Editor’s note: It takes risk to move to a new country where you don’t speak the language. Yet, Hiroshi Morihara comes from a family that had a history of risk taking. Risk taking is essential for innovation. He eventually taught technical writing to engineering students as an adjunct professor. My mother told me in high…
Tag: Document Do or Be Lost
Technical Speak- From the Weak Write Test Mode Saga
“You have excellent PowerPoint skills.” Joe Schutz had requested two slides on Weak Write Test Mode to include in a presentation to his manager. On loan to Joe’s microprocessor design team I reported into him via Doug Guddat who managed the memory design group. Joe had asked me directly for the slides and I delivered….
My First Patent–From the Weak Write Test Mode Saga
Not all great ideas turn into patents; they simply are not novel enough to warrant the effort. Some ideas are so great that a company decides to keep them as a trade secret. The following exchange I had with Greg Taylor instructed me on how to determine if an invention should be patented: “Would other…
Starting in the Middle– A Lesson on Documentation
In early July of 1984 Jim Morris, my manager, stopped by my office and suggested I start writing up my project. I thought it odd to start writing so soon; I had not completed my revisions to the computer program. My project focused on my converting the Grade of Service parameter from a constant…
Of TRS80s, PDP11s and Antennas: My First Technical Document
For an engineer, I’m weird; I like to document. Not sure if the challenge of communicating to others motivates the problem solver in me, or if it’s the yearning for precise language. My Dad certainly instilled the need for precise language in me and my siblings. When we worked on maintaining the family cars he…