From Startup to the Big Leagues: Enjoying the Journey  Cisco Data Virtualization2016

Everyone present in this room Everyone in our virtual audience

WELCOME

Speaker Bios

Meg Miranda • 22 years of technical publications experience gathered from Oracle, HP,

IBM, Cisco, and countless startups in Silicon Valley. • https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id

=AAMAAAAb8BEBAofIT-p1tu_K3C2ppEfcca-RSQc&trk=hp-identity-name

Joe Meyers

• More than 40 years of technical publications experience as an editor, writer and contributing manager at startups and at large companies such as CDC, Ampex, Reuters, Apple and Cisco.

• Claim to fame: I was a beta tester for FrameMaker 0.6 and 0.98.

Summary

• The stresses of being acquired can be overwhelming.

• We offer tips to ease such a transition, based on what we did well and on what we learned from our mistakes.

• We focus on small changes that you can make with each iteration of the doc set.

• With many such changes we have achieved amazing results. You can, too.    

Questions to the Crowd

At a startup

?Single

-

writer

“team

”?

Alreadyat abig

company?

Been through a transition like this already?

Big changes start with small steps

By picking small, incremental changes in each release cycle,

you can achieve great things.

Content Changes

BeforeNow

More task oriented

Content Changes

Before

Now

Things to Consider While You Are Still Smallish

Why these tips can help you now

• Flex-agile-ity to meet changing demands:

• Volatile management at small company • Demanding big customers • OEM potential for your company• Doc today – training materials tomorrow – professional services content the next day

• Look professional, like the big players, to help get big-player funding.

• Be careful with words. Multiple meanings increase big-player risk.

Standardize

Remov

e Uniq

uene

ss • Across Chapters• Across Books• Across Product Line Content

We used to have three Framemaker templates for the same doc set.

Now we do not.

Example

Simplify

Minimal will make yo

u AGILE

• Minimal font types • Minimal paragraph/character styles• Minimal cross-reference types• Minimal use of conditional text and variables

ExampleWe had “custom everything” in different chapters of the same book.

Now we do not.

More

Before Now

Cisco’s Simplified Template – a look ahead

• One cross-reference style

• Two table styles

• No TOC

• No Index

• Two template files:

• Cover pages

• Chapter pages

Types of Agility

• Ability to hire and train

• Ability to localize

• Flexibility with the documentation

• Willingness to change and adapt

Word Choice Globalization

• Pay attention to word choice• Standardize cross-reference wording• Remove extra words• Add words that can help translators• Be careful about names, action words, idioms

• Foster consistent usage between docs and:• Development group (error messages, etc.)• UI group (terms, usage, capitalization)• Marketing group (coordinated messages)• Training and customer support

[ribbit or rivet?]

Globalization Guidelines—Text

• Concise prose

• Short, grammatically simple sentences

• Unimpressive page counts (!)

• Controlled and consistent use of terms

• Single descriptions

• Insets

• Cross-references to one presentation

… and if you can:

• Changes flagged from release to release

“Cicero excuses himself for having written a long letter, by saying he had not time to make it shorter.”

1824 August, The Harmonicon: A Journal of Music, Number 20

“Say something once. Why say it again?”

Talking Heads

Consolidate

• Identify similar content – put it in one place.• Remove unnecessary detail.• Trim or divide long, block paragraphs.• Create task topics.• Avoid repeating long phrases when a short one

(or even a well placed pronoun) will do.• Make intelligent assumptions about the user.

We have one copyright file that is used in all 23 guides.

We omit most standard instructions like how to copy/paste.

Examples

Accelerating Transitions – Get Tool-Neutral

STRENGTH and WEAKNESS

Help you do Localization Readiness

People Experience

User Experience & ExpectationsCosts

Tools You Have Now

FrameMaker Word

Mobility/Video

Source Control

RobohelpWebWorks

DITA/XMLWiki

Consider DITA

Concept Task Reference

Unstructured Frame Tips:

lots of explanatory paragraphs

1, 2, 3, 4,5, 6, 7, 8

alphabetical lists;code

From your current TOC headings, can you tell me if a topic is concept, reference, or task?

• Use topic heading patterns • Pattern each topic type using DITA guidelines

So you just got bought?

Panic a Little

You deserve to be paranoid

Try to not do it too much around your co-workers

It will all work out.

Just because you’re PARANOID

It doesn’t mean they’re not out to

get you

Figure Out a Way to Have Fun

Play mental games

Take bets on the next change

Find a person to vent to

(outside of the workplace)

Bad News First

New company might • Not want the human collateral

• Have bought your company to remove competition from the marketplace

• Change the management hierarchy

• Think you are inexperienced

Any number of factors are out of our control

Example: acquiring company may assume that you have never had to think about big-company problems like part numbers, localization, managing red tape….

Good News

• You are flexible

• You are open to change

• You are able to rapidly assimilate new ideas and procedures

• You have been thinking about these things

• Maybe you just made enough off your stock to take some time off…

Change is Coming

Do You Have Tolerance for Change?

• Tolerance for ambiguity can be a differentiator for a specific job in interviews. It becomes a differentiator for your whole organization when you are acquired.

• The changes that bother you might be nonissues to someone else. Meanwhile, changes that you find trivial can be overwhelming for other people.

• Try to anticipate what you think might be your biggest areas of discomfort.

• Be ready for surprises.

• Cultivate self-awareness. It will reduce your bewilderment.

The Joy (or Sorrow) of Sects

One change that can be nettlesome for technical communicators when their startup is acquired is a shift in writing standards.

You might be required to switch from open to closed punctuation.

Pick your battles carefully.

You may have to choose between:• going to war over your pet peeves• keeping your cool (or your job)

Example

The Big Changes

• New templates• New processes• New target formats and delivery modes• A transition from familiar tools to “new” tools

• Word• FrameMaker• Structured FrameMaker• Interleaf• . . .• RoboHelp• WebWorks

• You might feel as though you’re going backward

• Word• FrameMaker• Structured FrameMaker• Notepad• . . .• RoboHelp• WebWorks

Conversion Path at Cisco

CompositeSW Frame

Template

Convert and Scrub:Paragraphs Characters

TablesCross-References

VariablesMaster and Reference Pages

Convert and Scrub:Paragraphs Characters

TablesCross-References

VariablesMaster and Reference Pages

Cisco Frame Template

Convert and Scrub:Paragraphs Characters

TablesCross-References

VariablesMaster and Reference Pages

Simplified Cisco Frame Template

Cisco-developed scriptsWebWorks reports to help identify inconsistencies

Pre-

Acqu

isitio

nPo

st-A

cqui

sitio

n

Hard work by writers devoted to working clean.

The People Changes

• Possibly new managers

• New management chain

• Added coworkers

• Subtracted coworkers

• New roles

• Design and create my own graphics?

• Cross-edit with my pals?

• Who am I here?

• New network of SMEs

• New contacts, alliances, rapport to establish

Big Company, Big Reach. Globalization.

• I18n

• L10n

• G11n

• Globalization has many facets:

• Software

• User interface

• Physical devices

• Electrical and electronic hardware

• Documentation

Typical Challenge Areas

• Page layout• Conditional text• Fonts• Variables • Part numbers• Text insets• Graphics (keep the originals!)

• Complex graphics• Content conversion• Large-scale template changes• Numbering• Heading levels• Treatment of blank pages (for example,

“This page intentionally left blank.”)

Typical Challenge Areas

This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, “This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, ‘This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, “This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, ‘This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, “This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, ‘This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, “This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, ‘This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, “This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, ‘This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, “This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, ‘This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, “This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, ‘This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, “This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, ‘This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, “This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, ‘This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, “This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, ‘This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, “This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, ‘This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, “This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, ‘This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, “This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, ‘This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, “This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, ‘This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, “This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, ‘This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, “This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, ‘This page intentionally left blank, except for the words, “This page intentionally left blank, except for the words,

Conclusion

• Panic plus prudence is advisable.• One of these will happen:

• Acquisition• Go public

• Preparation helps

• Leverage your connections and the support of others.

Questions?

Thank You