Jim Ball

Owner

During my 35 years in industry, I worked my way up from running machines, to technical support roles, and then into middle management. My experience in various roles, and working closely with many more, has given me intensive exposure to many different perspectives.

I spent many years preparing complex technical quotations for an automation company that provided custom-engineered manufacturing cells, and then leading that quotation team. These quotations included many different components, and my quotation team was the hub of all this activity.

Because of this experience, I can easily “put myself in other people’s shoes” and work with them effectively, even though I am not an expert in their areas.

Coordinating the diverse elements of a project from various people in many different roles, and producing a cogent quotation package, depends on intense logical evaluation combined with effective communication. A detailed mindset and effective communication throughout the entire process are critical.

Another key to success is the philosophy of “The Universal Customer.” Everyone is my customer. Because in addition to providing information I need, everyone is also consuming the information I produce.

In 2022, I decided to go into business for myself, and help organizations with those documentation tasks that are important, but that they seldom have time for. Documentation is not just writing. In fact, very little of the effort is in the writing. It is mostly exploring the subject at hand, asking the right questions and helping the consumers of the documentation find the right path. I will write these documents for you, but most of the value is in this discovery process.

Communication is the vehicle for the discovery process. It is important to meet people where they are, and understand their motivations, strengths, needs and challenges. Communication between departments and individuals must be calibrated to get their attention and help them see why and how an initiative will benefit them.

Too often, people talk at each other without really communicating. The documentation process, in combination with a comprehensive perspective, provides a framework for effective communication.

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
– George Bernard Shaw

“Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”
– Stephen Covey