Starting New Projects

Introduction

Starting a new project can be exciting. It can also leave you wondering what you need to write, who you need to talk to, and when you need to finish. There are a few questions you can ask when you first receive an assignment that will clear up confusion about what's expected of you. While this article is geared to the full-time technical writer, the points made in it also apply to contractors and consultants. It covers the following topics:

Defining the Deliverables
Defining the Contacts
Defining the Schedule
Wrap Up

You can can click on one of the topics above to jump right to it or use the browse buttons below to peruse the article.

I've posted a "Project Definition Worksheet" in my downloads section. You can use this to help get yourself up and running on a new project. Feel free to modify the worksheet in any way to fit your needs.