Winter 2023
Riley the Writer, a Jolly Happy Soul?
Dawn Stevens, Comtech Services
For some reason that made sense at the time, it has become a tradition for me to dedicate my December column to a re-imagining of classic Christmas stories and songs into technical writing tales of cheer.
Thus far, these rewrites have included:
- A Christmas Carol
- It’s a Wonderful Life
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas
- The Night Before Christmas
- The 12 Days of Christmas
This year, for your enjoyment, I bring you my version of “Frosty the Snowman,” originally written by Jack Rollins and Steve Nelson, and first recorded by Gene Autry in 1950. It was later adapted into the animated classic Christmas cartoon in 1969, with Jimmy Durante singing the theme song.
Riley, the Writer
Riley, the Writer
Was a frantic, stressed out, soul
With a deadline near at the end of the year
And two SMEs out of control.
Riley the Writer
Had an A-I tool in use
To help simplify
And demystify
Content formerly obtuse.
There were a lot of errors
In the generated text.
And Riley worked to figure out
The prompt to try out next.
Oh, Riley, the Writer
Had to edit carefully
Catching made-up facts
And incomplete gaps
Removing all uncertainty.
Clickety click click; clickety click click.
Look at Riley type.
Clickety click click; clickety click click.
Getting the content right!
Riley, the Writer
Knew the SMEs would give no aid
They were overworked
And were getting irked
At the questions teams conveyed.
At the computer
With a DITA tool installed
Good consistency
And efficiency
All were properly enthralled.
There was a lot of reuse in
The old version they had
Conrefs and keys used with some care
Rendered content not half bad.
Riley the Writer
Had to finish right away
With one button push
All required outputs
Were complete by end of day.
Clickety click click; clickety click click.
Look at Riley write!
Clickety click click; clickety click click.
Meeting deadlines tonight!
Happy Holidays everyone!
Dawn and the rest of the Comtech team
About the Author:
Dawn Stevens is CIDM’s Director and President of Comtech Services. She has over 30 years of practical experience in virtually every role within a documentation and training department including project management, instructional design, writing, editing, and multimedia programming.