The slides are based on what I spoke at the Write the Docs - Cincinnati conference. Hope you enjoy them :)

1. Documentation Strategy for Open
Source Projects
Shavindri Dissanayake
@Shavindri_Dissa

2. Overview
• Importance of documentation for open source projects
• Content release cycle
• Engaging with the community

3. Is Documentation Important?

4. Open Source Documentation
Do you think having open source documentation is
important?
YES
NO
MAYBE

5. Open Source Documentation
Do you think having open source documentation is
important?
YES
NO
MAYBE

6. The biggest complaint based on the GitHub Open Source
Survey 2017:
“Documentation is highly valued, frequently overlooked, and
a means for establishing inclusive and accessible
communities.”
Source: http://opensourcesurvey.org/2017/

7. Pain Points
• No introduction
• No step-by-step guide
• No samples
• Forgets new users
• Won’t listen to user feedback

8. Advantages of Open Source Content
• Drives adoption
• Drives expansion
• Improves quality

9. Source: https://wso2.com/blogs/thesource/author/jackiewheeler/

10. Source: rawpixel.com
Plan and Write

11. Write sentences that are
clear, to the point, and
easier to read!

12. Source: rawpixel.com
Plan and Write

13. Credit: Daniel Soñé Photography, LLC
Test and Review

14. Once the documentation is out ….

15. Getting The Community
Involved

16. Documentation Types
Product Documentation Technical Documentation

17. Product Documentation
Product
Documentation
Quality Improvements
GitHub Issue
JIRAs
New Features
PR Dashboard
Milestone Releases
Dev-Mailing List
Customer
Feedback
Pull Requests (PR)
Stack Overflow

18. GitHub Issues
Stack Overflow
Quality Improvements
JIRAs
Dev-Mailing List Customer Feedback

19. <!Code changes can affect docs>
PR Dashboard
Tracking Pull Requests

20. PR Process
Merged
PRs
No Doc Impact
Doc Impact
Draft
Provided
No Draft
In progress Completed

21. Technical Documentation
Product
Documentation
Quality Improvements
Git Issues
Dev-Mailing List
New Features
Reviews
Slack
Meetups
Pull Requests (PR)
Quality Domain

22. Only Documentation?
Source: https://www.datamation.com/news/tech-comics-herding-cats-or-developers-1.html
The creator of the Geek and Poke cartoon series is Oliver Widder.
• Code Comments
• User Experience
• Code Samples

23. Help The Community Engage

24. Licensing Content
Source:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CreativeCommons_logo_trad
emark.svg
Source: http://seawisphunter.com/minibuffer/api/group___m_i_t.html
Source: https://www.apache.org/licenses/
Source: https://www.eclipse.org/jetty/licenses.html

25. Summary
• Quality documentation is REQUIRED
• Have a process in place
• Make sure it works for your organization
• Get the community engaged
• License your content

26. THANK YOU
wso2.com