I’m Charles Johnston

That means I can help you chart a course that will avoid them. And to you, that means both savings and a better chance of meeting your goals on time.

I work on-site and have work permits for the EU and EEA countries, Australia and New Zealand. I can also work as your sparring partner on a fixed-budget basis via teleconferencing.

My qualifications? See here for more

"An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field." - Nobel physicist Niels Bohr.

Improving documentation processes is what I do - my expertise.

Typically only approx. 20% of documentation time is spent on value-addition (content creation). Most time is spent on rework and handling documents - tasks that can either be reduced, or automated, or even outsourced.

My objective is to increase the percentage of time spent on value addition to >70%.

I offer over 25 years of experience working on some of the largest documentation projects in Europe, with over 11 years as either a documentation line manager or documentation project manager.

Combine managerial overview with hands-on expertise…

During that time I have experienced enough mistakes and dead-ends to help steer your project around the many pitfalls along the way - resulting in reduced costs and a better chance of meeting your goals on time.

Some projects delivered:

• Ensured documentation compliance in medical engineering company following an FDA warning letter. This involved analyzing processes, rationalizing procedures, implementing IT solutions and documenting SOPs in QA-system for audit control for FDA compliance.
• Implemented MS Project/Enterprise MSP planning of documentation production - 700+ version-controlled documents.
• Defined strategy for implementation of electronic documentation management (EDMS) for technical documentation.
• Outsourcing of documentation and translation (China and India).
• Rationalized processes for FDA part 11 compliant medical labeling.
• Designed documentation library for new wind turbine – 340+ documents and spare parts list (50,000+ items), including ensuring documentation compliance with Machinery Directive, EU Declaration of Conformity etc. (planning documentation deliverables to support certification).
• Designed documentation library for software product.
• Implemented computer-aided translation for 26 languages.
• Implemented automatic documentation generation for source code and Oracle database.
• Implemented best-practice documentation (productivity gains > 400%).
• SEO - search engine optimization - increased website traffic by over 300%.
• Project manager for 25+ technical writers for all documentation.
• Wrote API, database and customization documentation for banking system.

More details about me in LinkedIn

You can find my CV at LinkedIn here.

Contact

See Contact.