Although retired, I still maintains an active interest in technical writing.
Benefits
No more travelling to work each day.
Time to think (and be mildly creative).
More time to catch up with family and friends.
More time to spend on my many interests.
Downsides
Less opportunity to meet and work with interesting people of all ages, backgrounds and education, and learn more about them.
Initial feeling of isolation and being separated from the working world.
Thinking I’m no longer useful and won’t be contributing any more.
Tasks
Catching up with family and friends.
Gardening, mainly using Australian natives.
Unpaid website administration for a social club.
Bush walking and walking around the local area for exercise.
Reading, particularly on regenerative agriculture, although I enjoyed the Shetland series.
Driving – I’ve always had an interest in cars, so as a reward for over 40 years of dedicated hard work I purchased a small upmarket SUV. I really enjoy driving it, and appreciate not only the opportunity to own it, but also how well it drives, how quiet it is, and all the wonderful features it has.
Update documentation as a result of superannuation changes.
Ensure new business, maintenance and payments teams comply with expanded superannuation regulatory requirements.
Tasks
Develop procedures to assist business teams obtain the required data and complete compliance reports.
Update existing work instructions to ensure existing teams comply with additional superannuation regulatory requirements.
Develop work instructions for a new team established to provide support for the additional regulatory requirements.
Prepare and review deeds of amendment, based on prepared templates, to support superannuation changes.
Procurement Improvement
Agency
Techwriter Placements
Client
Sydney Trains
Dates
March 2013 to May 2014
Benefits
Document changes to procurement technical policies and procedures required to support process improvements and the establishment of Sydney Trains.
Tasks
Work with project teams to develop the processes required to provide procurement services for the new agency.
Document the technical policies and procedures to support procurement process improvements.
Financial Reporting
Agency
Techwriter Placements
Client
RailCorp
Dates
March 2012 to February 2013
Benefits
Improve efficiency and reduce errors throughout the performance reporting and planning lifecycle, including use of the new financial applications.
Tasks
Work with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) involved in the financial performance reporting and planning applications to write procedures to support business users and administrators.
Procurement Changes
Agency
Techwriter Placements
Client
RailCorp
Dates
March 2011 to October 2011 December 2011 to February 2012
Benefits
Improve efficiency and reduce errors throughout the procurement lifecycle.
Tasks
Work with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), users and developers involved in the procurement transformation project to write technical policies and procedures to support changes to the procurement processes and upgrades made to the procurement application (ARIBA).
Hazardous Chemicals
Agency
TP3
Client
Department of Defence
Dates
June 2010 to November 2010
Benefits
Improve safety and meet legal obligations involving the use of hazardous chemicals.
Tasks
Establish an approach and develop a template for the procedures by conducting workshops with subject matter experts.
Develop a table of contents for the procedures.
Prototype five procedures using the template. Document the requirements for the development stage of the project.
Write the procedures and supporting information for the complex risk management topics.
Website Redevelopment
Agency
TP3
Client
TP3
Dates
April 2010 to May 2010
Benefits
Improve sales opportunities and provide up-to-date company information to customers, prospective customers and staff.
Tasks
Review existing website content. Write concise and consistent updated content.
Capture content to a new content management system (CMS).
Change Management
Agency
TP3
Client
Westpac
Dates
August 2009 to November 2009
Benefits
Improve customer service through better management and notification of changes impacting staff and customers.
Tasks
Conduct workshops with service staff, change initiators and change managers. Interview change initiators and those who manage the change process.
Document the user requirements for the new change management application.
Superannuation Operations
Agency
Tactics
Client
FuturePlus
Dates
March 2008 to April 2009
Benefits
Improve customer service and reduce costs by providing employees with the information to perform their duties consistently and with minimal errors.
Tasks
Develop templates for documenting policies and procedures for managing those documents.
Document the policies and transfer knowledge to staff to assist them document and maintain policy documents.
Document fund administration processes and procedures by interviewing staff who perform the tasks.
Investment Accounts and Home Loans
Agency
Tactics
Client
Commonwealth Bank
Dates
March 2007 to February 2008
Benefits
Improve customer satisfaction by providing employees with the ability to respond quickly and accurately to customer enquiries.
Tasks
Document product information and procedures on how to open, maintain and close/payout investment accounts and home loans.
The information is provided through the Bank’s intranet, and is used by customer service staff to respond to customer enquiries.
Technology Operations
Agency
Tactics
Client
Pernod Ricard Australia
Dates
December 2006 to February 2007
Benefits
Improve efficiency and meet compliance obligations by providing the information technology group with standard policies and procedures to carry out their day to day operations.
Tasks
Analyse and document the policies and procedures for the information technology group which was located in Adelaide SA while the documentation was undertaken in Sydney NSW.
Transaction Accounts
Agency
Tactics
Client
Commonwealth Bank
Dates
July 2006 to November 2006
Benefits
Improve customer satisfaction by allowing employees to respond quickly and accurately to customer service enquiries.
Tasks
Document product information for transaction and investment accounts, and procedures on how to open, maintain and close these accounts.
The information is provided through the Bank’s intranet, and is used by customer service staff to respond to enquiries and perform maintenance activities.
Application Help
Agency
Tactics
Client
Commonwealth Bank
Dates
May 2006 to June 2006
Benefits
Reduce cost of moving business customers to a new internet banking application.
Tasks
Identify and document the required application help for a new internet banking application to be used by business customers and the Bank’s customer maintenance employees.
