Download - FSOSS 2011 Beyond MAN Pages
Overview
My brief bio Involve users throughout life cycle
–Documentation–Usability–Publicity
Technical communication help Delivering a superb user experience
A Reminder…
Project Life Cycle1. Planning2. Design3. Development4. Implementation5. Maintenance
Involve user community (or a representative user) at every stage
Requirements & Planning
Specifications & Design
Construction / Code / Development
Testing
Implementation
Maintenance
Project Life Cycle
Design and Plan Develop (Write) Review & Edit Publish and Maintain
Why documentation?
Users enjoy using the software–Therefore more users
Developers can access the code–Therefore better collaborative
development
Support liabilities are reduced–Therefore lower support needs/costs
= More successful projects!
Open Source Approach
Traditionally, MAN pages, PDFs and printed docs
Now, fluid, collaborative documentation: FAQs, wikis, EPUBs.
Community meshes interests and expertise, covers all the bases
Allows browsing and searching Allows publishing in multiple media
User Focus
Who is the audience?
–End users–Other developers–Multiple audiences–Combination audiences–5W1H (who, what, when, where, why, how)
Task Focus
Task based vs. Feature based Users want to accomplish tasks Developers are enamoured of
features What makes sense in your context?
–End user docs or API?
Social Media
Provide ways to interact with your community
Provide ways for your community to share info
Provide a place for your community to gather
Provide a conversation for the community to participate in
Techwriters
Core competencies– Communication, Localization, Internationalization– Collaboration– Technical affinity
• Self-taught, get quickly up to speed
– User affinity• Put themselves in the user’s place
–Single-sourcing (DITA, DocBook, XML)
–Project management
Techwriters
Core competencies cont.–Writing in plain language–Simplifying complex concepts–Organizing and structuring information–Researching users and software
products– Interviewing SMEs
Techwriters
Join project early Advocate for users Work closely with developers Create documentation
–XML, PDFs, online help, FAQs, etc.
Perform user testing Assist with QA, Customer Support &
Marketing
Paul Frields
Unforgettable Projects
Work really well, transparently Provide excellent user support Have a thriving community Engage users and developers Leverage comments and feedback Continue to improve and prosper
Recap
Develop project to audience NEEDS Clear, concise documentation Good usability (achieve goals) Get the word out – social media Get documentation help if needed Make the project unforgettable
Open Source
A community coming together Many people creating a dialogue
about issues A collective search for solutions Inclusive rather than exclusive Adjusts as necessary on the fly Doesn’t harm established companies,
except where they are too greedy
#Occupy
A community coming together Many people creating a dialogue about issues A collective search for solutions Inclusive rather than exclusive Adjusts as necessary on the fly Doesn’t harm established companies, except where they are too greedy
http://occupyto.org/
Used with permission