Interview with Dick Weisinger, Author of Alfresco 3 Records Management

Dick Weisinger is the author of our recently published
Alfresco 3 Records Management which helps you comply with regulations and secure your organization’s records with Alfresco Records Management.

Dick Weisinger is a software technologist with 20 years experience in the areas of Content, Document and Image Management. His career spans many projects and organizations and he has contributed to software solutions used for health care, finance, engineering, discrete manufacturing, aerospace, defense and research applications. He is a regular contributor to the Formtek blog at http://www.formtek.com/blog on topics that include ECM, SaaS, Open Source, SOA and New Technology. Dick earned a Masters of Engineering Science in Operations Research from the University of California at Berkeley and a Masters of Engineering Science from the Johns Hopkins University. Dick is Vice President and Chief Technologist at Formtek, Inc.

He currently contributes to the following blogs:
http://keytocontent.blogspot.com
http://formtek.com/blog

Packt: Your book is published now. How is the feeling of being a published author?

Dick: It is a great feeling. This was my first go at writing a book. I’ll admit that I may initially have underestimated the number of hours that it would need to complete it, but I think that the ultimate satisfaction that I’ve gotten from being able to take the book from just a concept to a final product certainly makes the whole effort very worthwhile. I’m also very happy to have been able to have made this contribution to the Alfresco community.

Packt: Our authors usually have full-time jobs whilst writing for us. Was this the case for you and how did you approach managing your time?

Dick: Yes. I needed to spend quite a lot of late nights and weekend hours working on the book. But I found that I was able to balance my time spent on the book with the natural cycle of project activities at my work. When projects at work were at their peak I wasn’t able to devote as much time to the book, but when things were a bit slower, I found that I could focus more time on writing.

Packt: Whilst writing your book, did you find that it overshadowed personal life in any way? How did you deal with this?

Dick: Writing a book requires a significant amount of time, so it is really inevitable that there will be less time available for other activities. That’s definitely a factor that anyone who is thinking of writing a book should fully consider. As you alluded to in the previous question, time management is very important. When working on the book I found that I worked best when I scheduled fixed blocks of time for writing during which there would be no interruptions. And I was flexible enough so that on the days when I was making good progress I would keep with it for longer than I had originally scheduled.

Packt: Do you have any tips for other authors, or tricks that you learnt whilst writing, that you'd like to share?

Dick: I would recommend that one thing new Packt authors do before starting out is to have a thorough understanding of the content of the author packet which Packt provides. The packet is quite good and includes pre-defined Microsoft Word styles and chapter templates. Take the time to understand how the styles work and what types of styles are available. Also review how other Packt books are written. When you have a good understanding of the formula for how the book and the chapters will be put together, the writing process becomes clearer and much easier, and you’ll ultimately end up saving time by getting the style and layout right the first time.

Packt: How did you find the overall experience of writing your book for Packt?

Dick: I was generally quite pleased with the whole experience. I also felt that I gained a better appreciation for the whole process of producing a book. As the book’s author, I had control over most of the book’s content, but I came to realize that there are a whole cast of contributors involved in the process of creating the book, ranging from the acquisition editor to the production director, technical editors and reviewers.

Packt: During the writing process, did you come across any issues/ difficulties that affected your writing and how did you overcome these?

Dick: Overall there were no major hurdles that I encountered while writing the book. Although I did have a big concern about how relevant the content of the book would be by the time it was published. Open Source software changes quickly and the technology that I was writing about in the book was no exception. Since the average cycle for writing a book from start to finish takes about ten months and the Open Source cycle for new releases is about every six months, I was concerned that by the time the book was published that some of the content would be obsolete. That concern actually proved to be a good motivator for me and I was able to finish the book in about eight months.

Packt: How did Packt’s Acquisition Editors help you - what kind of things did they help you with and how did they support you throughout the writing process?

Dick: I received good support from the Packt acquisition editor for this book, Steven Wilding, especially on the start-up of the project. Steven provided a clear idea of what would be expected of me and he worked with me in developing the outline for the book’s chapters. Once the project was underway I had less interaction with him and instead communicated more regularly with the technical editors and reviewer until the completion of the project.

Packt: What projects, if any, are you working on at the moment?

Dick: The Packt book which I authored was about one module of the Open Source Alfresco software. I am quite actively involved in working on content and data management projects, and I frequently use Alfresco as a tool and platform for building solutions in those areas. I’ve also been very active using the CMIS (Content Management Interoperability Services) REST based API in building repository agnostic content solutions.

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