Be Part of the Change – The New Age of Documentation
January 26th, 2009 by jpondHi – Julia Pond here! I’m excited to be here at WebTrends and working with all the customers as a member of the documentation team. The documentation team is exploring new methods of information management and delivery—specifically, a topic-based, rather than a book-based, architecture that will allow us to deliver the right type and amount of information to a variety of task contexts. Using the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA), an XML standard, we will be deploying more information online, as well as exploring ways to develop custom guides (for verticals and specific engagements).
My role on the WebTrends documentation team includes incorporating these newer technologies and practices into documentation workflow, to optimize information delivery and save you time, developing product information that:
· Reflects and supports your tasks
· Is available in the task context in the type and amount you need (no more, no less)
Instead of collecting feedback on the documentation after a release, we’d like to involve you as much as we can (or you’d like) in up-front information design and planning activities. By adopting a research-based methodology and getting your answers to questions such as:
· What were you thinking as you used the product to do that task?
· What information did you need and when?
· What words do you use to describe your work and artifacts?
· How do you categorize these words?
With this information, and an XML-based workflow, we can design and deliver small, tailored, and “mobile” pieces of information that support your tasks. This opens us up to other possibilities with XML that could include combining user content with product documentation. We hope to relegate PDF to a secondary format (available for those with the time and inclination to browse the library), focusing first on making information work for you.
If you are interested in participating in information design activities, please send me an email julia.pond@webtrends.com or comment below. Thanks!
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January 26th, 2009 at 7:02 am
Count me in! I’ve been implementing WT for 5 years, and God knows how many times I wished something had been clearly documented!
January 26th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
Thanks, Jacques! If you have specific gripes or suggestions, please feel free to send them along directly to documentation@webtrends.com.
Why not send us a list of the last five times you wanted clearer information? We’d love to have this information to help prioritize future docs updates!
January 28th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Sounds like a very big undertaking … developing a taxonomy then fitting existing content to the taxonomy. Or does this mean all new content? Whew. Good goals; everybody definitely wants documentation to reflect and support their tasks.
February 2nd, 2009 at 9:41 am
This is good news. There’s a lot of power tucked away in WT with horrible documentation that will never hint at such power.
Thanks for the email link for suggestions, I will be using it I’m sure.
February 5th, 2009 at 8:13 am
I’ve been challenged by somebody to say more of what I really mean.
I’m worried that this is yet another “let’s start all over with the latest concepts in [this time, information organization] and more or less abandon what we’ve done, including a backlog of feedback and notes from the last few years.”
I’m worried that it sounds like the people doing the documentation are going to research us; in other words, they don’t know the product and are not in the profession. The usual result for this approach is mediocre, as well as “??? !!!” when the actual users see it.
I’m worried that the terms and concepts already in the product will get new names, following the tradition of WebTrends constantly renaming and renumbering their entire product system. I’m concerned that these new names will happen in order to fit the new framework, NOT because the old names don’t work.
I’m worried that nothing will be done soon, when there is so much low hanging fruit. That it will all come out as a big blob’o’stuff with no transition. Late.
I’m worried that nobody will recognize that there already is a documentation structure that needs to be maintained and improved, but not restructured. That structure is the setup screens and the report screens. They are truly low hanging fruit. The setup screens need far better documentation, i.e. explanation and clarity. The Help screens behind the setup screens need the same thing, but with more details and technicality, and pointers elsewhere. The reports need somebody really knowledgeable to revamp the help cards.
I’m worried that nobody will notice the glossary, which hasn’t been updated in years, seems like. Related to the help cards, which contain chunks of glossary, the glossary needs to be expanded to include all the needed terms, and the definitions need to be clearer, wiser, and have available extra depth (technical details … limits, dependencies, names of VH parameters, etc).
I’m worried that changes won’t be called out. Time and again I’ve had to compare old and new versions of manuals to each other, page by page, to figure out what’s changed. Some of what I’ve discovered has been shocking, and definitely worth highlighting. I’ve heard promises for years that this stealth change process will go away.
There. You asked for it, you know who you are. You heard me say most of these points and I heard the points you said. Now it’s out, branding me as a troublemaker, again, and not you!
February 9th, 2009 at 7:22 am
Julia, will you be at Engage? Available for discussion and further details about this? I think that would be really interesting and would help us help you. I don’t even know where to start on the question of breaking down work into tasks, much less what words are used in the process! A discussion would be great.
February 9th, 2009 at 10:28 am
I’m trying to arrange that. I’d be doing a card sort (see http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/card_sorting_a_definitive_guide) and would love to meet you and have you participate. I plan to also have a mechanism for capturing more general customer feedback and ideas.
There is a lot of potential here at WebTrends for applying these information architecture techniques, and I am excited about connecting with customers in that domain. You’re right–it’s a huge undertaking but this company is more than worth it!