Writers Write BOF Topics

writers-write-bof-topics.adoc

Writers Write BOF Topics

Lead Editor

Much like roommates in a shared flat, a documentation group needs to find a way to make it work by agreeing on how to routine tasks / chores. What can help with this is having a lead editor. The lead editor can ensure a consistent style.

Support Engineers

Support engineers are representatives of the users. They often can describe users' problems better than the users. They have a lot of content to share. How do we get them involved? What do we do with their content? How can we integrate it into the main documentation?

User Studies / Feedback

How do you know readers find the the docs effective. Do you accept feedback? Do you interview the users / readers?

Documentation as an application

The documentation site is a software application. It requires development. It has a UI that needs to be designed. It requires servers that need to managed. Who does all of these tasks? Is the workload distributed? Are the right teams involved.

Let’s talk about the relationship between devs, docs/tech writers, support, & ops. Are the right people at the table when critical decisions are made. Do they hold meetings? It’s about awareness.

Is the documentation agile? What’s the time it takes to deploy a single change? Is it fully automated?

Content Owners

Do you have defined content owners?

Are part of the docs scribed and part generated?

Content Silos

Are different types of content integrated or do they sit alone? What tools can we use to provide a unified documentation experience for the user / reader. What should be generated? What are the advantages? How can content be weaved together?