FYI: Some interesting notes from a panel discussion on DITA user groups

["Dr. Stanley Doherty" <stan@modularwriting.com>]

Hi --

The Boston DITA Users Group hosted a panel this past week of US and European DITA user groups. It was another of those rare opportunities to get a feel for DITA adoption across regions. 

I figured that the notes were worth sharing . . . 

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Meeting Notes: 05-13-2020 Boston DITA UG panel on DITA user groups
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Panelists:
  1. DITA User Group leads:
     - Portland/PDX:    Marya Devoto
     - Silicon Valley:  Scott Prentice
     - Los Angeles:     Mark Giffin
     - Central Texas:   Joe Storbeck
     - Germany:         Magda Caloian
     - Boston:          Bob Johnson
  2. Documentation Leads roundtable:
     - Colorado (Oberon): Scott Youngblom

A. How are things going with your UG?

   1. Finding a meeting place can be a challenge. LA is a BIG
      area, so there is no convenient location that would 
      satisfy everyone's needs. 

   2. Evening meetings can be a challenge. In-person meetings
      in the evening tend to draw from people located in the
      immediate proximity of the meeting place. 

   3. In larger towns, high-tech offices may not be located
      near the center of town. In the LA area, for example, 
      there is more high-tech concentrated toward the south
      -- Orange County.

   4. As DITA matures and becomes part of a company's overall
      content strategy, it become less relevant as a technology
      in and of itself. 
      - It becomes more of an underlying transport mechanism.
      - It becomes more relevant to IAs and toolsmiths trying
        to work all the integration issues with other components
        in the company infrastructure.
      - This is a good sign. It is maturing beyond cult status. 
 
   5. There is a perception that DITA is still cool?
      - Yes and no -- certainly not as cool as Markdown.

   6. We see DITA less frequently as the ONLY way a company 
      develops and publishes its content. More often DITA is 
      a major, but not exclusive, component in a suite of
      architectures and tools.

   7. The DITA Facebook group is a good way to reach out to
      existing and new DITA users. 
 
   8. A higher percentage of the DITA community now knows the basics,
      so the opportunities to offer "compelling" user group
      presentations on those basics are fewer. 

   9. What's missing is the mid-tier content:
      - We have lots of DITA 101 resources.
      - We have lots of Ph.D. resources (mostly via presentations
        at conferences). 
      - Not a lot of content about best practices AFTER a group 
        has implemented DITA out of the box.
        > How do we strategize about what content goes best in 
          which map level?
        > Should all docs be in one repo or separated by product line?
        > How do I use DITA to solve problem-1, problem-2, or 
          problem-3.  
 
   10. There had been a tacit assumption that DITA could solve any 
       content development problem , but we now know that to not
       true. What we're missing is a collective sense of the problems
       DITA solves and the ones at which it fails. User groups
       focusing exclusively on DITA and not DITA interoperability
       with other solutions are pushing a partial solution for 
       most companies.   
       
   11. Getting back to understanding which business problems DITA 
       solves handily would be important.
       - Reducing localization costs.
       - Automating workflows.
       - Automating reviews.
       - Scaling content development and publication.

   12. We need to tie these business problems solved by DITA back
       to "big picture" business goals:
       - Productivity
       - Revenue streams
       - Customer experience / satisfaction

   13. Over several years, we see a maturation in the types of topics
       and activities that work for some user groups:
       - Year-1: Topics of interest to people learning DITA
                 Pain points.
       - Year-2+: Shared experiences in working with DITA.
         > Build a demo project in GitHub
         > Use sample content to illustrate common problems and 
           solutions
         > Draw participation from managers, writers, and XML 
           developers. 
       Having some DITA code to kick around is great. 
       - https://github.com/dita-users/demo-project
       - https://wiki.oasis-open.org/dita-adoption/ditaSourceSets
       

   14. The DITA Adoption TC is ALWAYS looking to partner up with 
       groups to develop and promote best practices.
       - The Adoption TC is currently developing a user guide to 
         help people in their migration and adoption. 
       - Feedback and participation from the user community is 
         always needed. 
       - dita-adoption@lists.oasis-open.org

   15. The Boston group does quite a bit of multi-channel outreach:
       - Web site (BostonDITA.org)
       - Emails (members@BostonDITA.org, admin@BostonDITA.org)
       - LinkedIn (Boston DITA User's Group, https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8689266/)
       - Twitter (@BostonDITA)

   16. Having a focus on developing local communities is important:
       - Support for job seekers
       - Support for hiring managers
       - Mentoring / expertise sharing

   17. Does any one regional user group have sufficient resources and 
       members to sustain active participation? 
       - Probably not. 
       
   18. Would some collaboration of regional and national/international user
       groups provide resources and momentum for everyone involved?
       - Yes. Broad support. 

B. Next steps:

   1. Circulate notes from the panel discussion.

   2. Boston DITA (Bob) to organize a follow-up meeting to continue
      the discussion about a matrixed regional and national/international
      user group.