Companies and organizations are always looking for ways to increase efficiency. One of the most popular methods is lean production, originally derived from the Toyota Production System. In lean philosophy, resources are expended only to create value for the end-user — anything else is considered wasteful.
Many organizations use lean principles in manufacturing and management with great success. Many lean principles...
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Posted in: technical writing
Do grammar rules intimidate writers and overly complicate technical writing? It seems like there is a bottomless pit of traps and exceptions for English grammar and technical writing. But the main function of language is to communicate — not frustrate writers and readers. Technical writers need to concentrate on producing clear, concise, and effective documents and not stress about intricate grammar rules.
Preposition...
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Most of us are very adept at problem-solving--we solve problems every day, from small problems such as figuring out the best route to take to work to larger issues, such as dealing with difficult people. In fact, most of us are so good at solving problems that we may not even realize when we're actively involved in that problem-solving mode! If we are so good at solving problems, why are there so many of us...
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First, let's distinguish between editing and proofreading--they are not synonymous! Editing is the process of reviewing for content, logic, and other high-level elements, while proofreading is reviewing for misspelled and misused words, mechanical errors, and punctuation mistakes. Editing and proofreading are, in fact, two distinct processes that should not be conducted simultaneously.
As we all know,...
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In our classes, we always discuss reader-centered writing; that is,
writing that fully considers readers and what they want and need and how
they're going to use the document. Another element of this is "noise."
"Noise" can be categorized as the distractions readers face when reading.
Some of these, of course, are caused by the writer and some are the result
of noisy offices,...
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