Lean Technical Communication

Meredith A. Johnson is Associate Professor and Director of the graduate program in Rhetoric and Composition at the University of South Florida where she previously served as the interim director of Professional Writing, Rhetoric, and Technology. She received her Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Composition from Purdue University. Her research appears in journals such as Technical Communication, Technical Communication Quarterly, Computers and Composition: An International Journal, Computers and Composition Online, IEEE: Transactions on Professional Communication, Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy, and enculturation. W. Michele Simmons is Associate Professor of English, faculty affiliate with the Institute for the Environment and Sustainability, and Director of Professional Writing at Miami University. Her research lies at the intersections of civic engagement, research methodologies, user experience, and institutional change. Her publications include Participation and Power: Civic Discourse in Environmental Policy and her research appears in journals such as Technical Communication Quarterly, College Composition and Communication, and The Writing Instructor. Patricia Sullivan is a Professor and Director of the graduate program in Rhetoric and Composition at Purdue University where she previously directed Technical Writing. Recently she has published on emerging technologies, institutional change, mentoring, research methodologies, rhetorical theory, video, and usability/UX.

Acknowledgements

List of Figures

Preface

Part One

Chapter 1: Toward Sustainable Program Innovation








Terms Key to Our Inquiry into Programmatic Work: Disruption, Resilience, Sustainability, and Innovation





Disruption



Resilience and Sustainability



Innovation




On Modeling a Lean Technical Communication Program: The Book’s Plan



Chapter 2: A Model of Lean Technical Communication








Seven Tenets of Lean Technical Communication





Value not Deficit



Innovates and Disrupts



Rooted in Local Needs and Aims at Social Responsibility



Regulates Cost



Engages Sustainability



Promotes Efficiency



Enhances Visibility




Tenets and Tensions: Four Continuums that Frame Programmatic Practices





Standardization/Flexibility



Discipline/Department



Global/Local



Dependency/Autonomy





Chapter 3: On Crafting Lean Change that Endures








Relationships and Pathways for Lean Programmatic Work





Boundary Work as Making



Stewardship as Maintaining




Expand or Face Cuts: A Hypothetical Scenario





Narrative



Analysis: Lean Goals and Pathways at Work in the Video Option




Heuristics for Enacting, Maintaining, and Assessing Lean Change



Figure: The Big Picture—Connecting Tenets, Tensions, Phases, and Cases

Part Two

Chapter 4: Program Classifications. Standards, and Funding Models—An On-the-Ground Case








Florida’s Performance Based Funding Infrastructure



Classifications and Standards as Sites of Resistance



Boundary Objects in the Florida Funding Ecology





Programs of Strategic Emphasis




Critical Interventions Through Boundary Objects





Lean Futures





Chapter 5: Program Facilities and Sustainable Computing Infrastructures—An On-the-Ground Case








Environmental Impacts of IT



Sustainable Computing Infrastructure as Boundary Infrastructure












Standardization/Flexibility



Dependency/Autonomy



Discipline/Department



Global/Local












Lean Futures










Assessing Lean Facilities



Chapter 6: Developing Lean and Sustainable Pedagogy for Sustainable Communities—An On-the-Ground Case








Planning Community-Based Projects: Intersecting Considerations for Sustainable Pedagogy



Lean and Sustainable Pedagogy in the Technical Communication Classroom: Two Projects










Project 1: Writing for the Public



Project 2: Usability and UX



Talking Assessment






Conclusion: Implications of Lean and Sustainable Pedagogies



Chapter 7: By Way of a Conclusion: Toward A Lean and Sustainable Future








Goals of Lean Technical Communication



Lean Innovation and Emerging Technologies
Lean Curricular Structures



Lean Sustainability



Concluding Thoughts



Reference List