I’ve been a good little technical communicator all year. At least I think I have. If I’m on Santa’s Nice list and not his Naughty list, this is what I hope he’ll bring:
- A good understanding of who my readers are
- User stories or scenarios that accurately describe the tasks my readers are trying to do
- SMEs who take documentation seriously and make themselves available
- A doc plan that spells out what everyone expects of me — and what I can expect from them
- Managers who understand that good technical communication is good for the bottom line
- Tools that let me create and update content, store content, and (especially) publish content to different formats without turning myself into a contortionist
- A good editor
Here are some things I do not want to find in my stocking:
- A brand new release of the authoring software, with major changes to the user interface, right in the middle of a project
- Overpromising by upper management: “Sure, we can ship all of those features by next month”
- Silos that make it hard, if not impossible, to develop content collaboratively
- Last-minute translation requirements (and come to think of it, last-minute anything)
What’s on your Tech Comm holiday wish list?
Leading Technical Communication 
I like this Larry. Start a Twitter # for it!
I’ll add “management that understands what you do and supports your work.”
(Tried to do this earlier but WP ate my comment!)