This page hosts examples of projects I've completed, grouped by the organization I completed the work for. Roughly chronological with recent work listed first.

1

BusKill

OpenSCAD rendering of 3D printed parts used in buskill project



Project: BusKill Open Hardware Project Build and Documentation

I worked 4 years to build a 3D-printed magnetic release for the BusKill project. I am creating the documentation using ReStructured Text, using a docs-as-code approach. Once I have completed the documentation, I will submit the project for Open Source Hardware Association certification.

In the news:

Talk: Open Hardware Design for BusKill Cord

I presented BusKill at DEFCON32: View Forum



2

Movius

Photo of Movius office

Project: B2B SaaS Documentation

During my time at Movius, I created and managed, nearly entirely on my own, the MultiLine Help Center. The Help Center comprehensively documents the MultiLine app, its administration, and customer enablement processes. All the content was either written, or edited by me (time permitting). Exceptions included a few articles that I assigned to a Marketing Intern and some of the customer enterprise documentation which was written by SMEs. I successfully managed the migration from the Help Center from one provider to another. The Help Center is designed to be usable by app end-users, admins, and enterprise customers. At the time my employment ended, I was in the middle of making some reorganization improvements, and am happy to discuss in interviews what my plans were to further improve it.


Project: Blogs, Social, and Podcast

I created many blogs for the purpose of communicating product information, establishing thought leadership, and driving traffic to the Movius.AI web site. I am able to do basic SEO keyword and key phrase research, and value boosting SEO by writing content that is timely and genuinely useful to people. I would generate weekly reports using Google Looker and Google Analytics to show how my blog content was performing at driving traffic.

I appeared on episodes of the podcast B2Tea, a podcast spilling the tea on B2B, produced by Sam Grinis. View

When LinkedIn introduced the Newsletter feature, I quickly adopted it to publish a series called Morning Brew, which I would publish monthly in the morning to discuss trends in the industries that used our product. View Morning Brew on LinkedIn


Project: Sales Enablement

This information is proprietary, but I led an effort to import all sales collateral into the Highspot sales and partner enablement portal for easy retrieval and use by salespersons. Additionally, I created Salesplays which are job aids that communicated the product marketing strategy and helped enhance and standardize sales conversations across partners.

3

Open Source Ecology

Project: Pen Plotter and Inkscape Documentation for D3D Plotter


Photo of Pen Plotter plotting dashes in the shape of the open hardware logo

I volunteered remotely 6 months with Open Source Ecology to contribute wiki documentation about using Inkscape to create prints that could be plotted with an onsite D3D printer modded to be a Pen Plotter.


4

Contracting with US Tech Solutions

Project: Google Fiber Knowledge Base

I can't provide the actual deliverables because of an NDA, but I worked with a team to create complex call center instructions in a WYSIWIG editor using conditional flows, accordians, reusable content, and internal links.

The structure of the information would be similar to the following:

Call Quality Troubleshooting

Refer to this troubleshooter when the caller reports choppy audio, no audio, and other audio issues. If the caller can't turn on the phone, go to Device Troubleshooting, instead.

Before you start

Get the following information:


Alert: Known Issue - Call quality impacted by solar flares in Michigan. Check whether caller is in Michigan before proceeding.


What call quality issue is the caller reporting?





No audio selected would reveal the next question


Ask the following:

  1. Was the caller going through a tunnel at the time?
  2. Did the caller press the mute button and forget?
  3. Did the caller try turning it off and on again?

If all this didn't work, escalate to Tier 2 support.


5

TOTO USA

Project: Instruction Manuals and Spare Parts Sheets



I used Adobe Suite to create for-print installation manuals and spare parts manuals for toilets and faucets produced at the Morrow factory in three languages (English, Spanish, and Portuguese). My use of AdobeScript to automate templates and create reusable content helped standardize manuals, shortened the time to create them, reduced translation expenses, and reduced errors and the need for reprints, contributing to lowered costs and better installation experience.


I created this illustration in Illustrator as part of a toilet manual product based on a photo. photo of computer screen with an illustration for a toilet installation manual

I created this faucet manual Download PDF Most faucet manuals had this general layout and style.

Project: Internal ISO Auditor

I assisted the QA team in the Morrow and Lakeside factories by performing internal ISO audits. I greatly enjoyed this task because I was permitted to walk the factory floor and learn the ins and outs of all the activities that went in to produce our products, and contributed to the success of our business by making sure our safety and quality policies were followed.


6

SPSU Instructional Design Unit

I performed the roles of technical writer and assistant instructional designer. I applied my knowledge of technical writing, ADDIE, and adult learning pedagogies to assist the unit in creating courses that taught our faculty how to deliver high quality distance and hybrid instruction using Desire2Learn. I also assisted in writing technical requirements for an internal software project used to manage requests for course development support.

Project: Redesign Instructional Presentation

This artifact I created during university while working in the Instructional Design Unit demonstrates my attention to detail when it comes to designing instructional powerpoints.

Description: Audience

The audience is SPSU faculty teaching distance learning classes. They will be college graduates or above in education, adults in the age range ~25-65. We have faculty of diverse cultural background, but they should be fairly literate in English. We have some faculty living in other states, but most live in Georgia. They will also be diverse in computer skills, we will need to make sure those with less computer skills can use the material. Most have previous experience with GeorgiaView Vista, but most have never used Desire2Learn. The incentive to complete the training is a reward of a couple thousand dollars to those who successfully complete the course.

Instructional Goal

SPSU Faculty will use Desire2Learn Course Builder to create effective distance learning classes.

Context Analysis

Learners will receive instruction in a face to face workshop at the CTE Faculty Support Lab and online via a PowerPoint presentation. They will receive a paper handout of instructions at the face to face workshop. The site has a PC with all necessary software for each participant and the instructor has a PC connected to a large viewing screen.

Learning Domain

The dominant learning domain for the instructional goal is Procedural.

Task Analysis

Entry level behaviors include knowing in general what type of content should be part of course structure from previous experience with other learning management systems. They should be able to use a computer, connect to the Internet, and log into Desire2Learn by this stage in the course. They should also have already learned the different types of content, such as Discussions, Quicklinks, and Dropboxes. Now, they need to learn where the Course Builder tool is in the Desire2Learn interface, how to use it, and how using it interacts with the other tools in the system, such as the Content tool and Grades tool.

View as Google Doc


Documenting CTERS Software

During my employment as a Technical Writer, I assisted the IDU with various tasks relating to documenting the CTERS Software, an inhouse registration system. This artifact is a presentation I created on using the software that was used in a workshop.


I also wrote the manual: Download PDF.

7

MiniGadgets

Project: Mini Clock Cam Manual


This artifact is a Mini Clock Cam Operation Manual, produced during my time employed at MiniGadgets. Download PDF


8

Southern Polytechnic State University

Project: Software Documentation


This artifact is structured documentation of the Scribus software main menu, produced during my Software Documentation course. Download PDF



9

Certifications

I highly value increasing my to make me better suited towards meeting the needs of technical companies and their audiences.

Completed

In Progress


Portfolio by Melanie Allen is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Find me on GithubFind me on LinkedIn