How to build developer documentation in a fully remote team for a community scattered all over the globe? Diana Lakatos, Director of Documentation at platformOS, shows you the steps and iterations in her journey building the platformOS developer portal, and talks about the approaches, processes, and tools used from the discovery phase that lead to the platformOS team winning the UKTC Award.

1. 1
Building Developer Documentation
with a Fully Remote Team and Community

2. TOPICS
I. Introduction
II. Information Architecture
III. Content production
IV. Layouts, navigation, design
V. Implementation
VI. Community
2

3. 3
I. INTRODUCTION

4. I am Diana Lakatos,
a Technical Writer specialised
in developer documentation.
As the Director of
Documentation at platformOS, I:
4
Hello!
● Established documentation processes
● Manage all phases of the editorial workflow
● Create templates
● Write, edit, and review documentation
● Incorporate best practices

5. 5
platformOS
● platformOS is a
model-based application
development platform
aimed at frontend
developers and site
builders.
● Team: 25 people
● Distributed
○ In space
○ Across time zones
● Fully remote

6. 66

7. 7
II. INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

8. Design Thinking: build based on user needs
88
Tim Brown urges designers to think big
- A TED talk that shows the value of Design Thinking in solving complex challenges.
Empathize
Define
Ideate
Prototype
Test

9. 9
EMPATHIZE Remote UX Workshops

10. 10
DEFINE Personas and Content Inventory

11. 11
IDEATE Persona Validation and Card Sorting

12. 12
PROTOTYPE Sitemap

13. 13
TEST Remote usability testing
Moderated Unmoderated
Interviewing Quick unmoderated Tests

14. 14
TEST Surveys, analytics
Survey Monkey
● Surveys, quizzes, polls
● Analysis of results
● Export and integration
Hotjar
● Recordings
● Heatmaps
● Funnels
● Feedback

15. 15
III. CONTENT PRODUCTION

16. ---
converter: markdown
metadata:
title: Security and Disaster Recovery
description: This article outlines the steps
platformOS takes to ensure security and provide
disaster recovery.
---
This article outlines the steps platformOS
takes to ensure security and provide disaster
recovery. It’s a high-level overview taken from
the comprehensive internal Disaster Recovery
Plan managed by our DevOps team.
## Security Management System
platformOS has invested heavily in its
**Information Security Management System
(ISMS)** and built a set of security policies
and processes to protect your data and assets.
* Multiple network abstraction layers for
isolation
Focus on audience, content, and UX
— leave visual design for later
● Design Thinking method
● Content production
● Test with real users
● Continuous feedback and
improvements
● Iterative approach
● Editorial workflow
16
Content First

17. Cras efficitur nibh sed viverra pellentesque. In blandit ultricies
facilisis. Fusce enim quam, fringilla a convallis ut, convallis in
augue. Cras efficitur nibh sed viverra pellentesque. Fusce enim
quam, fringilla a convallis ut, convallis in augue.
START
Internal or external feedback
through Slack, feedback
block, user research, team
members, engineering.
PLAN
Create a ticket for the task,
add to backlog and sprint
planning, assign.
WRITE
● Markdown format
● Template
● Style Guide
PUBLISH
Merge the PR, trigger
automated tests and deploy
to staging and then to
production.
REVIEW
A developer and writer
reviews the content and
suggests changes. All edits
are made in the branch.
SUBMIT
Send a pull request to the
documentation GitHub
repository.
17

18. Community-driven documentation
Involving our community in all
phases and aspects of our
documentation process.
● Agile and iterative process
● Test and validate early on
● Constant collaboration builds
trust
● Users have to be prepared for
half-done content and design
1818

19. Style Guide
● Guidelines for writing technical
content
● How to write each content type
1919
● Markdown
● Topic type structure and
placeholders with explanations
Templates

20. 20
IV. LAYOUTS, NAVIGATION, DESIGN

21. Wireframes
2121

22. 22
Low fidelity design
High fidelity design
Prototype
Versioning
Sharing
Collect feedbackInspect design
Export assets
Present design
Collaboration

23. 23
2018 2019 2020

24. 24
V. IMPLEMENTATION

25. 25

26. 26

27. 27
VI. COMMUNITY

28. Contributor Experience
2828
● Contributor Guide
● Entry points
● Ease of contribution
● Appreciation

29. Communication
● Slack, Zoom
● Documentation
○ Feedback and contribution
● Town Halls
● UX Research
● Stay in the loop
○ Status reports
○ Release notes
○ Roadmap
○ Blog
2929

30. Internal and external
communication
Version control, project management,
docs as code
Remote UX Workshops
Card Sorting Exercises
Collaboration, wireframe, design,
reporting, prototyping, presenting,
collecting feedback, versioning
Surveys, analytics
Online research
Remote usability testing, interviews
Specialized UX research 30Performance and accessibility testing

31. 31
THANK YOU!

32. 32