Somewhere under the surface of corporate technical documentation is a tectonic shift in the culture of content authoring. Close to the molten core of content chaos is the open source software sector, where dispersed and disparate communities author endless streams of community documentation. These streams are fed into the engines of enterprise technical writing to form the impressive tomes of knowledge that apparently nobody reads anymore. Until they have to. In this journey, content author and startup advocate David Ryan traces his adventures as a writer working for the world's first billion dollar open source software company. A company where "we've always done it this way" is no reason at all, and constant innovation has led to the first fully end-to-end open source and topic-based authoring platform, the PressGang CCMS. But of course, any new tool merely means the chance to discover new problems, new processes, and new opponents. If you're advocating for change in your own corporate structure, contemplating a shift to topic-based content development, or if you simply enjoy stories of danger and delight, you need to hear this. Come along to learn how a tiny side-project in Brisbane became the default global authoring platform for a company publishing over 800 titles in over 22 languages. Discover the secrets for surviving the leap across the skunkwork chasm. And hear how a gang of technical writers got away with it all.

1. Using content strategy too
change cerporate communications
disrupting documentation

2. > What we (un)learned
> Breaking the process
> WTF just happened to docs?
Agenda

3. What we will talk about...
> How a team of content authors with a passion
for content strategy created in internal
startup project
> How that project changed the entire way the
world’s largest open source software company
produces documentation* *(sort of)
> Why this represents a shift from corporate
process and red tape to customer engagement

4. What we won't talk about...
> Basic theory about DITA, topic-based
authoring, content re-use or single
sourcing
> How close internal disruption can come to
getting you in how water
> Why there are giant Scrabble pieces on the
wall (and how often they fall on heads)

5. who am i?

6. no, really...

7. “World's leading open source
services and solutions company”
David Ryan

8. Tech Tidal is the community voice
for the Queensland startup
community.
Metaset is a mobile video app and
content platform to help journalists
solve the problem of engaging and
curating crowdsourced video.

9. 9
WTF just happened to docs?

10. Docs got deador more accurately, the days of capturing the
details of product features have been replaced
by an era of customer focus.

11. We built
Pressgang CCMSa web-based Component Content
Management System (CCMS) written
in Java.

12. We also
Broke everythingas in “totally f**ked s*** up” according to some
people, but “changed the entire way that we
produce documentation” according to others.

13. > end-to-end documentation tool
> open source
> WYSIWYG XML authoring
> seamless publishing integration
> content database
> integrated content mapping
> integrated localization
> single sourcing
> in-browser

16. hint: it's the middle bit

17. but: it's just the start

20. 20
Breaking the process

21. “I have an
IDEA”
> start with curiosity
> collect inspiration from
external examples
> explore something
awesome

22. checkthisout
> find partners in crime that
share your vision
> don’t wait for permission
> show your “thing” to both
the fans and the jerks

23. this iscool
> good gets noticed
> awesome loves company
> collaboration is momentum

24. “just howhardcan it be?”
> move before fear and reality
set in
> focus on product and testing,
and not on ego or worry
> but yeah, it’s really (really) hard

25. assemble> people you love the team
*
*copyright World Events Productions
*not a real photo of our team
> and some jerks to challenge you

26. iterate
“pingall, I'm going to bounce
the server in five. Please save
what you're working on”
“mcasperson – can we get
version numbers on the
bug links?”
iterate“can we have another
Save Topic option for
multiple new topic
entries?”
iterate
iterate
“I just had another idea...”
alpha docs ------------------
------------------ beta docs
------------------ QE review
peer review ------------------

27. feedback
“I don't know why but I hate it”
NOOOOO!!!
Love the per-topic bug links
WOOOOOT!!
:(
:)
A lot like DITA
Better quality
I trust you.

28. change in
flight
> Measure
> Learn
> Build

29. RELEASEIf you build it, test it. And keep building and testing until you
are ready to...

30. 30
What we (un)learned.

31. over
> build, measure, learn
> get started by getting started
> JFDI
plandon't =
> iteration is awesome

32. let them try
everything
> having an idea means testing an idea
> buy-in from all members
> eggs in different baskets
> redundant processes = quick change

33. be painfully
visible

34. know when to
> business rules apply (within)
> hire or reallocate dedicated champions
> prepare to remember the “good old days”
> “prototypes” become “products”
growup
> project team goes back to reality

35. measure?
how can we really
?
?
?
> death to vanity metrics
> it’s okay to invent a hypothesis
later (just keep testing)
> but have a lesson learned

36. always be studying
customers

37. iterate the prototype
> unify voice
together
> unite the team
> solve the simple
> discover the complex
[and then the most important thing...]

38. <!--
--!>

39. > What we (un)learned
> Breaking the process
> WTF just happened to docs?
Agenda

40. Questions?
Social?
Next?