For most companies, the content they create is critical to the running of the business. Consider for a moment:

• Policies and procedures – state how the business is to be run, who does what and how. In industries with oversight, such as finance or medical, the business also must show auditors how the company has been running since the last audit. Failure to show this content can result in heavy fines or other bad things.
• Internal product documents – describe how products should work, the thought processes, the solutions, and so on for developing the products sold. Without these documents, a business has no idea how it builds what it builds. It also don’t know why decisions were made to do X rather than Y.
• External product documents – explain how to use the products to the people who purchase the products. If the external documents are not helpful, the business (at best) incurs an unreasonable support cost or (at worst) has a high return rate. Both impact available capital in the business. If the business functions in a regulated industry, it must keep the history of the external documents to show potential auditors how the product was described to work or potentially face large fines.
• Customer support documents – help internal support teams and external customers find a solution to their problems. For expensive internal support teams, quickly finding and understanding how to help a customer gets the customer off the phone and able to move forward. External customers who find a solution on the support site and never call is the ideal, as it costs the company less than pennies per customer.
• Training materials – few staff arrive knowing how the company works, what safety information they need to know, or how the products work. Training is how a company shares it’s tribal knowledge with the new tribe members. Many companies save a great deal of money on their insurance by making sure all new employees are trained in the required safety protocols. If the business needs to train customers on how the products work, the training center is a profit center.
• Marketing collateral – positions the products to the appropriate sales market. Few companies have a product so needed that no advertising is needed to sell the product. Failure to attract customers to the products negatively impacts the business.

Content as a business asset

The groupings above just touch on the broad types of content a business needs to manage. Even a small mom-and-pop store has some of the types of content listed above. For large international companies, the sheer amount of content assets, just as with hardware assets, for example, can be overwhelming.

Best of Breed companies know their business content is an asset that needs to be managed, just like the other assets in the company. Most companies track the computers and cell phones they use, for example. Annually, all the equipment is inventoried to make sure they have what they think they have.

Many companies never think about the business content as a business asset. The content that’s critical to the business is in Word or Powerpoint files or who knows, saved everywhere: on people’s local computers, somewhere on the network, maybe on a Sharepoint site. No one has any idea how much content they have, much less where it all is or what the most recent version might be.

If you ever wondered what Author-it products do, this is what we do. Our products help you manage your business content as the business asset it is.

In other news

We have a new line-up of free webinars coming your way in April and May. We’re really pleased with the offerings and hope you are too.

High on the list of must attends are 2 in particular:

Content Development: Future Trends, Future Solutions
Paul Trotter, CEO of Author-it Software Corporation shares his vision of the future in this hour long event. You’ll leave knowing what trends are and what you need to prepare for now.
April 25 at 4pm Eastern time.  To sign up for this tools-neutral webinar, click here.

What’s New in Author-it 5.5
Additionally, we have several webinars scheduled to show you what’s coming in Author-it 5.5. To see the times and dates, click here.

I, like most geeks, am always happy to learn more about space programs. Recently several friends went to Houston and the Space Center there. They met astronauts and did other things I’m deeply envious about.

One of my friends took pictures of the documentation for the space shuttles that I thought I’d share. Click here to see the pictures.

Why do we care?

The shuttle people are very smart people. So the actual instructions are probably written at a high level of knowledge because you can trust these smart people to know a lot.

But what I found interesting was, as my friend wrote,

the formatting and layout of these. The books are printed in a large, san-serif font on card stock. The binding is open rings, so they’ll lay flat without any argument. Remember that 95% of the time, these are going to be in zero-G, so any slight tendency of a book to snap shut (from a perfect binding that would normally be fighting against gravity) would cause the book to close.

The page layout is very loose and open, and could be written on with a pencil easily. The blue tape is velcro (NASA just lives for velcro!). As you can see in some of the later pix inside the shuttle simulator, the books are velcroed in place everywhere so they can be seen easily.

Audience is everything, except when environment is everything

So, not only do we need to think about what information  our users need, we also need to think about how and when they will be using this information. Most of us are not designing information to be used in space, but what an interesting problem to solve. And what an ugly but perfect solution they found. (You have to admit, the blue velcro is ugly but very visible.)

Talk about tailoring the information delivery to the needs of the audience!

What unusual environmental information delivery problems have you solved?

If you’re interested in joining a really great group of people who actually work together as a team, then we have the place for you. We work hard, but have heaps of fun and there are some great perks to being part of the Author-it team!

Technical Writer – Immediate Start – Head Office, Albany, Auckland, NZ

Author-it is hiring a Technical Writer for their Albany office. This needs to be someone who can really hit the ground running.

Do you have 2+ years experience using Author-it and 4+ years practical experience in writing user documentation for a commercial software product? If this describes you and you can say ‘yes’ to the required skills, knowledge and experience requirements below then, send your CV along with a covering brief on how you think you can make a difference at Author-it.

Skills, Knowledge and Experience

• Requires the ability to communicate effectively across different levels of understanding (strong interviewing, listening and documentation skills).
• Strong business and technical acumen with the ability to plan, multi-task and prioritize as well as work flexibly to a deadline.
• Must have strong user documentation, design and presentation skills.
• Comfortable in a fast-paced work and cross-functional team environment.
• Passionate, work smart attitude.
• Must be detail orientated, can follow directions and established documentation guidelines as well as show a talent for new ideas and continuous improvement.

Technical Requirements

Required:

• Degree or certification in IT, technical documentation or relevant experience.
• 2+ years experience using Author-it software products
• 4+ years practical experience in writing user documentation for a commercial software product.
  • 1+ years experience in writing user documentation for web-based software applications.
  • 1+ years experience using SQL and relational databases (e.g. SQL Server, MySQL, and Oracle).
  • 1+ years experience in using Active Directory and working with Microsoft server software.
  • + years experience working with images and graphics, including design and manipulation.
  • 3+ years practical experience using Microsoft Word, Help systems (e.g., HLP, CHM, WebHelp, JavaHelp) and web technologies (e.g. HTML, XHTML, CSS, XML).
  • 1+ years practical experience in quality assurance.
  • Expert command of English spelling and grammar.
  • Experience with Agile development methodologies and SCRUM.
  • Full understanding of the SDLC.

Preferable:

• Familiarity with Ext JS or other rich web application frameworks.
• 1+ years’ experience in writing user documentation for content management software applications.

WritersUA in Long Beach last week was fun. We met a lot of people in the booth and at the show in general. I got to see our product demo-ed by a fellow who has been showing our products for years and that was a huge learning experience for me. He’s very good.

Author-it Morning was a blast. We had more people than we thought attending and everyone was excited and interested. For half the morning, we threw out our stated agenda and did what the audience wanted to see. One attendee said the morning made the entire show worth her while. Good stuff.

Peer showcases

One of the things I really like about WritersUA is the Peer Showcase event. It’s usually the last day in the food and drink area, making it available to everyone. Selected people get to show something interesting they’re doing and answer questions about it. I sat in a demo by a lovely woman who is creating, on average, 1 user guide a day using Author-it. The way she has everything set up so that she swaps out what needs to swap out and then clicks Publish had me amazed.

She uses Release States for product lines. So, for example, content that is common to all manuals are set to one release state with a color. Content that is specific to each product line is set to other release states and colored differently. That lets her see at a glance what belongs to what. I would never have thought of that and it’s a perfect solution to the problems in her workflow.

Brilliant. Just brilliant.

While I watched her talk about how she did what she did, I realized that Author-it lets the 2 writers do the work of 4 writers. Talk about doing more with less! The ROI for this group of writers was measured in days, I think. And, she said, the rock solid publishing profiles meant that she always got what she expected in the output, saving hours a week in production review.

People swarmed around her table, amazed by the workload and the solution.

Local sightings

I’ll be at the Silicon Valley STC chapter March 24 for a preview of Author-it and other fun stuff, if you’re in the area. I’d love to see you there!

Not a lot of blogging this week, as we’re at WritersUA in Long Beach.

Sunday, we did the Author-it Morning and had a great time. People got a lot of value out of the 4 or so hours we were together and it was fun.

Today, the booth is very busy and the show attendees are full of excitement.

Watch Twitter for the #writersua keyword to find out what’s going on.

And if you’re at the show, stop by the booth and see what the buzz is all about.

If you’re working in a typical document-centric content development environment, you probably manage versions of product documents by copying the entire previous document(s), renaming to the next version and go from there. While this seems like a good way to manage versions, problems can arise, including how to find and manage all the copies floating around your source control or internal network.

And if you need to compare what content applies to what version, life gets really complicated. You can use the built-in document compare but for some products, variables and cross references count as changed text, not really giving you the picture you need.

You could always print out the compared document and do a line by line manual highlight of the actual changes. Unless the document is more than about 100 pages because who has time to do that for the 30 documents you produced 3 versions ago? And then you’re stuck with paper trails you need to manage. It’s a very cumbersome process.

There has to be a better way

A better way would to be able to assign a version to the content when you create it. That would at least show you somehow that this topic was added for version 3.1 and that content appeared in version 4. You would have some sort of audit trail to see what appeared or changed and when.

Building the output could get complicated, though. If you want just the content that applies to version 4, you would have to somehow include the content that didn’t change since version 2. But you don’t want the version 3.1 content, just the content for version 4 and the content that hasn’t changed since version 2.

You would have to mark content as valid for version 2 and 3 and 4 and 4.1 and… That sounds cumbersome, too.

Maybe an even better way

An even better way would be if you could somehow specify you want version 4 and the publishing system programatically looked for all version 4 content and gathered that up. For content that isn’t marked version 4, but appears in the list of content you want to publish, maybe the system could walk back versions to find content.

That way, the system tracks things down and you don’t have to manually assign multiple versions to the content, which you’re going to forget to do.

Computers are really good at tracking things. Why don’t we let them do that part and we can create the content?

It’s a better way

Environments that are regulated, such as financial or medical, should like this approach. This even better way of versioning let’s you easily create the documents as they were for each point in time so the auditors can easily see what they need.

Environments where your technology has a long life span might also like this versioning method. For example, if your technology is still in the field and still working 20 years later, you may need to create documents for it on request, even though that version is 20 years old. With this even better way of managing versions, it’s not a problem – simply specify the version to start with and the system does the rest.

Sound interesting?

By Sharon Burton

I’ve spent 4 days combing the results, compiling the statistics, analyzing the data and I’m finally done! Now other eyes can check the analysis and the numbers.

Watch our twitter account (@authorit) or our Facebook page for announcements of a webinar where we’ll go over the results in detail. We’ll probably be presenting this webinar near the end of April.

New media stuff

If you follow us on Twitter or on Facebook, we’re trying something new. We’ve combed sources we think are related to our industry and are posting links to stories and other items we think you’ll find of value. The response so far has been good. People are clicking through to the items.

This is something new we’re trying so if you have thoughts about the items we’re posting or think our Twitter posts should be different than our Facebook posts, please comment here. We want to provide value for following us and the right information where you expect it. We can only know if we’re reaching our goal if you tell us what you expect.

Additionally, if you have a blog, or know of a blog, that posts industry-specific (not vendor-specific) content, we’d like to know about it. Feel free to let us know in the comments below.

WritersUA

See you at WritersUA this weekend! I’m so excited about the Author-it Morning.

Some days, your technology works for you and some days I think it’s out to get us. Today has been a bad technology day for me. I’m hoping it gets better as the day goes on.

Managing stress

When I’m stressed, I’m learning to go for a walk to help me manage myself. Just because I’m stressed doesn’t mean the world is actually coming to an end. I’m finally learning that walking a mile helps a lot. Especially if the day is pretty and the sky is blue – it’s hard to remember what I was stressed about when I get back.

I also find I’m more productive if I get up from my desk and walk a fast mile. When I come back, my mind is usually clearer and I feel refreshed. I can get a new outlook on something that gives me a breakthrough.

The content authoring/publishing world

Our field can be very stressful. We are a deadline-driven industry with lots of things clamoring for our attention.

Long gone are the days with one project and one thing to do all day long. Most of us have too much work for the time available and somehow we make it all happen. People show up in our offices with surprise projects that must be done right now!

But what does all this do to your stress levels?

Long term stress is bad for you

Study after study shows it’s not good for the body to be constantly flooded with stress chemicals. Additionally, it’s really not good to manage stress by over-eating or over-drinking. Nothing happy comes from either choice.

So, this year, finally, I’m learning to walk off my stress. On the weekends, I walk one of my large dogs at least 2.5 miles every day, which is great for both of us. But I’m not limiting myself to weekend walking. If I need to get out of the office for 20 minutes, I walk a mile.

What are you doing to keep your stress levels managed? How do you relax and redirect your mind?

WritersUA

One way to recharge your mind and body is to attend a conference. It’s good to get out of the office and into a creative group as passionate about our field as you are.

Remember, the WritersUA conference is March 13 to March 16. Additionally, Author-it is holding an Author-It Morning half day event Sunday, March 12 from 9am to noon at the conference location.

Sign up by sending me an email to sharon[dot]burton[at]author-it[dot]com with Author-it Morning in the subject line.

We’ll see you there!

By Sharon Burton

After a webinar the other day, I would up chatting in email with a fellow about useful books. So I thought I’d post a list of books I think should be on your bookshelf.

Listed in no particular order:

• Illustrating Computer Documentation: The Art of Presenting Information Graphically on Paper and Online by William Horton

Altho this book was published in 1991, it’s still very relevent today. He covers how to present information visually, especially important for us non-visual learners.

• DITA 101, 2nd edition. by Ann Rockley

Even if you’re not moving to DITA, this book is valuable because it makes you think about how to structure your information to be useful to your readers.

• Information Development: Managing Your Documentation Projects, Portfolio, and People by Joann T. Hackos

I cannot recommend this book enough. She clearly discusses why content is a business asset and how to manage it.

• Single Sourcing: Building Modular Documentation by Kurt Ament

Do you have any to add to the list? What have I missed?

Since the awful earthquake in New Zealand this week, clients and non-clients all over the world have contacted us, concerned about our staff. This outpouring has moved everyone at Author-it and we’d like to thank all of you.

The Auckland office and all our people in that office are OK. The earthquake was about 400 miles away. All family in the Christchurch area have been accounted for.

Remember, if you want to help the people in Christchurch, contributing to the New Zealand Red Cross is a great way to help.

On a related note

Have you looked at your policies and procedures lately? When a disaster like this happens, it should remind us that we need effective policies and procedures in place. Everyone needs to be trained in what to do.

Make sure yours includes:

• Evacuation plans
• Disaster recovery plans
• Reporting-in plans
• and more

Disasters usually happen suddenly. It’s important for everyone to know what they should do and how to keep the business running (or not) during the disaster.

People at least need to know how to get out of the building and where to meet. If the disaster happens at lunch, do you have a plan in place for people to report in so the missing can be quickly accounted for? Do several people have the cell phone numbers for everyone? Where are those number stored? How is the data in your company being managed for offsite backups? Do you even do offsite backups?

These and more need to be clearly defined so everyone knows what to do. Now might be a very good time to make sure your policies and procedures are up-to-date and people are trained.