Information and Software Development: Two sides of the same coin
In the software development world, producing information for users is often dealt with in hindsight, even in cases where agile methodology is used. This means that documentation is produced after the fact and as such, is seen as an added cost with very little visibility on actual return on investment.
As modern software focuses more and more on creating good user experiences, user-oriented information, including onboarding of new users, has to become part of the software design process, and be built into the interface as a component.
Thus, information development and software development are two sides of the same coin. The coin, or if you wish the value objective, is a satisfied user who gets up and running quickly and easily.
In this presentation, we present some methods to help software and information developers to work together, illustrated with examples from a current, ongoing project. We will show how software development can benefit from experienced information developers’ expertise in terminology, clarity of processes and the erogonomics of use, and how Information development can benefit by understanding the needs and constraints of the development cycle, and having a clear idea of the goals earlier.
We conclude by demonstrating the business advantages of integrated, truly contextualized (not merely contextual) user information, and the necessity to include this in agile processes.
In the digital age, complexity is the culture, and the essential skill is connectivity.
What can attendees expect to learn?
“The era of big doc is over ─agile is the way to go.” Today’s user information needs to be sliced and diced in several ways. Structured authoring helps us do this at a semantic level, but we also need to be able to determine where information goes in any given software application. When we can produce small molecular information structures (that can be smaller than the traditional topic) that can be embedded in interfaces, become part of progressive disclosure structures, and displayed in a variety of ways that are highly context dependent, we have created agile information.
When this agile information can also be directly embedded in the software at build time, we have a significant added business value that is compatible with agile software development, but can also be used with waterfall methods.
Anything that contributes to value, and to perception of technical information as a business asset, is of interest to technical communicators, and helps build the case for their value proposition. It also makes the users’ lives easier.
Meet the Presenters
Since the beginning, I have been, paradoxically, communicating and shooting myself in the foot. I find that this combination leads to fascinating outcomes that have made me one of the most fortunate people I know. I’ve been in charge of a major cultural institution in New York City (it’s public radio station), have taught university in multiple countries on four continents, and get to speak at great events like this one.
I’m a lifelong learner, and that’s why I love my profession ─I get to learn so much!
Trained as a social psychologist, Andy McDonald has been designing and writing documentation for the oil industry since 1998, and is now Documentation Products manager for Tech Advantage in the Paris area.
Having seen methods, norms and formats come and go, his basic training leads him naturally to concentrate on the people involved in the processes and the end user requirements. With the advent of social and collaborative media, it’s now time to focus on role in the chain of delivery.