent over an hour analyzing all of the wording in every sentence as well as the organization of the letter. We decided that, knowing that our audience wouldn’t respond well to a huge block of text, we wanted to simplify it into bullet points, headings, and charts so that they had the capability of selectively reading, but also provided all of the information that they needed. As I’ve discussed in my last post, this is a very fine line to walk, and one that may never be fully perfected without the help of coworkers and another set of eyes.

We sent this letter to Mary Gallagher for review to see if we were able to send it out to the proper recipients yet. We just got the letter back with several edits that both Garrett and I didn’t necessarily think of. For example, here are a few changes from our document:

• set up a meeting -->
  
  schedule a meeting


• so that we can discuss this information -->
  
  so that we can discuss your application information with you


• make sure -->
  
  verify


• When we do meet, the data that we will need about each of your applications include: -->
  
  During our meeting, please be prepared to discuss the following information needed for your documented applications:


• aren’t -->
  
  are not

Even though Garrett and I spent over an hour editing this page-and-a-half document together, literally going through every word, Mary was still able to find wording that could be improved upon. Not only is this another way that can help both myself and Garrett prove on our document-writing ability, but it also shows me (us) that another set of eyes is always welcome on any document that one may be producing.

Learning email and information protocol

From a very young age, we are taught how to write letters to one another. We are taught structure and the etiquette in writing a letter to a friend or family member. But little of that is retained, I’ve found, when writing letters to CIOs.

While writing up templates and drafts of this letter that we plan of sending to a variety of CIOs in order to prepare their teams for our future plans, I found that the foundation of writing a letter that we learned so long ago is mostly similar (greeting, body, signature), but there are many things that must be done differently.

For example, when we are taught how to write an amicable letter, we often make small talk, detailing many different aspects for the reader. Even a regular business-type letter is somewhat insufficient for a higher-level audience that you might write to, like the CIOs. This is because, being that CIOs have a large amount of people under them, they have very busy schedules to tend to, and a long email, detailing every aspect of your project or request will easily get over-looked. So, when writing to them, you must pack as much information in as little amount of words and space as possible. If you think you get a lot of emails, imagine what their inbox is like. So for this purpose and functionality, you must learn how to make these types of letters and emails concise.

In learning this lesson, I have started to develop, what I think, are good skills for writing whatever type of email that my job may require me to write. You aren’t always required to tell the recipient of your email your entire life story, or exactly how this project started, or every detail of a step they must take. Sometimes, that may be necessary, but it is part of being in a work environment and learning when it is more appropriate to be specific, and when it is appropriate to be a little vague. You can eventually get readings on which projects or tasks people know more about in the office, and which are lesser known or require more description.

By writing these templates, I feel that it has helped me refine those writing skills and better understand the knowledge of the office and being about to realize who needs what information, and how much they need. It’s a skill that will change from office to office, and one that can always be perfected on, but it is definitely something, I believe, you need in order to function properly within the work environment these days. It’s a great skill to have and one that I think will help benefit me in both my internship as well as the real world, no matter where I end up.

Editing myself

When one thinks of Professional Writing and Editing, and what the actual acts of professional forms of writing and editing entail, certain types of media come to mind, such as manuals or guides, communication documents, or even simple inter-office memos. But as I have found this week during my internship, writing notes in meetings can be counted as writing as well, as informal as it may be.

While I have had several one-on-one meetings as I have been here at UPMC, I had my first group meeting of the summer yesterday. I was asked to come to this meeting simply to catch-up with what had been happening since I was gone at school. So, because I was mostly an observer for this meeting, I was given a lot of room to be able to focus on my note-taking abilities.

As different people of the group discussed their areas and gave their opinions, me occasionally giving my own, I structured the meeting notes rather soundly, making sure that each good point that was made had found a spot amongst my notes, as well as an indication of who said what. After the meeting, I was able to go back and correct typos that I hadn’t had time to fix during the meeting, and I was also able to look over the notes I had taken in order to recap and reabsorb what was said during the meeting.

This realization, I think, will help me greatly later on down the line in other group meetings. I may be able to find different, more effective ways of taking notes as the internship goes along, but dipping my toes into this pond will surely help with my note-taking as I continue my professional path. I think, maybe more so than the act of taking notes itself, this is also giving me excellent practice in being able to edit—not only coworker’s work—but also my own. I often find it hard to make myself look at something I’ve written in an objective manner, and edit it as I would anyone else’s work. Whereas while I’m editing my own notes, I know it is easier for me to take a step back and say “ok, does what I’ve written here actually make sense?” Because, while I was in the room at the time of the meeting, being able to listen and write at the same time is somewhat of a hard task for me. I know that this practice will help me to be able to do that more freely in my own writing, not just note-taking, and this is an integral part of being able to be a professional writer and/or editor.

Nose to the grindstone

Finally having all of my obligations fulfilled for the summer done with the passing of May, I am now finally able to focus my efforts on my internship and my course. It is nice getting back into the swing of things and back into the groove here at UPMC. But the nicest thing about being a flexible intern is that every time I come back into this office, they always fine me somewhere new to go; a new department to work in; a new task to take on. If UPMC has taught me only one thing thus far (which is untrue), it is that no matter what field or division you choose to pursue for a career, there is always something you can find within that division that will suit you.

Since I started working here, I have been in many different areas, working with several different people, doing numerous assignments. I have done everything from editing a New Hire Manual to making inspirational posters for the various departments to helping to develop entire SharePoint sites for the division.

As of right now, I'm working almost solely on a project called the Master Applications List (or MAppL for short). So that we may be in compliance with licensing laws, the department is going through to make sure all applications are in accordance and do not exceed the licenses that are owned for it. I’m consolidating lists and will also be contacting the application owners in order to make sure that everything is up to par. This list is rather large and requires editing in the form of merging information from several sources as well as making sure there are no duplicates or aliases, which would create more work for the department.

I think that this is a great editing exercise within the real world because this is showing me that even though I may have learned how to edit several different types of documents in my English 302: Editing class, this is a perfect example of how not everything in a real world scenario will be a letter with many typos that I’m required to weed out. This is taking my editing skills that I have required, and helping me learn how to apply it in everyday life. It’s very gratifying!

I have enjoyed my first week on the job and I cannot wait to see what else this new department has to offer me!