The State of the Technical Communication Industry: tcworld India 2013 Keynote Address

About the survey

The Content Wrangler 2012 TechnicalCommunication Industry Benchmarking Survey

not scientific, but meaningfulloaded with real-world anecdotes0ver 1100 respondents500+ large, content-heavy firmsprimarily North American/EU firms

Findings overviewagile documentation developmentadvanced documentation practicescomplexity drives innovationlack of strategy causes problems


45% attempt to leverage agile

5

• majority of technical communication departments have not adopted agile methods• those that do so struggle with challenges• challenges: organizational silos, lack of governance, differing approaches

Agile approaches

waterfall is the most commonly used documentation development approach

documentation development methods

Difficulty is the driver• highly configurable hardware and software products drive adoption• multi-channel, multi-device publishing drives adoption• dynamic publishing, localization, translation, and personalization are also strong drivers

Advanced practicescomplexity drives adoption of

the more challenging it is to develop documentation, the more likely advanced practices are adopted

Efficiency is key • configurable products are difficult to document• organizations that use XML are better prepared to respond to threats and new opportunities• challenges increase when content is multi-lingual• challenges increase with mobile device adoption and as companies attempt to deliver apps, eBooks

Configurable productsadvanced practices most often adopted to document

customer expectations are driving this innovation; mobile computing also plays significant role

What iscontent strategy?

A definition

Content strategy deals with the planning aspects of managing content throughout its lifecycle, and includes aligning content to business goals, analysis, and modeling. It influences the development, production, presentation, evaluation, measurement, and sunsetting of content, including governance.

Content Strategy

what content strategy is not is the implementation side

from Rahel Ann Bailie

you can’t reach your goals without a

A look at the findingsstructured content, XML and DITAcontent reuse strategycustomer-created contentleveraging communitiestop software products used


44% create structured XML

• 81% leverage DITA• 30% use custom DTDs/schemas• 16% use DocBook

Structured content

12% of the companies that produce structured content use all three

XML is driving operational efficiency

between documentationand training content• 5% have done so in order to innovate or to enable them to respond to threats or opportunities• reuse most common between related document or content sets (eg user guides, help, training)

Content reuse

the unexpected benefit is unanticipated reuse

Significant savings in time and money

Common methods

of content reuse

Most error prone, inefficient, costly method

• Content is actually cloned; each copied instance exists on its own (disconnected from source)• Unable to be easily located, retrieved, updated

Copy and paste reuse

Copy and paste is quite natural, but not a best practice

One of the most convenient, but problematic methods

Authors locate content, retrieve it, reuse it• Manual reuse is best accomplished with a CMS • Helps organizations rapidly reconfigure reusable content into new information products• Provides authors with most flexibility, but is problematic because it puts burden of reuse on authors

Manual content reuse

If authors lack motivation, are unaware content exists, or have trouble finding it, reuse does not occur

The most common form of content reuse

Content Reuse

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53% provide online support community

• 32% rely on customer service to monitor activity• 20% distribute monitoring responsibility across roles• 10% employ dedicated community manager

Online communities

Online support communities and documentation influence customer purchasing decisions

Who is responsible for monitoring support communities

20% allow customers to edit documentation• 8% allow ‘trusted customers’ to edit and publish content without formal review• Level of scrutiny is directly linked to the type of content being produced and the liability or risk associated with allowing customers to edit and publish content • 17% allow customers to create new content

Customer-created content

More than one-third of companies that allow customers to create content encourage them to do so

Some organizations are leveraging the power of the crowd to create, update, improve documentation

Benefits of feedback and ratings• 47% improved customer support scores• 17% improved documentation quality• 16% support call deflection• 13% reduced support call volume• 12% reduced average call handling time

Customer feedback and ratings

Additional benefits: Spotting problems with product design; reduction in negative feedback / complaints

Organizations use reactions from customers to improve documentation

Software used to create documentationTools used vary by the type of work being performed and the industry sector served

THE TOP TEN MOST USED SOFTWARE PRODUCTS

1. Adobe FrameMaker 41%

2. TechSmith Snagit 35%

3. Microsoft Word 35%

4. Adobe Acrobat Pro 28%

5. Adobe Captivate 20%

6. Adobe RoboHelp 19%

7. TechSmith Camtasia 12%

8. XMetaL Author 11%

9. Microsoft PowerPoint 11%

10. Adobe Photoshop 11%

Innovations planned for future

26

moving to structured contentadopting XML/DITAcomponent content managementvideo documentation


XML and DITA

21% of companies surveyed plan to move to structured XML by 2014; the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) is the XML schema of choice.

Future Innovations

doing so is believed to better prepare companies for the future

what they’re planning for 2013-2014

Component content

14% of companies surveyed plan to adopt a component content management system designed specifically to manage modular, structured XML content.

Future Innovations

component content management systems are built to support multi-channel publishing


Video documentation

11% of companies surveyed plan to adopt video documentation and training content, usually to augment existing documentation, support, and training purposes.

Future Innovations

customer expectations are driving this innovation; mobile computing also plays significant role


Summary Results

will make it available to youalong with this slide deckafter the event

Our benchmarking survey uncovered a wide variety of challenges facing companies that produce technical documentation and training content. The biggest challenge identified was the lack of a formal content strategy.

Commonly cited symptoms of organizations lacking a content strategy include:

•

Agile documentation adoption slow, not always successful

Moving to topic-based content models like the Darwin Information Typing Architecture is the most common innovation planned for the future—cited by 21% of companies.

The adoption of a component content management system is the second most common innovation planned for the future—cited by 14% of companies.

Creating video documentation and training content is the third most common innovation planned for the future—cited by 11% of companies.

BENCHMARKING SURVEY2012 TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION INDUSTRY

Biggest challenge is the lack of content strategy

The majority of technical documentation and training departments have not adopted an agile approach to creating and publishing content. Agile methods are based on iterative and incremental cycles that promote adaptive planning, evolutionary development, and flexible responses to change.

While 45% of companies surveyed claim to apply agile development principles to TechComm projects, few do it successfully. Typical challenges include organizational silos, lack of governance, differing approaches. The waterfall development method is the dominant approach in use today.

DITA/XML CCMS VIDEO

WHAT INNOVATIONS ARE YOU PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE?

21% 14% 11%

SUMMARY RESULTS

• Inability to effectively reuse content

• Creation of inconsistent, inaccurate, or mediocre quality content

• Producing content of unknown customer value

• Process problems and production bottlenecks

The next biggest challenges:

• Lack of governance

• Lack of time, money and resources

DITA81%

STRUCTURED

of companies create structured XML content44%

CONTENT

of companies that create structured content use DITA

OTHER FLAVORS30% use custom XML DTDs

16% use DocBook

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The State of the Technical Communication Industry: tcworld India 2013 Keynote Address

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