adobe key trends in technical communication at megacomm

© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

Key Trends in Technical CommunicationSaibal Bhattacharjee | Product Marketing Manager, Adobe Systems Inc. saibal@adobe.com

© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

There are no unreachable goals. Only underpowered tools!Are you using the right tool for technical writing?

www.douwriteright.com

© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

Six Key Trends In Technical Communication - 2013

3

© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

Trend 1: Movement From Unstructured To Structured Authoring

42006 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved.

Technical Content Inherently Has Structure

Chapter Title

Topic Title

Concept Title

Paragraph

Graphic

Caption

FROM LONG DOCUMENTS

2006 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved.

Chapter Title

Topic Title

Concept Title

Paragraph

Graphic

Caption

Structure is More Than Just “Flat”

ChapterChapter

TitleTitle

TopicTopic

TitleTitle

ConceptConcept

TitleTitle

PgphPgph

TO TOPICS AND STRUCTURE/DITA

Globalization opening up new

markets in emerging economies

Need to produce technical content in

multiple new languages

Increasing Localization Costs

Unstructured to Structured, XML

and DITA

Cost-Effective Efficiency. Easily Reusable Content. Automating Repetitive Tasks.

© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

Trend 2: Device Explosion Necessitating Multi-Screen, Multi-Channel Publishing

5

© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

Trend 3: Easily Searchable, Highly Personalized Content

6

Yesterday Today

© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

Trend 4: Increasing Demand For Rich Media In Technical Communication

7

© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

Trend 5: Collaborative Content Creation, “Content Curation”

8

© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

Trend 6: Single Sourcing Of Technical Documentation And Training Content

9

© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

Key Considerations For The Future

10

© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

User-generated Content Revolution: Everyone is a Publisher!

11

© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

Key Elements of Tomorrow’s “Content Strategy”

12

© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

“Content Strategy” is about getting content…

13

The Right Sources

The Right Platform

To The Right People

At The Right Time

Through The Right Channel

In The Right Format

In The Right Version

In The Right Language

In The Right Media

From

On

© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

What Does This Mean For Us Technical Writers?

14

© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

Implication 1: “Connect” With Your Users

15

15

Consumers want technical content to be…Easily accessible, available

anytime anywhere Multichannel, multi-screen publishing

Quickly searchable SEO, metadata tagging

Dynamic and interactive in nature Rich media (graphics, demos, videos)

Highly personalized Usage pattern analysis, content optimization

Easily consumable Effective minimum dosage

Immediately actionable Clear, concise guidance for desired results

Open to end-user feedback/comment/rating/input User-generated content

What this means for Technical Communicators…

© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

Implication 2: Wear Many “Hats”

16

Today, technical writers need to keep several ‘hats’ handy: Technical writer Technical trainer Information architect User experience designer Usability expert User interface designer Technical translator Technical illustrator

© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

Implication 3: Think in terms of “ROI”

17

Today, technical writers need to think in terms of delivering ‘concrete’ business value:

Measure performance by tracking defined metrics Track and analyze content usage and consumption patterns for

optimization (Pareto Principle, the 80 – 20 Rule)

%age increase in customer satisfaction score %age increase in product/service revenue %age decrease in volume of inbound calls to customer

support %age decrease in time taken to resolve customer issues by

support

© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

Key Take-Away

18

Start thinking ‘Business

Value’

© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

Questions

19

© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

There are no unreachable goals. Only underpowered tools!Are you using the right tool for technical writing?

www.douwriteright.com

© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.