Hello JoAnn,
Thank you very much for proposing to bring your lights on the matter. I’ve actually been taught the good practices at university (minimalism and topic-oriented writing, by M.L. Flacke) and read a great deal of papers (including your book Managing your documentation projects, 2006 edition), but I’m rather looking for feedback in semiconductors or a similar industry. Not that I consider the semiconductors industry as an exception in terms of content management, but given this SC is dedicated to it and it has its specificities, focusing the discussions on these would certainly be very helpful.
Sessions take place every 2 weeks, the next being next Wednesday at 11 am ET (NYC time). I proposed to use this session because with Bob Beims away, I thought it would be a pity to waste an opportunity to get things done. By the way, if by your presence you would also remind the SC members that we’re having very interesting discussions during these sessions, that would be fantastic.
Best regards,
Colin
From: JoAnn Hackos [mailto:joann.hackos@comtech-serv.com]
Sent: Friday, September 09, 2011 6:22 PM
To: Colin Maudry; Semiconductor Information Design Subcommittee
Subject: RE: Training authors for reuse and properly distributing the roles
Hi Colin et al.
I’d be happy to talk about training authors and new roles. Over the years of training people to work with topic-oriented authoring, we’ve developed techniques that work well and seem to make a difference.
Migrating existing content, even if it is sliced up into topics doesn’t really prepare anyone in a team for the new roles. It’s important to think beyond tools and consider the process changes and authoring changes that must take place for a project to be successful. Content reuse doesn’t come automatically. In fact, many authors will resist because it’s “not quite right” or “takes too much time.”
I don’t know when the next telecon is scheduled. I’m out of the country a lot in the coming weeks, so if you’d like me to introduce this discussion, let me know about the dates and we’ll see what works.
Best regards,
JoAnn
JoAnn T. Hackos, PhD
President
Comtech Services Inc.
710 Kipling Street, Suite 400
Denver, CO 80215
joann.hackos@comtech-serv.com
skype joannhackos
From: Colin Maudry [mailto:colin.maudry@nxp.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2011 10:45 AM
To: Semiconductor Information Design Subcommittee
Subject: [dita-sidsc] Training authors for reuse and properly distributing the roles
Hello SIDSC folks,
I would like the next teleconference to take place to share experience on content reuse.
At NXP, we finally went live with a great deal of content. It was migrated so we didn't have to bother much about cross map reuse. We will organize training sessions for authors, and I am confident the tooling won't be the toughest part as they're used to use various tools. I'm more worried about the concepts around topic oriented editing and proper reuse to document ICs and groups of products.
I have already a pretty good idea of how it should be done: the product features and how they're are inherited within the product range should tell us how topics should be reused across product documentation. This is the nice theory.
But what is the best way to share this vision with authors who have worked for years in Framemaker with a document-oriented approach (data sheets, application notes, etc.)? Most of them have already understood the concept of maps and topics, but making them do the connection with their daily work in another story.
Or should they simply keep authoring, while an information architect would take care of properly managing the maps and topic references?
I consequently suggest we use next session to debate on the following questions:
· How to train authors to topic oriented writing?
· How to distribute the roles? Should authors write AND manage map references? Is an information architect necessary to maintain the content structure, while the authors only edit the topics?
I’ve already read papers on the matter, but they were always too broad, never applied to the management of IC technical documentation.
In the poll set up by Bob Beims, I proposed to chair the next call, on Wednesday September 14th. If you have input for these questions or would be interested in hearing what is said, don’t forget to vote!
Best regards,
Colin Maudry
Product Data Analyst and DITA Implementer
NXP Semiconductors www.nxp.com
High Tech Campus 60, room 4.406, 5656 AG Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Tel: +31 40 27 25833 Mobile: +31 646 53 94 33 colin.maudry@nxp.com