dita - what is it good for? (j gollner 2015)
Post on 15-Jul-2015
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What does Managementcare about, really?
What do they value?
What do they notice?
What gets them excited?
DITA must be positionedwith the answers to these questions in mind
1. Utility
2. Agility
3. Productivity
4. Quality
5. Manageability
Looking at DITA from the Perspective of Management
Thinkabout:
What Matters to Management?
In a nutshell:
Immediate positive contributiontowards key performance goals
In truth, it is rare for management to notice anything else
Helping people (customers) to perform intended tasks• Find & purchase a product
• Use & recommend a product
• Maintain & update a product
• Upgrade & extend a product
Quickly & efficiently
Utility: The first thing Content must do – Be Useful!
Utility: Content as a (Customer) Service
DITAContent
BusinessProposals
Sales
Collateral& CaseStudies
Marketing
Docs &Knowledge
Base ArticlesSupport
eLearningCourses & Tests
Training Ke
y Ex
tern
al S
take
ho
lde
r To
uch
Po
ints
The Utility of Content demands Content Agility
Content can be delivered when, where, & how it is needed• All Channels simultaneously
• Dynamically adapted to be useful in all channels & across all channels
DITA content can be• Easily grouped into new Outputs
• Automatically published into all necessary formats
DITA provides this Agility with an open & adaptable approach
Agility: How Content can be useful in all situations
Case Study
Software company
Chief Operating Officer (COO)had blocked allDITA initiatives
Operational issues traced to weak communications
The Pitch
20 minute window with COO
A “no-jargon” zone
Modernization unavoidable
Leveraging a best practice initiated by IBM was OK
Agility: Outmaneuver Management Resistance
Productivity is a function of:
Maximizing returns
while
Minimizing costs
DITA provides key “levers”
Optimizes Reuse• Minimizes localization costs
• Minimizes update costs
Emphasizes Automation• Minimizes publishing costs
Leverages shared community investments & learning• Minimizes implementation costs
Productivity: Maximizing the Return on Content Assets
Productivity improvementsare “table stakes”
Large enterprises have setevaluation & approval rules
Individual managementstakeholders will be interestedin improvements that help them
Important Caveat
Organizations are much less rational than they pretend
Executives need to become excited to be genuinely useful
Productivity: Return on Content (RoC)
Quality has been a widely used justification for DITA
Integration of Outputs with all relevant data sources is great
Unfortunately, it rarely grabs or holds management attention
Quality minimizes key risks• Non-compliance
• Threats to user safety
• Customer dissatisfaction
• Damage to brand image
All important but all are “contingent liabilities”as opposed to immediate problems
Quality: Perfecting Outputs & Avoiding Problems
Nana Gollner
Prima Ballerina
Quality is the long game
Hard work & attention to detail
Proves itself in performance
Starts small & builds… like DITA
Quality: Nana Gollner and DITA
Nana Gollner -the little girl with polio who became one of the great dancers of the 20th Century
Economy of effort & the integration of investments
This does make sense to better managers
Important pieces
Measurability
Asset control & protection
Really important piecesAlignment with market
Alignment with community
Alignment of business activities
Alignment of investments
Alignment of user experiences
Manageability: Economy of Effort, Integration, Alignment
Integrate or Outsource
The secret fact of organizational life
All content investments must
Integrate data sources in a way that makes them useful and compelling
Integrate communication activities that span & connect different business units
Deliver content assets that can be reused across different business activities
Deliver improvements to how external stakeholders achieve their goals
Management: Integrated Content Management
Demonstrate what is possible
If Utility is a hot button, you need to push it
Show how information can be made• Accessible in many formats
• Easily findable & usable
• Precisely targeted to specific needs
• Let’s say it….sexy
This really shows how agility drives utility
Sooth Management Concerns• DITA is an industry movement
• Lowest cost way to achieve goals
• Lowest risk way to modernize tools
• DITA helps to integrate content activities
Sell DITA by Demonstrating Utility
A Public Domain Collection of DITA instances that can be:
Used to demonstrate the key benefits of DITA to Management• Functionally realistic
• Based on real content sources
• Exhibits real-world details
• Supports realistic scenarios
• Realism is critically important when engaging management
• They must see how DITA can tangibly improve things today
Adapted to meet Demo needs
Collectively enhanced
Showtime: A DITA Demonstration Data Set
Showtime: Integrated Content Services
Scenario:
ThunderbirdContent delivery
>> ePub
>> WebHelp
>> MobileHelp
>> MS Word
Thunderbird DITA Demonstration Content
A functionally realistic
set of demonstration
DITA instances
Thunderbird Stormcluster
software documentation
Showtime: DITA Sales Pitch
Scenario:
AlfrescoDITA Pitch
>> ePub
>> WebHelp
>> MobileHelp
>> MS Word
Alfresco DITA Demonstration ScenarioRapid update of the collection
to reflect an alternative identity
Images and product
name variables adapted
to tailor the demo to a
given organization.
Position DITA against the key Management Perspectives
Utility
Agility
Productivity
Quality
Manageability
All of these are importantbut emphasis today falls on:
Utility: Content as a Service
Agility: Outmaneuver obstacles
Manageability: content integration
Realistic Demo Content Helps!
DITA: What’s it good for?
Connections
Joe GollnerManaging DirectorGnostyx Research Inc.www.gnostyx.comjag@gnostyx.com
Twitter: @joegollner
Blog:The Content Philosopherwww.gollner.ca
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