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Putting photo albums and technical writing to work for industry Brutsche of Documentation Works combines his experience as a writer, photographer and videographer to document projects from start to finish Kay Cashman PNA Editor-in-Chief
You’ve spent months planning and working a technically challenging project. You’ve come in under budget and on schedule.
Now, you’d like to be able to show others the innovative thinking and versatility it took to get from A to Z. But all you have for documentation is a hodgepodge of snapshots.
You shrug. Who had time to document everything? You and your people were busy getting the job done.
You look down at the project you’re bidding now. You’d sure like to show this prospective client how you did the last project. Toot your horn a little. Show how you met the technical challenges, how you kept a safe, clean workplace, how you held the line on spending.
But who has time for documentation?
The answer? Randy Brutsche of Documentation Works.
Combining his experience as a technical writer, photographer and videographer, the Eagle River resident documents projects from start to finish.
“The sort of documentation I do works for any type of project — a module move to the North Slope, the erection of a communications tower or the construction of a commercial building,” he said. “I’ll go anywhere and document anything.”
Brutsche’s daily wardrobe includes a hard hat, safety glasses and steel toed boots. Along with cameras and recorders, film and tape, and paper and boxes of pens, his backpack always holds a day’s worth of food and water.
As a job progresses, Brutsche takes photos and listens to the people working on it. Sometimes he also videotapes a project, or key aspects of it.
“When I’m finished, my clients have a complete record of everything that happened,” Brutsche said. “When I put together a photo album, I group the photos around detailed, technical captions.”
The benefits to the companies who invest in project documentation are multifold, he said.
Carlile Transportation Services President Harry McDonald agreed.
Brutsche put together several photo albums for Carlile when he documented two module moves from Anchorage to the North Slope. McDonald presented the albums as gifts to the fabrication contractors who built the modules and the oil company operating the field the modules were delivered to.
When asked about having a writer/photographer on board for two 847-mile heavy hauls to the North Slope, McDonald said, “Randy fit in real well with our crew. He’s mechanically minded ... wasn’t afraid to dive in and help out along the way when we needed it. ... He paid attention to the safety rules. ... He stayed from start to finish and even helped gather everything up to get sent back.” Good publicity is side benefit Good publicity for a project is a side benefit to project documentation, Brutsche said. He placed a two-part story about Carlile’s module moves in Petroleum News • Alaska. Transportation Topics, a national publication covering the transportation industry, has also agreed to run a story by Brutsche focusing on the special trailer Carlile uses, a Cozad, 125-ton low boy, built in Stockton, Calif.
Brutsche also produced a 12-page, color, magazine-style narrative for Carlile to use in marketing its services.
“One benefit of project documentation is it provides a company with tools to toot their own horn,” Brutsche said. Safety and operational manuals “One of the proposals I am putting together now is to document how an experienced crew operates a certain plant,” Brutsche said. “The company will use it as part of their training for new hires.”
From his rough field notes, Brutsche has provided finalized and approved text for everything from internal progress reports to annual reports to bids and proposals. Construction, industry background an asset “One of the reasons this work suits me is my background. I’ve done a little bit of everything. I’ve worked all different aspects of residential and commercial construction. I’ve operated heavy equipment. I’ve worked in the automotive repair industry. I’ve always had my hands in the craft trades. I enjoy seeing quality work being done and the people doing it recognize that,” Brustche said.
“In the early 1980s, I went back to school and got a technical writing degree to ease up on the physically demanding work and earn more for my efforts. I eventually put that education to full time use at Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. writing inspection procedures and quality program manuals, then at Petroleum News writing articles on technology and safety in the oil and gas industry.”
“Last spring, with the Carlile module move, I combined all my skills and experience and provided project documentation,” he said.
“The first projects I documented were my own shop projects,” Brutsche said. “Now, I’m doing it full time.”
Editor’s Note: Randy Brutsche can be reached at (907) 694-2371.
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