Former Pubs Manager

VMware and Infinity Financial

For more than ten years, I've counted on Eric to unravel complex software products so that customers can understand them quickly. Eric's knack for project management means that he can run his projects independently. On the projects we've done together, he's quickly developed good working relationships with the engineers and product managers/architects, uncovering and developing new sources of information.

Eric's stand-out project for me was his work to document the APIs for our suite of security tools and establish the automated framework to ensure the documentation would remain up to date in subsequent releases. In this project, a big part of Eric's success was his combination of great technical chops with his ability to coordinate different teams' contributions. On the API doc project, he handled the writing to bring the documentation up to a high standard, and, just as importantly, he got the engineering team in the habit of writing and updating the API doc content. Finally, he worked with the build team to make document generation part of the normal build process, and he convinced product managers make time to review the documentation on a regular schedule.

On projects where Eric is the primary author, he has a knack for taking a sparsely written set of reference documentation, finding the gaps, and filling them. On another project he did for me, an anti-malware SDK project, he created a readable, navigable set of documents that made sense out of our complex set of tools. Because it was an anti-malware project, he was documenting tools that had to be able to run in disparate host environments and able to work with partners' products in each environment. Both our partners and our hard-to-please veteran support engineer were very happy with the documents Eric produced.

For tough documentation projects, Eric is a professional who can come up with a realistic plan and deliver clear, readable docs on time.

Former Pubs Manager

Ooyala and BEA Systems

Eric Ivory is a number one draft pick for any organization. I've hired him at several companies and would do so again instantly. He excels at delivering top-notch documentation, improving documentation systems, and is a consummate professional.

Former Project Manager

Sun Microsystems

I had the pleasure of working with Eric on one major project at Sun and was continually impressed by his initiative, punctuality and care he put into his projects. Even as a non Sun employee he made it his business to learn every aspect of Sun's business that was even tangentially relevant to the work and constantly suggested ways to improve the work. Outstanding.

Former Pubs Manager

Oracle

Eric did exemplary work for my team. He's technically knowledgeable, fast, accurate, clear, and almost best of all, no-maintenance. I know a lot of Tech Writers, but none better. I've since placed him on a number of contracts, and he's never disappointed. In my experience, hiring Eric is as close to a guarantee as you can get.

Fellow Technical Writer

You can't find anyone better. We've worked as fellow writers several times, starting with our award-winning books at Slate. And whenever I'm managing a project, I try to get Eric onto my team. Asking Eric to do a doc project is like pushing a button on a well-oiled machine. Whatever results you describe, expect them to pop out on cue without much further intervention. Eric is the consummate pro!