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[Music]

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i'd like to begin by acknowledging the

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traditional owners of the bungeeland

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land on which i'm giving this

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presentation today and pay my respects

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to their elders past present and

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emerging

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i would also like to acknowledge that

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this land which i benefit from occupying

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was stolen and that sovereignty was

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never seeded by the bungeeland people

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so i'm going to start with a little bit

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of a humble brag but i just moved to

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australia's gold coast you might

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remember the gold coast from when tom

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hanks got covered 19 about 4 million

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years ago

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anyway we've moved to a relatively nice

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area with a lot of development going on

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and most of these big development sites

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have advertising up around the

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construction enticing people to come and

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buy an apartment or two

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and all these new places have a few

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things in common

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they all have a stupid aspirational name

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like esperance or athena this one that i

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took a photo of for you is called delta

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which i'm certain they're now regretting

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but they also all say something about

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architecture

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architecturally designed one says

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this one this delta one says architect

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design homes to suit your lifestyle

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so i'd like to have a think about what

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architecture means in this sense

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clearly the developers of these

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properties are relying on you thinking

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that having an architect design your

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home makes it a bit fancier

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when

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in reality most of these projects are

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just apartment buildings i've lived in a

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few apartment buildings and they're

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mostly just tiny boxes stacked on top of

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one another

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but if we dig past the marketing words

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we know that an architect is the person

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who designs the building

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they don't choose the location go out

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and buy the materials or do any kind of

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building plumbing or electrical work

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they don't choose which furniture to put

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in the home what the kitchen cabinets

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look like or pick the carpet

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they are purely about design picking the

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shape of the house the layout of the

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rooms making sure it suits the area it's

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in and the people who are going to live

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in it and presumably about getting a

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spot on ground designs or a tv show like

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that

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so can you have a home that hasn't had

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an architect

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well one of my guiltier internet

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pleasures is to browse bad real estate

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photos and the way i see it is that

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these are the result of homes that

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haven't had the benefit of an architect

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or

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maybe they did have the benefit of an

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architect but it was so many renovations

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ago that the architect might have wore

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mission brown flares and a peace sign

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necklace

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and in most of these atrocities you'll

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notice that the fixtures and fittings

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are often quite nice

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like this perfectly reasonable bathtub

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or this quite lovely chandelier

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the thing that's gone wrong here is not

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the construction or the furniture or

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anything like that it's the design

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so to bring this around the long way to

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documentation you can think of the words

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you write as being like these kitchen

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drawers

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perfectly good wood cabinetry nice

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chrome handles

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if only they designed them in such a way

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that people could actually use them

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and that's what this talk is really

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about

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i know you already know how to write

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great words in the best order

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i am certain that you can craft a

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procedure that makes grown adults weep

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with its elegant simplicity and i just

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know that you can come up with the

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perfect title for every document every

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single time

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but none of that matters if you don't

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have an architect

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if you're starting from a completely

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blank slate then lucky you can skip this

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step

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but i'm betting that most of you already

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have something written down

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whether it's new content or older than

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time itself the best way to work out

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what you need is to make a critical

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assessment of what you already have

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even if what you have is the carpeted

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toilet of technical documentation

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now this step works equally well if

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you're new to the content and need to

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wrap your head around it or if you're a

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bit too familiar with it and you need to

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try and see it with fresh eyes

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the best way i've found to start with a

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long hard look at your content is to

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create a content map

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how you do this depends largely on how

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much content you have

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if you have a few hundred pages

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and you don't want to go too deep into

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your hierarchy then you can probably

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just create a table in a document

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if you have say a giant wiki that you're

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trying to categorize start with a

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spreadsheet

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you could potentially go the whole hog

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and set up a database if you really want

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to spend time on this but in most cases

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that would probably just be overkill

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so this is a content map i did when i

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started my current role and if we zoom

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in on the first page you can see i've

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only looked at the top three levels of

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the hierarchy at least partly because

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that's where the bulk of the content was

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so we have the top level second level

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and third level or page title we have a

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url to the page

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and the general content type of that

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page now i'm going to come back to

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content types in a minute

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for now though you can already see

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patterns starting to form just by

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zooming out now i appreciate this is

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blurry that was done very much on

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purpose

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you should be able to see that we have

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one huge top level bucket that contains

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most of the content

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and while the second level headings are

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more evenly spaced there's still one

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that's much bigger than the others

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you can also see that the smaller top

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level headings don't have a second level

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heading most of the content sits higher

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in the hierarchy than in our big top

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level bucket so that's something we'll

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need to come back and look at

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now content types are something that

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probably most of you have come across

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and there are several different ways of

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categorizing content but my favorite one

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is the dita or dita model

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and that's mostly because it's the

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simplest understanding to explain

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basically there are three different

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content types concepts tasks and

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reference

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if the content answers the question what

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is it then it's a concept

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concepts are usually prose paragraphs

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that explain what something is or how

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something works

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if the content answers the question how

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do i do it then it's a task

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these are usually numbered steps in the

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form of procedures

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and then if it answers the question what

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else do i need to know

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it's a reference

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this is usually a table or a list of

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things that you can look up to find out

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information such as what a particular

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command does or a list of options

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now good documentation should have

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clearly defined sections of concepts

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followed by tasks followed by reference

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and so you can probably start to see at

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a glance where my biggest issue was

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most of the content i had

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was mixed

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it had concepts interwoven with tasks

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and tasks followed by more tasks without

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any concepts at all and very little

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reference content

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this is a giant red flag

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beginners need lots of concepts and

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experienced users need to be able to

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skip the concepts and easily locate

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tasks and reference information

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when it's all mixed up it just becomes

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difficult for everyone

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so now that you have a content map drawn

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up

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and you can already start seeing some of

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your initial problems

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you need to turn around from your

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content and have a look at what's on the

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other side your readers

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the first thing to do is to really think

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hard about who is reading your docs

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the simple answer to this is our users

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but that's actually a bit of a cop-out

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there's a reason that most technical

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writers use the term readers rather than

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users

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for the people who look at our

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documentation

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it's because users use software and

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readers read documentation

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and while that venn diagram overlaps

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it's not a perfect circle

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your readers are not always or sometimes

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not even mainly your users

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depending on your product you may find

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that sales and support staff use your

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docs more than end users do which is the

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case in many professional contacts

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in the open source world you'll probably

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find that people read your docs to

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determine if they want to be involved in

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your community

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or if they want to use your product in

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their own project or maybe they might

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want to fork your project for some

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reason

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these readers cannot necessarily be

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considered users and it's important that

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we write documentation that is

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appropriate for those readers as well

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now

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i'm going to tell you a secret

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no one curls up at night with a warm

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drink and a great technical

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manual so if that's the case

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why do people read docs

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generally speaking it's because they

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want to achieve something

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to put that in less abstract terms you

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need to work out what problem your

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reader is trying to solve

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there's a common quote from business

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school that says something like people

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don't buy a drill because they need a

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drill they buy a drill because they need

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a hole

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when it comes to documentation though

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you need to go a step further and ask

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why do they need the hole

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let's say my friend alex is at the local

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hardware store looking at drills

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what kind of advice would help them

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there's a pretty good chance that when

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alex woke up this morning they didn't

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think you know what

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i don't have a drill i should go out to

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the hardware store today and buy one

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what is more likely is that they woke up

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this morning and thought something like

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oh i should hang that picture on my

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office wall or i should install a bed

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over the staircase

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so the content that alex needs is

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probably not called how to choose a

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drill

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the content they need is something more

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like how to install beds in

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unconventional places

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this is an important distinction because

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if you get it wrong your readers won't

287
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know if the content is right for them or

288
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worse they won't find your content at

289
00:10:57,519 --> 00:10:59,680
all

290
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now

291
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it's really easy to sit around and have

292
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a think about who the readers might be

293
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but it's even better if you can go out

294
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and find out for real

295
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this isn't always going to be an option

296
00:11:11,360 --> 00:11:15,279
for you depending on how much time you

297
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have available for research

298
00:11:15,279 --> 00:11:19,839
so i would definitely recommend that you

299
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do as much of this as you possibly can

300
00:11:19,839 --> 00:11:24,800
but don't beat yourself up if you simply

301
00:11:22,079 --> 00:11:26,320
don't have the bandwidths to do it all

302
00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:28,480
the main thing is to try and get in

303
00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:29,760
contact with your readers in any way you

304
00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:32,000
can

305
00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:33,839
my preferred method is to start with a

306
00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:35,920
series of one-on-one interviews with

307
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people you already know

308
00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:39,680
if you have a community around your

309
00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:41,600
product or company you can usually reach

310
00:11:39,680 --> 00:11:43,200
out to your top contributors and users

311
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pretty easily

312
00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:47,200
if you're in a larger corporate

313
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environment i would start with sales

314
00:11:47,200 --> 00:11:50,639
technical account managers and

315
00:11:48,560 --> 00:11:52,560
consulting staff

316
00:11:50,639 --> 00:11:54,720
you can then use the information you get

317
00:11:52,560 --> 00:11:56,560
from these interviews to create a short

318
00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:58,320
survey to send out to your wider

319
00:11:56,560 --> 00:12:01,040
audience if that's an option that's

320
00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:04,160
available to you

321
00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:06,160
now this research serves a few purposes

322
00:12:04,160 --> 00:12:08,639
the first reason is that you get direct

323
00:12:06,160 --> 00:12:10,160
feedback on your current docs there's a

324
00:12:08,639 --> 00:12:12,560
really good chance you'll find out some

325
00:12:10,160 --> 00:12:14,079
truths about your dogs but it's even

326
00:12:12,560 --> 00:12:15,839
more likely that you'll have some

327
00:12:14,079 --> 00:12:18,079
suspicions confirmed about the pain

328
00:12:15,839 --> 00:12:19,920
points which is great because now you

329
00:12:18,079 --> 00:12:22,240
have data to back up why you're making

330
00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:24,480
changes and a much better story to tell

331
00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:26,480
about the improvements

332
00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:28,639
but the second reason is a little bit

333
00:12:26,480 --> 00:12:30,800
more long term you might not get any

334
00:12:28,639 --> 00:12:32,720
advantage immediately but in the weeks

335
00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:34,560
and months to come when someone notices

336
00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:36,959
a problem in a document they're more

337
00:12:34,560 --> 00:12:39,279
likely to think oh hold on someone was

338
00:12:36,959 --> 00:12:40,959
asking about this recently who was that

339
00:12:39,279 --> 00:12:43,440
so it actually builds engagement in the

340
00:12:40,959 --> 00:12:43,440
long term

341
00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:48,880
it's also really important to understand

342
00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:51,680
what readers actually want rather than

343
00:12:48,880 --> 00:12:53,839
what you think they might want

344
00:12:51,680 --> 00:12:55,440
in my previous role the developers kept

345
00:12:53,839 --> 00:12:57,040
telling us that we needed more quick

346
00:12:55,440 --> 00:12:58,880
start information

347
00:12:57,040 --> 00:13:00,880
but when we spoke to our readers they

348
00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:02,959
all said they wanted more explanations

349
00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:04,639
of how things worked not just step by

350
00:13:02,959 --> 00:13:06,399
step procedures

351
00:13:04,639 --> 00:13:08,639
so both of those are about getting

352
00:13:06,399 --> 00:13:10,399
started with the product sure but in

353
00:13:08,639 --> 00:13:13,839
terms of the content we actually needed

354
00:13:10,399 --> 00:13:15,920
to write they were quite different

355
00:13:13,839 --> 00:13:18,480
by the same token you also need to find

356
00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:21,440
out if readers actually want what they

357
00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:23,360
say they want one piece of feedback i

358
00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:25,120
once got from a reader was to stop

359
00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:27,760
moving things around

360
00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:29,200
and this was really interesting to me

361
00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:31,360
because when i dug deeper into the

362
00:13:29,200 --> 00:13:33,279
problem it turned out that people found

363
00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:35,760
the documentation so difficult to

364
00:13:33,279 --> 00:13:38,160
navigate they were saving hard links to

365
00:13:35,760 --> 00:13:40,639
the content they needed so if we moved

366
00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:42,480
things those links broke

367
00:13:40,639 --> 00:13:44,639
the problem was not so much that we were

368
00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:46,560
moving things around but they couldn't

369
00:13:44,639 --> 00:13:49,279
find the stuff they needed within our

370
00:13:46,560 --> 00:13:51,360
docs in the first place

371
00:13:49,279 --> 00:13:53,680
in the end the solution to that was to

372
00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:55,199
improve the navigability of the site to

373
00:13:53,680 --> 00:13:57,600
implement a really good site search

374
00:13:55,199 --> 00:13:58,959
mechanism and to get more consistency in

375
00:13:57,600 --> 00:14:01,040
our section headings and procedure

376
00:13:58,959 --> 00:14:02,399
titles so it's clearer what was in each

377
00:14:01,040 --> 00:14:04,399
section

378
00:14:02,399 --> 00:14:06,800
in short the answer to stop moving

379
00:14:04,399 --> 00:14:09,519
things around was to move things around

380
00:14:06,800 --> 00:14:09,519
a little bit more

381
00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:14,560
a lot of technical writers like to do a

382
00:14:12,079 --> 00:14:17,040
user task analysis to work out what

383
00:14:14,560 --> 00:14:19,600
content needs to be prioritized

384
00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:22,000
you can spend a huge amount of time

385
00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:24,399
doing these properly but i really don't

386
00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:27,040
recommend that you do you don't need to

387
00:14:24,399 --> 00:14:29,199
go into too much detail this is really

388
00:14:27,040 --> 00:14:32,399
just a way to validate what you probably

389
00:14:29,199 --> 00:14:34,320
already have in your head by now

390
00:14:32,399 --> 00:14:36,800
so to do a really quick and dirty user

391
00:14:34,320 --> 00:14:38,800
task analysis you need to start with an

392
00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:41,279
idea of who your readers are and the

393
00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:43,839
things your readers want to describe

394
00:14:41,279 --> 00:14:45,600
the lists don't need to be exhaustive

395
00:14:43,839 --> 00:14:47,839
but you should be able to group most of

396
00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:51,040
them into some broad categories that

397
00:14:47,839 --> 00:14:52,639
cover the spectrum of readers and tasks

398
00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:53,600
so if you think about the reader types

399
00:14:52,639 --> 00:14:55,360
first

400
00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:57,839
the way you categorize your readers is

401
00:14:55,360 --> 00:15:00,000
entirely up to you but sometimes the

402
00:14:57,839 --> 00:15:02,079
best way is to start by thinking of a

403
00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:03,360
beginner an intermediate reader and an

404
00:15:02,079 --> 00:15:05,279
expert

405
00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:07,600
or depending on the kind of product you

406
00:15:05,279 --> 00:15:09,199
have you might think of an ordinary user

407
00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:10,560
a system administrator and a support

408
00:15:09,199 --> 00:15:12,800
person

409
00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:14,639
your three readers should probably be

410
00:15:12,800 --> 00:15:15,680
interested in different parts of your

411
00:15:14,639 --> 00:15:17,199
product

412
00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:19,279
they will be trying to do different

413
00:15:17,199 --> 00:15:22,000
tasks and they will need different

414
00:15:19,279 --> 00:15:23,760
levels of help from your docs

415
00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:25,839
don't be afraid to let them overlap a

416
00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:28,000
little bit but try and make sure you've

417
00:15:25,839 --> 00:15:29,839
covered most of the options

418
00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:32,160
so in the example i've got coming up for

419
00:15:29,839 --> 00:15:34,800
you i've used system administrators

420
00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:37,440
sales and support but you could easily

421
00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:41,399
include developers hobbyist executives

422
00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:41,399
or any number of others

423
00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:45,680
so let's have a think about what our

424
00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:47,440
readers are trying to achieve

425
00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:49,199
for each of your readers start by

426
00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:50,800
thinking about how they might begin

427
00:15:49,199 --> 00:15:52,320
what's the very first thing they might

428
00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:53,759
want to do

429
00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:55,279
let's assume that they managed to

430
00:15:53,759 --> 00:15:57,120
complete that first thing without any

431
00:15:55,279 --> 00:15:58,399
trouble what's the second thing they

432
00:15:57,120 --> 00:15:59,920
want to do

433
00:15:58,399 --> 00:16:01,360
and when they've completed that what's

434
00:15:59,920 --> 00:16:02,959
the next thing

435
00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:04,800
again you don't need to be exhaustive

436
00:16:02,959 --> 00:16:07,120
here but make sure you cover the big

437
00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:09,120
ticket items things like installing

438
00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:11,360
configuring troubleshooting that kind of

439
00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:11,360
thing

440
00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:15,199
so once you have those things you can

441
00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:17,199
put them in a little table and work out

442
00:16:15,199 --> 00:16:19,519
how likely it is that a particular

443
00:16:17,199 --> 00:16:21,040
reader will use the documentation to do

444
00:16:19,519 --> 00:16:22,880
each task

445
00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:24,639
if you put the reader types across the

446
00:16:22,880 --> 00:16:26,959
top of your table and all of the tasks

447
00:16:24,639 --> 00:16:28,720
down the side you can get a really cute

448
00:16:26,959 --> 00:16:29,839
little matrix that looks something like

449
00:16:28,720 --> 00:16:31,440
this

450
00:16:29,839 --> 00:16:32,959
obviously this is only the first few

451
00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:34,320
lines but i'm hoping it will give you

452
00:16:32,959 --> 00:16:36,079
the idea

453
00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:37,920
you can fill out each square on the

454
00:16:36,079 --> 00:16:40,560
table with the likelihood that each

455
00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:42,000
reader type will use the docs to do each

456
00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:44,399
task

457
00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:46,079
now note the really important thing here

458
00:16:44,399 --> 00:16:48,399
you're not asking if system

459
00:16:46,079 --> 00:16:50,560
administrators are likely to do a

460
00:16:48,399 --> 00:16:51,519
product installation because of course

461
00:16:50,560 --> 00:16:53,519
they are

462
00:16:51,519 --> 00:16:56,639
you're asking if system administrators

463
00:16:53,519 --> 00:16:58,639
are likely to use the documentation

464
00:16:56,639 --> 00:17:00,720
to do a product installation

465
00:16:58,639 --> 00:17:02,720
the answer to that is a little trickier

466
00:17:00,720 --> 00:17:04,880
and it depends on some things like how

467
00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:06,720
easy your product is to install and how

468
00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:09,760
often a system administrator might need

469
00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:09,760
to do that task

470
00:17:10,240 --> 00:17:14,079
so when you have all the boxes filled

471
00:17:11,839 --> 00:17:16,079
out you can do some simple maths

472
00:17:14,079 --> 00:17:18,640
score a three for high likelihood two

473
00:17:16,079 --> 00:17:21,039
for medium and one for low likelihood

474
00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:22,720
that gives each task a score the higher

475
00:17:21,039 --> 00:17:25,280
the number the more critical the

476
00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:27,280
documentation of this task is

477
00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:29,360
so in my example here you can see that

478
00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:31,840
product research scores are six because

479
00:17:29,360 --> 00:17:34,480
it's only really important to one group

480
00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:36,640
but managing clients scores nine because

481
00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:38,720
it's important to everyone

482
00:17:36,640 --> 00:17:40,880
that means we know we need to spend more

483
00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:43,120
time and effort on documenting how to

484
00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:46,160
manage clients and we can improve the

485
00:17:43,120 --> 00:17:48,000
general product info later on

486
00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:50,400
now the highest scoring things in your

487
00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:52,559
table are called the critical paths

488
00:17:50,400 --> 00:17:54,559
the items with the highest critical path

489
00:17:52,559 --> 00:17:56,640
score is the content that is most

490
00:17:54,559 --> 00:17:58,320
important for you to write

491
00:17:56,640 --> 00:18:00,799
all of this doesn't mean that the lower

492
00:17:58,320 --> 00:18:03,760
ranked things aren't important of course

493
00:18:00,799 --> 00:18:05,280
it's just about finding a place to focus

494
00:18:03,760 --> 00:18:07,200
if you find that your focus points are

495
00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:09,120
not adequately covered in your existing

496
00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:11,360
docs then you have an immediate start

497
00:18:09,120 --> 00:18:11,360
point

498
00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:16,080
so by now you know what content you have

499
00:18:14,559 --> 00:18:17,840
and you have a pretty good idea of who

500
00:18:16,080 --> 00:18:19,600
your readers are and what kind of

501
00:18:17,840 --> 00:18:21,039
content they need

502
00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:23,280
so now we can take a look at the

503
00:18:21,039 --> 00:18:25,760
structure of the docs and work out if

504
00:18:23,280 --> 00:18:28,720
the way things are organized now matches

505
00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:31,360
what it is our readers want generally

506
00:18:28,720 --> 00:18:33,440
speaking humans have a tendency to put

507
00:18:31,360 --> 00:18:35,200
things in hierarchies

508
00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:37,280
so you will probably be facing a

509
00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:39,440
documentation suite that looks a little

510
00:18:37,280 --> 00:18:41,600
bit like this

511
00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:43,360
unfortunately hierarchies like this work

512
00:18:41,600 --> 00:18:45,280
well for when we have a bunch of content

513
00:18:43,360 --> 00:18:47,280
and we need to organize it but they

514
00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:49,280
don't actually work very well for when

515
00:18:47,280 --> 00:18:51,520
we need to find something

516
00:18:49,280 --> 00:18:53,919
to demonstrate i want to think want you

517
00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:55,679
to think about when you last moved house

518
00:18:53,919 --> 00:18:57,840
i've obviously just done this recently

519
00:18:55,679 --> 00:19:00,320
so i can tell you that what i did when i

520
00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:03,679
got to the new place was i started

521
00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:05,919
unpacking boxes and boxes of stuff

522
00:19:03,679 --> 00:19:08,080
so you pick up one thing and you put it

523
00:19:05,919 --> 00:19:09,600
somewhere that seems reasonable

524
00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:11,919
and then days later you're still

525
00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:14,000
wandering around trying to find it

526
00:19:11,919 --> 00:19:16,400
i ended up worming out two cats a full

527
00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:18,160
week late in the month after i moved

528
00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:20,480
because i found one cat's medicine in

529
00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:22,480
one place and the other cat's medicine

530
00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:24,720
somewhere completely different after

531
00:19:22,480 --> 00:19:26,640
three days of searching

532
00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:28,960
so putting things in a reasonable place

533
00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:31,520
is a very different skill and uses a

534
00:19:28,960 --> 00:19:33,840
different part of your brain to finding

535
00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:35,600
things

536
00:19:33,840 --> 00:19:36,960
to get this back to documentation you

537
00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:39,760
need to think about the different

538
00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:41,840
methods people use to find your content

539
00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:43,080
are they coming to you directly they

540
00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:45,840
might type

541
00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:47,280
docs.yourcompany.com into their browser

542
00:19:45,840 --> 00:19:48,799
they might search

543
00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:51,120
your company docs

544
00:19:48,799 --> 00:19:53,360
or maybe they're searching how do i

545
00:19:51,120 --> 00:19:55,600
install this thing or even

546
00:19:53,360 --> 00:19:57,440
what is this thing

547
00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:58,960
when they reach your page what page are

548
00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:00,640
they landing on

549
00:19:58,960 --> 00:20:02,640
are they landing on the top level page

550
00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:04,080
of your hierarchy or some page deep in

551
00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:06,159
the content

552
00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:08,480
and then perhaps the most important

553
00:20:06,159 --> 00:20:09,760
question where do they go next

554
00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:12,080
do they search for something else on

555
00:20:09,760 --> 00:20:14,080
your site do they use a navigation menu

556
00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:18,000
to click on something else or do they

557
00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:18,000
get bored and click away to facebook

558
00:20:18,559 --> 00:20:21,600
one of the most important things i

559
00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:23,760
noticed when i was analyzing the

560
00:20:21,600 --> 00:20:25,760
documentation at time scale was that we

561
00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:28,400
had several methods of navigating the

562
00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:29,840
docs but they all relied on readers

563
00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:30,880
already knowing what they were looking

564
00:20:29,840 --> 00:20:33,120
for

565
00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:35,039
this would be fine if we were catering

566
00:20:33,120 --> 00:20:37,039
only to experienced readers

567
00:20:35,039 --> 00:20:39,520
but we knew from research that we also

568
00:20:37,039 --> 00:20:41,760
had a lot of brand new beginner readers

569
00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:43,919
and we also had a lot of content already

570
00:20:41,760 --> 00:20:45,840
written that was tailored directly to

571
00:20:43,919 --> 00:20:48,159
beginners in the form of tutorials and

572
00:20:45,840 --> 00:20:51,600
getting started information so we needed

573
00:20:48,159 --> 00:20:51,600
to make sure they were able to find it

574
00:20:51,919 --> 00:20:56,000
because our product has quite a few

575
00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:58,159
unique terms for features it was doubly

576
00:20:56,000 --> 00:21:00,640
important that we didn't just assume

577
00:20:58,159 --> 00:21:03,200
that readers knew what those terms were

578
00:21:00,640 --> 00:21:05,039
or what they meant we needed to develop

579
00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:07,120
a way of navigating that not only

580
00:21:05,039 --> 00:21:08,559
allowed people to find the content they

581
00:21:07,120 --> 00:21:10,960
knew they needed

582
00:21:08,559 --> 00:21:13,360
but that could lead them to content they

583
00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:15,600
didn't know they needed

584
00:21:13,360 --> 00:21:18,159
basically we wanted to guide readers

585
00:21:15,600 --> 00:21:20,480
from a place of understanding or i need

586
00:21:18,159 --> 00:21:23,600
to know how to do this thing to a place

587
00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:26,000
of discovery or i didn't know it could

588
00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:28,559
also do this other thing

589
00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:30,559
this is an important step because often

590
00:21:28,559 --> 00:21:32,480
readers know what they want to achieve

591
00:21:30,559 --> 00:21:34,080
but don't know the words to describe

592
00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:37,600
that thing or use they might use

593
00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:37,600
different words to what we might use

594
00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:42,400
so from here we get to a step that i

595
00:21:40,559 --> 00:21:45,360
like to categorize as using your

596
00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:47,440
thinking brain

597
00:21:45,360 --> 00:21:49,360
hopefully the analysis you've done so

598
00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:51,120
far has led you to some natural

599
00:21:49,360 --> 00:21:52,960
conclusions that are now just waiting

600
00:21:51,120 --> 00:21:55,039
for you to express them fully

601
00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:57,440
but even if you're more confused than

602
00:21:55,039 --> 00:21:59,280
ever you can start methodically working

603
00:21:57,440 --> 00:22:01,200
through some ideas

604
00:21:59,280 --> 00:22:03,039
how do you need to arrange your content

605
00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:04,640
to make it easier for your readers to

606
00:22:03,039 --> 00:22:06,799
achieve their goals

607
00:22:04,640 --> 00:22:10,159
what technologies do you have available

608
00:22:06,799 --> 00:22:11,919
in terms of automation and organization

609
00:22:10,159 --> 00:22:14,320
in my current role we decided to

610
00:22:11,919 --> 00:22:16,159
significantly flatten our hierarchy and

611
00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:18,799
implement some intelligence in the form

612
00:22:16,159 --> 00:22:20,640
of keywords and related content

613
00:22:18,799 --> 00:22:22,320
whatever your thinking brain has come up

614
00:22:20,640 --> 00:22:24,880
with it's time to write all your

615
00:22:22,320 --> 00:22:27,039
brilliant ideas down even if they're

616
00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:28,720
incredibly unrealistic write them down

617
00:22:27,039 --> 00:22:31,919
anyway we'll work on cutting them down

618
00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:31,919
to size in the next step

619
00:22:33,679 --> 00:22:38,240
so this step is what i call an

620
00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:40,880
implementation plan and it's where

621
00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:42,880
reality settles back in and we decide

622
00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:44,240
what's actually feasible and in what

623
00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:45,760
time frame

624
00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:47,679
this is the point where it's really

625
00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:50,000
important that you have some management

626
00:22:47,679 --> 00:22:51,440
buy-in on your overall plan

627
00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:53,039
so you might want to make sure you've

628
00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:54,960
shopped your initial research around the

629
00:22:53,039 --> 00:22:58,480
company a bit so that this doesn't all

630
00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:58,480
come out of the blue for your manager

631
00:22:58,559 --> 00:23:02,799
the first thing to do is to work out

632
00:23:00,159 --> 00:23:04,559
what resources you have that's people

633
00:23:02,799 --> 00:23:06,240
time and money

634
00:23:04,559 --> 00:23:08,159
these work in the form of a project

635
00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:10,159
management constraint triangle which i'm

636
00:23:08,159 --> 00:23:12,400
hoping you've seen before

637
00:23:10,159 --> 00:23:14,159
if you don't have much time you'll need

638
00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:16,159
more people to do the work and more

639
00:23:14,159 --> 00:23:18,080
money to cover things like outsourced

640
00:23:16,159 --> 00:23:19,280
contractors or ready-made software or

641
00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:20,960
tools

642
00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:22,720
if you don't have a lot of money you can

643
00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:25,360
compensate by having more people to do

644
00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:27,120
the work and expecting it to take longer

645
00:23:25,360 --> 00:23:30,159
if you don't have a lot of people you'll

646
00:23:27,120 --> 00:23:30,159
need more time and money

647
00:23:30,559 --> 00:23:35,360
the next step is to determine what your

648
00:23:32,559 --> 00:23:36,559
minimum viable product is that's your

649
00:23:35,360 --> 00:23:38,400
starting point

650
00:23:36,559 --> 00:23:41,520
it's the smallest piece of work that can

651
00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:43,200
be done to achieve some benefit

652
00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:45,200
in most information architecture

653
00:23:43,200 --> 00:23:47,760
projects this is usually a small

654
00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:49,440
reorganization of existing content or

655
00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:50,559
adding a small feature such as site

656
00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:52,559
search

657
00:23:50,559 --> 00:23:55,200
from there you can work out what your

658
00:23:52,559 --> 00:23:58,000
next level items are more features more

659
00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:59,600
automation better metadata for seo

660
00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:01,919
improved content

661
00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:04,080
right up to complete rewrites tool or

662
00:24:01,919 --> 00:24:05,520
language conversions and completely new

663
00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:07,440
content

664
00:24:05,520 --> 00:24:09,200
now you get to pick the things on the

665
00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:11,840
list that you can do within your

666
00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:11,840
constraints

667
00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:15,520
now

668
00:24:13,279 --> 00:24:18,000
as a side note it's okay to be a bit

669
00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:20,080
disappointed at this stage it's very

670
00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:22,720
normal to have spent a bunch of time

671
00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:24,240
doing the research realizing exactly how

672
00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:26,000
much better it could be

673
00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:28,480
researching the amazing things you could

674
00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:30,480
do to make it better only to have to

675
00:24:28,480 --> 00:24:32,320
come crashing back to reality when you

676
00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:33,760
realize you can't possibly make it all

677
00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:36,320
happen

678
00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:38,640
mind you from personal experience i can

679
00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:40,640
tell you that if you do get approval to

680
00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:43,520
implement everything you suggest

681
00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:45,120
after that initial rush of approval you

682
00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:48,240
have to face the fact that you're about

683
00:24:45,120 --> 00:24:50,640
to embark on a massive project and that

684
00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:53,840
can be incredibly overwhelming too there

685
00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:53,840
are no winners in this game

686
00:24:54,559 --> 00:24:58,159
so now that you have your implementation

687
00:24:56,240 --> 00:25:01,679
plan i hate to say it but you've got to

688
00:24:58,159 --> 00:25:03,919
put the hard yards in and do the work

689
00:25:01,679 --> 00:25:05,600
i have other talks on how to manage big

690
00:25:03,919 --> 00:25:08,000
projects like this so i'm not going to

691
00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:09,919
go into that kind of detail here but if

692
00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:11,600
anyone is interested in how to manage

693
00:25:09,919 --> 00:25:14,640
that kind of thing you can check out

694
00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:16,799
this link on this qr code for a relevant

695
00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:18,960
video i'll just give you a second to

696
00:25:16,799 --> 00:25:21,120
pull your phone out and have a go at

697
00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:21,120
that

698
00:25:22,159 --> 00:25:26,159
okay one final note that i want to make

699
00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:29,360
about this process is that it's

700
00:25:26,159 --> 00:25:31,440
important to measure your success

701
00:25:29,360 --> 00:25:33,279
this starts right from the beginning if

702
00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:34,640
you have done your planning properly

703
00:25:33,279 --> 00:25:36,960
including things like your content

704
00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:38,720
analysis then you have a good starting

705
00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:40,559
point for later on being able to measure

706
00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:42,320
how things have changed

707
00:25:40,559 --> 00:25:44,320
it's also a great idea if you have the

708
00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:46,960
ability to be collecting data wherever

709
00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:49,360
possible especially if you can start

710
00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:52,799
before you implement changes it gives

711
00:25:49,360 --> 00:25:54,720
you a baseline for measuring for example

712
00:25:52,799 --> 00:25:56,480
if you define early on that one of your

713
00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:59,120
measures of success is going to be

714
00:25:56,480 --> 00:26:00,640
improving the dwell time on each page

715
00:25:59,120 --> 00:26:02,720
you need to know what your average dwell

716
00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:04,000
time was before you started so you can

717
00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:06,400
measure the improvement after your

718
00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:06,400
changes

719
00:26:06,799 --> 00:26:10,480
and a final caveat is that you might

720
00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:13,200
need to be prepared to have your ideas

721
00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:14,880
challenged it's entirely possible that

722
00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:17,679
even after all this research and

723
00:26:14,880 --> 00:26:20,159
planning you implement a new design and

724
00:26:17,679 --> 00:26:22,960
it just sucks

725
00:26:20,159 --> 00:26:25,919
design and architecture is more art than

726
00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:27,760
science after all this building won an

727
00:26:25,919 --> 00:26:30,320
architecture award

728
00:26:27,760 --> 00:26:32,880
and sometimes you might just try things

729
00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:34,720
out and it just doesn't hit

730
00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:36,080
in that case the most important thing

731
00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:38,080
you can do is listen to what your

732
00:26:36,080 --> 00:26:40,159
readers are telling you either directly

733
00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:42,080
through feedback or indirectly through

734
00:26:40,159 --> 00:26:44,240
their actions on your site

735
00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:47,200
tweak things roll things back if you

736
00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:48,960
have to adjust as you go and keep

737
00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:51,039
gathering data

738
00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:53,200
unlike buildings documentation

739
00:26:51,039 --> 00:26:55,679
architecture is constantly a work in

740
00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:57,840
progress

741
00:26:55,679 --> 00:26:59,919
and that brings us to the very end i

742
00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:01,600
just wanted to add that i work for an

743
00:26:59,919 --> 00:27:03,360
awesome company that lets me work on

744
00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:04,720
really cool stuff like this so if that's

745
00:27:03,360 --> 00:27:06,240
something that sounds like it might be

746
00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:08,480
interesting to you then you're in luck

747
00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:09,919
because we're hiring grab this qr code

748
00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:10,960
to go and have a look at our careers

749
00:27:09,919 --> 00:27:13,440
page

750
00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:15,200
and on that note thanks for listening be

751
00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:19,400
kind to each other and i will catch you

752
00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:19,400
live in the q a after this

753
00:27:21,679 --> 00:27:23,760
you