managing effective documenation effectively
TRANSCRIPT
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MANAGING EFFECTIVE DOCUMENTATION
EFFECTIVELY
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Customers
Engineers
New Team MembersTroubleshooting
Known Issues
Errors
Processes
Best Practices
Instructions
Implementation Guides
QA
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LIFECYCLE OF EFFECTIVE DOCUMENTATION
Outline
Organize
Draft
ReviseUpdate
EditBrainstorm
Review
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IMPORTANCE OF DOCUMENTATION
• Standardize processes
• Eliminate downtime by creating centralized knowledge
• Accelerate customer service with valuable instructions and guides
• Minimize the time spent researching common issues and questions
• Encourage participation among teams
• Promote effect project management
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COMMON PITFALLS
• Too much time spent documenting
• Not enough time spent documenting
• No centralized “go to” locations for answers
• Readability
• Outdated, incomplete, or ineffective
• Unorganized or loosely-structured
• Low visibility, non-effective
• High price for downtime
• Vague, unclear or inaccurate instructions
• Accessibility
• Requires too much maintenance to update
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TOPICS FOR DOCUMENTATION• Internal instructions and manuals
• Troubleshooting / flow charts
• Customer-facing manuals
• FAQs, forums, knowledge base
• Common questions, known issues
• Benchmark research projects
• Bugs, release information
• Reference guides
What do we need to document?
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USING SOFTWARE TO LEVERAGE YOUR WORKFLOW
• Brainstorm and organize thoughts using an outliner or flow chart
• Create a bucket for new ideas, issues, questions, and requests for additional documentation
• Use a database to collaborate on ideas or initial information
• Find an application that allows the content producer to easily organize, draft, revise documents
• Create a centralized landing location for documentation ready for release
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IMPORTANT THINGS TO CONSIDER
• Versioning
• Simultaneous editing
• A powerful search engine
• Chart & graph functionalities
• Customization
• Code editing & formatting
• Ability to sort by categories and add tags
• Location for feedback
• Portability & multi-platform
• Permissions
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REFINE DOCUMENTATION BASED ON AUDIENCE
• Customers?
• Internal use?
• Level of expertise
• Purpose
• Readability
• Atmosphere
• Ease of access
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GUIDELINES
• Updating documentation should be an ongoing process
• Reviewing documentation should occur periodically
• Ideas and needs for new documentation should be processed often
•Documentation should be integrated directly with engineering departements
• Each type of document should be standardized
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WORKFLOW FOR THE CONTENT PRODUCER
Benchmark
Inbox
File
DraftRevisit
ReviseSpecialize
Categorize
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FEEDBACK!
•While the documenting process is structured, the ability to pose new ideas, questions, and issues should be easy
•Quality, not quantity
• Integrate customers, staff, and other departments to actively engage in promoting better documentation
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