New Member Profile: Gary A. Kopf

Direction: Can you briefly describe your business background?

Gary: I have over forty years of experience in the Information Technology field, in both technical and managerial roles, mostly in the banking sector. Some of this has been as an employee, and some as owner/operator. My skills include both information technology (programming, etc.) and technical communication. I am currently running a small consulting company, ROK Southwest, Inc., specializing in converting clients’ policies and procedures to online help systems (www.policy-procedure-document-conversion.com).

Direction: Tell us about your work - responsibilities, challenges.

Gary: There are two areas:

1. Marketing:

The interesting thing is that my potential clients typically do not realize that they can deliver incredibly effective and highly accessible policies and procedures to their employees without investing in technology and without mastering radically new techniques. I guess that sounds like a sales pitch, but the point is that writing and publishing policies and procedures should be simple, something that the business unit subject matter experts can handle, and my research and professional offerings follow from that.

2. Execution:

I spend a great deal of my time "training" my clients on a couple of very specific things: technical writing style as a tool to increase comprehension and the best way to organize information, both to increase comprehension and support rapid location of specific information.

Direction: Tell us about your audience.

Gary: I market to line-of-business managers, especially those that are interested in being self-sufficient in their P&P efforts and want to avoid unnecessary technology. A "typical" client is the manager of a customer contact center. These prospects are not professional technical writers or information engineers, but are willing to learn.

Direction: What do you like most about your job?

Gary: Of course, I like the freedom of being self-employed. But most of all I like the satisfaction of seeing a client dramatically improve their productivity as a result of deploying really well-done and easily maintained policies and procedures.

I also enjoy the opportunity/requirement to do research in areas that are relevant to communicating business process knowledge, and applying this research in practical ways for my clients and anyone else that is interested. I have just started a non-commercial community web site to share this type of information (www.policy-procedure-manual.com).

Direction: What advice can you give to someone who wants to get into P&P documentation?

Gary: Study cognitive psychology and reading comprehension. The key is to communicate effectively. Nothing else really matters. Well, cost and simplicity also matter. Don’t get hung up on whiz-bang technology.

Direction: What’s the biggest P&P challenge that you face in your current environment?

Gary: Since my contracts are short-term and I ultimately leave my clients to manage their documentation on their own, my biggest challenge is "re-training" my clients’ subject matter experts to communicate clearly and avoid distracting or misdirecting their readers.

Direction: Tell us a bit of personal information about you - e.g., hobbies, where you live, your family, or other information to help us get to know you.

Gary: I "retired" to the high desert just outside of Las Cruces, New Mexico two years ago in order to form this new consulting company and enjoy the climate and wide open spaces. Prior to that I lived in Arlington, Virginia for twenty years. Running a consulting company and supplementing that with continual research leaves no time for hobbies.

My three children live in Michigan and Colorado, and all have children of their own. You can actually find out more about my "career" at www.policy-procedure-document-conversion.com/rok-southwest-credentials.html.

You can contact Gary at gary@roksw.com.