This presentation looks at the Darwin Information Tying Architecture (DITA) from the business perspective of how it fits into, and can help to facilitate, an integrated product lifecycle. The presentation also included a test where one of the images presented gears that could never turn. As expected, several people pointed this out after the presentation and they were exactly the people who I expected would spot and object to the impossible arrangement. Nerds (in the most lovable sense) tend to self identify.

1. DITA and the
Integrated Product
Lifecycle
Delivered at the CIDM DITA Europe Conference
in Munich Germany, November 2013
Joe Gollner
Managing Director
Gnostyx Research Inc
@joegollner

2. Important Acknowledgement
This presentation is substantially based on
a collaboration with Nolwenn Kerzreho
based on a survey she conducted on
collaborating with casual authors
Nolwenn Kerzreho
Componize Software
@nkerzreho
CIDM Best Practices Newsletter
October 2013
Reading this article in the CIDM
Newsletter, and attending
Nolwenn’s presentation at the CIDM
DITA North America 2013, started
these wheels in motion…

3. Topics
• The Product Lifecycle
& its Challenges
• Content Collaboration
& the Product Lifecycle
• DITA,
Content Collaboration,
& the Integrated
Product Lifecycle
A Canadian Winter

4. William of Ockham
• Franciscan Friar
• Oxford Scholar
• Died 666 years ago
in Munich
Ockham’s Razor
“Pluralitas non est
ponenda sine
necessitate”
“Plurality is not to be
posited without
necessity”
A Piece of History

5. The Product Lifecycle & its Challenges

6. The Facts of Business Life
• A Global Economy calls for
• Continuous
process improvement
• Maximized automation
• Dynamically tailored products
• Localized delivery & support
• Reconfigurable supply chains
• This Demands
• Standardized parts
• Flexible & dynamic assembly
Peter F. Drucker
The Practice of Management
(1954)
for products, services & content

7. XML has played a key role
• Thomas L. Friedman
in his book
The World is Flat
specifically focused on the
levelling effects of XML
• XML
• Enabled global
supply chain automation
• This drove the ability to
massively distribute
manufacturing & support
(2005)

8. De
Ac
qu
isi
tio
n
What does this mean for Products?
e
liv
ry
ce
an
rn
Op
er
ve
Go
at
io
n
Product
Strategy

9. What does this mean for Products?
Customer-specific
product delivery
De
Ac
qu
isi
tio
n
Streamlined
Development
e
liv
ry
ce
an
rn
Op
er
ve
Go
Evidence-based
Product Decisions
at
io
n
Product
Strategy
Rich Customer
Feedback Channels

10. No Trade-offs Allowed


11. What does this mean for Knowledge Workers?
• Specialization is
the order of the day
• Not a bad thing
• Not something that
can be reversed
But
It does
pose us
challenges
in how we
communicate
(1993)

12. Uncoordinated
Content Silos
Marketing
Collateral
Engineering
Specifications
Product Mgt
Requirements
TechComm
Documentation
Sales
Proposals
Training
Course Materials
Support
Knowledge Base
Uncoordinated
Customer Experience
The Product Lifecycle & its Discontents

13. The Problem of Silos

14. Introducing Content Collaboration

15. Collaboration Defined
• The contribution of work
from two or more people
to a common product
• This means that
there is shared
responsibility
for the result

16. Content Collaboration Pain Points

17. Some Known Problem Sources
• Collaborating on large,
monolithic information
products is very hard
(impossible?)
• Will be limited to
•
•
Sequential editing
review cycles
• Weak back-channel
discussion avenues
• Little experience with cross-silo collaboration
• Little experience with modular, structured authoring…

18. Improving Collaboration & the Integrated Product Lifecycle

19. The Basic Improvement Strategy - Technology
CMS
Guidance & Templates
Feedback & Outcomes
DITA
Authoring
Published Content
Publishing
One Source
Integrated Content
Marketing
Collateral
Engineering
Specifications
Product Mgt
Information Integration
Sales
Training
Support
Information Services
broker internal
communications and
channel high-value
content to customers as
an integrated experience
& returns guidance based
on customer results
Requirements
Information Experience
Proposals
Course Materials
Knowledge Base
One Voice - Integrated
Customer Experience
Publishable Content

20. Source
Steps towards Technology Improvement
Nolwenn Kerzreho
Componize Software
@nkerzreho

21. Elaborating on the Steps
Include
External Content
3
Organize
Core Content
1
Mobilize
Communicators
Equip & empower
communicators
to be able to deliver
new information
services as a
tactical tool
Team with
Suppliers
Go Social
4
Coordinate
with Partners
Integrate
External Content
2
Engage Subject
Matter Experts
Engage subject
matter experts to
streamline content
pathways, speed
up content lifecycles
& improve quality
Go Mobile
5
Listen to Users
Extend content
connections to
suppliers to
assemble a
complete picture of
product information
Enlist partners to
improve your
understanding of
customers needs
& environments
Expand content
connections to
reach customers
& users when &
where they are
using the products

22. Product Content Strategy
Core Concept:
Key Implications:
Content needs to
be planned,
created,
delivered,
used, and
managed
in the
context of
the product
lifecycle
to which it is
associated
Content needs
to be understood
as more than
post-production
documentation.
Content
is created
throughout the
product lifecycle
and is a central
part of how the
product is created
and evolved.

23. Product Content Strategy: Acquisition
Modular content
can easily move
among content
contributors

24. Product Content Strategy: Delivery
Deliver content as
working formats
(office docs)
for reuse by
business
users

25. Product Content Strategy: Engagement
Engage
content
users to
enhance content
with comments
& contributions

26. Product Content Strategy: Management
Modular
content can be
managed in
the product
context

27. DITA Collaboration in Action

28. What DITA has to Offer that is Special
• Widely supported
approach to modular,
structured authoring
• Expanding array of
“out-of-the-box” outputs
• HTML5, ePub….
• Ability to incorporate
specific business details
• e.g., S1000D semantics
• Expanding input options
• Office tools, online editing,…

29. And this is Important for Product Lifecycles
• DITA provides
• A common & extensible
representation of all
product lifecycle
content assets
• A wide & expanding
array of tools for
channelling content
between stakeholders
• A large & expanding community of vendors & practitioners
• Patterns that align with the behaviour of common tools
& the challenging demands of managing complex content
…DITA seems to be the only standards community tackling this broad a range of needs

30. Making Connections
Joe Gollner
Gnostyx Research Inc.
www.gnostyx.com
jag@gnostyx.com
Twitter: @joegollner
Blog: The Content Philosopher
www.gollner.ca
Related Post: http://www.gollner.ca/2013/10/product-content-strategy.html