IS YOUR DOCUMENTATION RELEVANT FOR THE 21 CENTURY? · Take a break and go back when fresh...

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ERICSA 53rd Annual Training Conference & Exposition ▪ May 1 - 5 ▪ Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

IS YOUR DOCUMENTATION RELEVANT FOR THE

21st CENTURY?

Cindy Holdren, Center for the Support of FamiliesMichelle Le Feve, Courtland Consulting

Marcia Witt, Courtland Consulting


If you don't care about your product, why should I?: Writing Effective Training & Technical Documentation

Quality training materials and user documentation decreases the likelihood that users have issues with your product or service and it reduces the need for help

desk support. The key to writing successful documentation is in the style and format of the document. No matter how good the information is, if it is not written in clear

language and cleanly presented it can be difficult to use. Documentation should be easy to read, easy for the reader to understand and well organized. Writing effective documentation is time consuming, but creating documentation that is consistent in tone and language and professionally styled will increase your credibility, provide a more engaging user experience and reduce overall support costs. This session will

cover steps for producing quality documentation and present practical tips and tricks to increase your writing efficiency through the use of style guides and templates.

Participants will be provided with samples as a take away.

Is Your Documentation Relevant for the 21st Century?

With 191 million US consumers using smartphones, is yourdocumentation evolving to meet the needs for the millennialgeneration? Creating policy, training or technical materials that areconsistent in tone, language and professionally styled increases yourcredibility, provides a more engaging user experience, and reducesoverall support costs. This session provides best practices andresources to increase your writing efficiency and usability for the 21stCentury.

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GreatDocumentation

CustomerSatisfaction=


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The Writing Process

Design, Organization & Management

Trends & Tools

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The Writing Process

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The writing process presents the steps from prewriting through the finished product

There are several unique considerations when creating web documentation

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The Writing ProcessThe Writing Process

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Prewriting Editing

Collaborating

Drafting

Publishing

Revising


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Think about the audience What do they need to know?

Review other documents

Choose a structure More important for larger documents

Different for web content

Generate ideas Brainstorm

Talk with colleagues

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Just start writing Don’t worry about spelling,

sequencing

Put down what you know and what you think about the topic Add notes where you may be missing

information

Keep audience in mind What do they need to know?

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Revise Add

Rearrange

Replace

Remove

Start at the top and do repeatedly

Take a break and go back when fresh

Collaborate Formal

Informal

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Edit Slice and dice

Check for logic

Check for errors and omissions

Repeat above steps numerous times!

Publish Final destination Website

Report

Other document

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Average page visit is less than 1 minute

Source: http://www.digitalgov.gov/2014/04/04/heatmapping-tools-show-whats-hot-on-your-pages/

Scanning the Web

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Viewers scan but do not read

Scan is from left to right mostly at the top of the page

Viewers read headings, not dense text Bite, snack, meal approach Bite – 10 words or less; think heading

Snack – summary in 1 sentence

Meal – full content

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Example – Bite, Snack, Meal

Bite, Snack, Meal14

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Organize content using the inverted pyramid principle to prioritize text

to

Conclusions and takeaways

Supporting details

Background

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Short, descriptive headings

Bullets – easy to skim!

Numbered lists when order matters

Short sentences with no jargon

Active voice for verbs

Hyperlinks to provide more detail

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Design, Organization & Management

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Effective documentation is well:

o Written

o Designed

o Organized

o Maintained

Key Points

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Supports the audience & objectives

Easy to understand & use

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A

D

DI

E

Analyze

Design

DevelopImplement

Evaluate

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Design & Development Framework

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Source: Survey conducted by IBOPE Zogby International for SlideRocket, in May 2011

32% of audiences have fallen asleep during a PowerPoint presentation

55% of snoozers have fallen asleep twice or more

20% would rather pay taxes or go to the dentist than view a PowerPoint

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*Source for technical: http://www.cypressmedia.net/articles/article/15/improving_the_appearance_of_your_technical_document

Make It Engaging

Technical Documents Web Content PowerPoint TM

+ user interface+ graphics+ video+ audio+ interactives

+ fonts+ colors+ contrast+ infographics+ interactivity

meaningful graphicssupporting graphics

+ pie charts+ graphs+ frames+ colors+ icons

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Source: elearninginfographics.com SH!FT

Sample Infographic

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Source: elearninginfographics.com Allen Interactions

Sample Infographic


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Use a style guide to standardize style elements and presentation conventions

Use templates to ensure consistency across sections

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evaluateevaluateevaluate

Paraphrase Testing

Usability Testing

Controlled Comparative Studies

Source: http://www.plainlanguage.gov/howto/guidelines/FederalPLGuidelines

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OrganizingMakes (Dollars) & Sense

Example 2

Example 3

Example 4

Source: Kirkpatrick, D.L., & Kirkpatrick, J.D. (2007). Implementing the Four Levels, Berrett‐Koehler Publishers.

Four Levels of Learning Evaluation

Level 4:Results

To what degree do targeted outcomes occur as a resultof the learning event and workplace reinforcement?

Level 3:Behavior

Do participants apply what they learned in training once they return to work?

Level 2:Learning

Do participants acquire the intended knowledge andskills based on their participation in the learning event?

Level 1:Reaction

Do participants react favorably to a learning event?

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Easy to UseMake It Easy to UseMake It Easy to Use

Organizing

According to information collated by Cottrell Research, employees spend too much time looking for information needed to support their work.

Makes (Dollars) & Sense

8Number of

searches a typical worker makes to find information

1.8Hours a day

searching and gathering

information

13%Since 2002,

increase in time spent searching for information

19.8%business time wasted

by employees searching for

information to do their job effectively

Example 2

Example 3

Example 4

Source: http://cottrillresearch.com/various-survey-statistics-workers-spend-too-much-time-searching-for-information/

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Problem Slide MaintenanceThe Need for Maintenance

Don’t leave your documentation with potholes!


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Content updates change controls version control file management

Web updatesContent updates + accessibility broken links for app updates browser compatibility analytics legal elements

When you need to update web code—document changes

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Keep your documentation

to date so you don’t let your users

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Summary

adds value!

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Trends & Tools

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Future trends in mobile learning impact documentation design and delivery

Online resources present new channels for collaborative writing

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197.4 million US Consumers use smartphones

Source: comScore Dec 2015

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By 2020, Mobile devices will be the primary connection to Internet worldwide

Source: Pew Research Center (Welinske)

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Channels: Blogs

Wikis

Authoring Tools

Mobile Apps

Methods: Responsive Design

Video

Gamefication

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Mobile Learning & Support

Tools

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Chronicle

Writing & Collaborative Tools

Wikis & Blogs File Sharing

Web & Video Conferencing

Authoring Tools

Writing Apps

eLearning Tools

AdobeCaptivate

Productivity Apps

Office Productivity MS Suite

Blog Documentation Website

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Blog Support Website


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www.courtlandconsulting.com/ericsa2016

Presentation

Training & Technical guide examples

Infographic examples

Writing style guide example

Training evaluation tips

Federal resource site for agencies delivering digital services to the public

Writing and collaborative tools handout

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Thank you for participating!!

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Cindy Holdren Marcia Witt Michelle Le Feve

Senior Consultant,Center for the Support of Families

Senior Consultant &Training Specialist,Courtland Consulting

Project Manager &Communication Analyst,Courtland Consulting

[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

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Graphics provided in this presentation are used under license from Shutterstock by the speakers or source materials cited where used. Exceptions are noted below:

Bitmojis are the property of each speaker

Tip icon: Artist dtafalonso under licenseCC Attribution-No Derivative 4.0

All rights reserved to their respective owners for product and company trademarks used in this presentation.

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IS YOUR DOCUMENTATION RELEVANT FOR THE 21 CENTURY? · Take a break and go back when fresh...

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Transcript of IS YOUR DOCUMENTATION RELEVANT FOR THE 21 CENTURY? · Take a break and go back when fresh...