This document discusses how to stay relevant in one's career by adapting, innovating and expanding one's skills and responsibilities. It recommends changing one's mindset from focusing only on traditional documentation roles to thinking more broadly about creating innovative information solutions. Specific suggestions include rewriting job descriptions, creating new types of deliverables, engaging with other departments, and taking on responsibilities like training, social media and video production to expand one's impact beyond traditional boundaries. The goal is to grow one's career contributions and avoid being pigeonholed into narrow roles over time.

1. Adapt, Innovate, Expand:
How to Stay Relevant
(or Why I Have a Whiteboard in my Shower)
Gregory Parikh
Vice President
Oracle Information Development
October 23, 2014

2. Introduction
• 14 years at Oracle PeopleSoft
• 15 years experience with Information Development
• 22 years in Management
• Worked in Health, Manufacturing, Service, and IT
Industries
• Spent the last several years speaking and working with
other organizations on Relevancy
• Live in California, have two beautiful daughters, play
and coach lacrosse

3. Disclaimer
• These are only my opinions, mantras, mission
statements, life lessons, etc.
• There is no need or requirement to agree with
everything I am saying or teaching.
• I apologize in advance for not being politically correct,
touchy feely, or artistic.
• I tend to be blunt and to the point.
• I believe in what I am saying and am passionate about it.

4. “…one of the most productive,
innovative, and engaged
organizations within Oracle.”
A recent quote from a Senior Executive at our company, in regards
to our group…

5. The Challenge
Where is the traditional documentation team on the
organizational food chain?
Carnivores
Omnivores
Herbivores
Primary Producers

6. Relevant
1. Having significant and demonstrable bearing on the
matter at hand
2. Having social relevance
3. Being pertinent or germane

7. Why is this important?

8. End Game Mantra…
When we realize what our end game is… Positive Customer
Experience… we start to look beyond our self imposed barriers,
and become an asset (relevant) to our organization.

9. Don’t be a bottom dweller!

10. Keeping us at the bottom of the food chain…
Some of the issues my organization had to deal with in the past….
• Our group mission statement was to “not make waves”,
“not take on more deliverables”, and “fly under the radar”.
• We had a website that listed all the deliverables we were NOT
responsible for creating.
• Our group focus was on maintaining our scope of work, while
consistently reducing our staff. “Doing the same, with less.”
• We were fixated on iron clad processes, procedures, roles, and
standards.
• We allowed ourselves to be “typecast” into a “doc team” role.

11. Flying Under the Radar
When is flying under the radar good? Never!!!!!!
This is the goal of those who have a “Non Value Add” mindset.
No such thing as the “invisible expense”.

12. The Actor’s Golden Rule
• Never be Typecast!!
• Don’t be pigeon holed into the role of a “doc writer” or
“technical writer”.
• Something as simple as adjusting your job description,
can create many opportunities to expand.
• Take on the role of an Information Developer (or
whatever cool title you have created).

13. “Why do we need to
become Relevant?”

14. Relevancy
Job Protection
Group Pride
Opportunities
Fun
Job Satisfaction
Retention

15. “How do we become more
Relevant?”

16. Adapt
• Change your internal mindset first
– Thinking of your organization as an "information" organization,
not a technical publications organization.
– Re-write your group charter or mission statement.
– Octopus theory (tentacles)
– Change will happen, no need to embrace it, but must accept it.
• Change the external perception of your group
– Change your dept name (titles), if possible.
– Octopus theory (tentacles)

17. Innovate
• Go beyond the development of traditional tech pub
deliverables and design, and deliver new non-traditional
products.
• Innovation must be “sprouted” from a need. Let
innovation grow from your charter.
• Use customer input to create innovative technical
information solutions.
• Stay current. Leverage modern
technologies to create innovative
information solution.

18. Killing the Sacred Cow and other helpful tips…
• Kill sacred cows (not literally)
• Don’t be comfortable, comfort leads to non-innovation.
• Don’t suffer from “deliverable myopia”.
• No need to necessarily create more. You just need to
create more value.
• Don’t force team members to embrace change, just
make sure they accept it (this takes effort).
• Perception is reality.

19. Expand – grow tentacles
• Expand the boundaries of your groups reach, outside of
your comfort zone.
• Grow “tentacles” by creating deliverables for crucial
areas of your company’s product development and
delivery process.

20. How to create Tentacles
Engage with all internal and external groups
• Strategy
• Marketing
• User Groups
• Partners
• Consultants
• Training Orgs (internal and external)
Find ways to maximize your teams strengths
• Manage your company’s or departments Social Media campaign.
• Create and deliver videos and other online media
• Find niche areas within product development that your group can own.
– Icon Development
– Customer and Internal Facing HTML Web Pages
• Create Marketing content
• Help with Conference material
• Create internal training sessions
• Help train partners and consultants
• Create newsletters, emailers, surveys

21. Before Tentacles
Product Documentation &
Install/Upgrade Guides
Training Materials

22. Customer Information
Portal
Live new hire training
in India and China
Product Documentation &
Install/Upgrade Guides
Video Production and Webseries
Cumulative Feature
Overview Tool WebCFO
Embedded help
Interactive Business Process Maps
PeopleSoft Portal (Internal)
Training Materials
PSFT User Productivity Kit Content
Integration
Point Maps
Mobile
Documentation
Hosted On Demand
Documentation
Interactive Training
Paths
Fit Gap Tool
(Implementation Tool
for Customer/Partner)
Install and Upgrade Hosted Site
Social Media
Icon Design
Conference
Materials
After Tentacles