Project Manager Training

John C. Thompson

*** ***** **** **** ***

Chelmsford, MA 01824

Home: 978-***-****

Cell: 508-***-****

Email: ***********@*******.***

Summary: Using my technical and marketing communications, training and

journalism background, I have provided content, training, web

and marketing communications development for more than 15 years

to small and large hardware companies with a successful track

record in high customer satisfaction. Highly experienced in

areas of network and telecom hardware, software applications,

telecommunications, video and messaging, network

management/utilities, and, API/SDK deliverables.

Technical Skills:

Desktop Publishing:

Adobe Framemaker 8, Madcap Flare, Robohelp, Quark Xpress, Epic

(ArborText) Editor, Webworks Publisher, MS FrontPage (HTML),

Open Office Suite, MS Office Suite (Word and Excel), XML Editor

E-learning and Video Documentation:

Adobe Captivate, Camtasia, Flash

Graphics:

Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Creative Suite (including Illustrator),

Microsoft Visio

Content Management and Collaboration:

IBM SharePoint, Tortoise SVN, Lotus Notes, PSI IM

Operating Systems:

UNIX/Linux including AIX and Solaris, MS Windows operating

systems including Vista and XP, Adobe Flash

Content/Documentation:

Manuals (PDF, HTML, XML), Online Help (including context

sensitive), Multimedia ("how to" videos, product training, and

marketing)

Databases and Database Software:

MS SQL and relational databases, Filemaker Pro

Web Servers:

Websphere, Weblogic

Languages:

XML (DITA), HTML, C++, JavaScript, TCP/IP, Internet Protocol

(IP)

Experience:

Technical Writer/Course Developer

Unica Corporation, Waltham, MA (provider of enterprise marketing

management, streamlines marketing operations through execution of

Enterprise Marketing Management and tracking software.) - May 2010 to

Present

. Update courseware for marketing operations implementation

courses.

. Implement a plan to modularize courseware so it is easier to

update and available to customers at product release.

Principal Writer

ChartSearch, Inc., West Orange, NJ (developer of a product that

combines business intelligence with a search engine for a market

research product.) - June 2008 to April 2010

. Developed project plans and delivered content and training

for APIs, an SDK, and a Software as a Service (SaaS) system.

Early customers praised documentation for its ease of use and

conciseness.

. Developed and implemented strategies for creating

documentation, training, and web content, which included:

o Implementing a customer satisfaction program to ensure that new and

pre-sales customers understood how to use the APIs and SDK

deliverables. This resulted in a high customer satisfaction for both

internal and external customers.

o Produced videos with voice which were used as pre-sales tools, as well

as, producing "how to" use the product videos.

. Developed and implemented a plan for social network marketing for the

product using YouTube and Twitter with plans to expand to a blog and

Facebook.

. Developed press releases for company news.

Resume of John C. Thompson

Page 2

. Built a wiki using MediaWiki for all engineering documents, manuals

and training, and marketing materials. This is used by all employees,

including the remote engineering team in Poland and Business Partners.

. Developed templates for documentation, training, and the web site.

Information Solutions Manager/Lead Writer

Avaya, Inc., Chelmsford, MA (developer of telecommunications products)

- July 2002 to September 2008

. Worked with a team of six writers/trainers in multiple

locations (Massachusetts, California, India, Ireland, Israel

and Australia) that developed middleware/hardware/API and SDK

documentation for conferencing (which included voice and

video), security, wireless and platform products.

. Worked in an Agile development environment.

. Reduced support calls for product lines by implementing a

plan to move documentation to a task-oriented and minimalist

model to ensure that customers were successful with both the

product installation and configuration. This also reduced the

need for contract writers due to the reduction in the page

count which was a result of this plan.

. Implemented single sourcing for all documentation and training

deliverables by moving all content authoring to XML/DITA.

. Reduced training costs by 50% by moving to self-paced multimedia

options for customers. This included using new training development

vendors and tools.

. Implemented a new set of best practices that improved

documentation quality and customer satisfaction for both

wireless and conferencing documentation. Customer

satisfaction was measured by speaking directly to customers

and checking the number of support calls received for these

products. This resulted in a set of deliverables that

included quick start guides and enhanced online help.

. Developed a department-wide program to improve documentation

usability by implementing a customer partnership program to

ensure that the documentation met the audience requirements.

This included developing a list of key customers who were

interested in providing feedback on a regular basis.

. Rewrote the ISO9000 procedures for documentation development

for an ISO audit.

. Developed training videos on new products for the sales, channel, and

marketing staff.

Contract Writer/Editor

Mapletree Networks, Inc., Norwood, MA (designer and manufacturer of

Enterprise circuit- and packet-based voice, data and fax network

access and core network infrastructure equipment for OEMs) - June 2002

to July 2002

. Updated product and application programming interface (API)

guides.

Lead Writer

Integral Access, Inc., Chelmsford, MA (manufacturer of integrated

Enterprise voice/data telecommunications equipment that includes a Web-

based management module using Windows NT or UNIX) - June 1999 to May

2002

Publications and On-line Help

. Planned and delivered a documentation suite for the installation and

configuration of the web-based management module along with

installation guides for the hardware boards.

. Saved $120K by moving training development in-house for the Customer

Service and Sales Department.

. Was part of a team who produced a value proposition for the product

line.

. Reduced customer support calls by 25% and improved customer

satisfaction by implementing a usability test program using in-house

and outside customers as a resource.

. Provided usability recommendations for the management application and

hardware labeling.

. Developed product training courses for training staff. Audited courses

and implemented improvements for customer training. Customer training

received a feedback rating of 4.85 out of 5 from customers.

Lead Writer

NETsilicon, Inc., Waltham, MA (manufacturer of an embedded networking

chip (system-on-chip) and software

development kit (SDK)) - August 1998 to June 1999

. Developed a documentation suite for the embedded networking

chip which included API documentation.

. Managed the manufacturing documentation control system,

improving its ability to meet the needs of in-house

customers.

Lead Writer

Digital Products, Inc./Osicom Technologies, Inc., Waltham, MA

(manufacturer of print and remote access server and router products) -

June 1987 to August 1998

Resume of John C. Thompson

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. Performed project management and documentation control duties

for OEM client product lines.

. Implemented a customer feedback program that improved the

documentation quality so that it was the highest rank

function within the company by all customers. Reached a

metric of 4.87 out of 5.0 (Excellent).

. Developed and delivered the documentation/training deliverables

program for all Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) customers.

Worked directly with customers to ensure that the documentation and

training deliverables all met their company standards and quality.

This effort contributed revenue to the overall department budget.

. Served as an auditor whose duties included writing standard

operating procedures (SOPs) for all departments including

manufacturing and engineering for ISO9000 certification.

Principal Writer

Phoenix Technologies Ltd., Norwood, MA (developed system software and

software tools) - June 1985 to June 1987

. Wrote developer's specifications for the BIOS platformware.

Also wrote user, installation, training, features, and

reference guides for a set of software programming tools

(including C and C

Senior Technical Writer/Editor

Index Technology Corporation, Cambridge, MA - December 1984 to June

1985

. Wrote a user manual for a systems analyst workbench, and,

developed a layout for the entire manual suite.

Assistant Project Manager

Information Mapping, Inc., Waltham, MA - October 1982 to December 1984

. Was lead writer on projects for telecommunications customers.

. Contributed to updating the standards for the Information Mapping

methodologies.

Contracts: Block Financial Corporation, Cambridge, MA (September 1994 to

December 1999) Updated the IRS and state tax instructions using

Microsoft FrontPage. Served as team leader for the IRS

instructions and coordinating the work of other contractors.

Interactive Supercomputing, Inc, Waltham, MA (September 2005 to

January 2008) Updated and wrote documentation for an application

that accelerates the results for scientists, engineers and

analysts using high performance computing resources. This

application supported MATLAB and Python. Also worked with

marketing and sales to develop a library of videos for pre-

sales.

Education: Northeastern University, Boston, MA

. Courses in both graphic design and technical writing/editing

. Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism, minor in Business;

Member of Society of Professional Journalists, serving as

President and Vice President.

Awards Society of Technical Communications Award 2004

Conferences: Spoke at Content Management Strategies/DITA North America

Conference 2007 - "Deliver Information Targeted At Your

Audience"; Provided the same presentation for writing groups at

Motorola and Society of Technical Communications Denver chapter.

Presented at the Society of Technical Communications, New England

Chapter, May 2009- "How to improve customer satisfaction with

the use of video-based documentation".

Presented at the New England Documentation Managers Group, June 2009,

to present strategies I used to improve customer satisfaction

for both product usability and training.

Certifications: Certified as an ISO9000 auditor, February 1996.

References: Upon request

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