Presentation by Christina Mayr for STC Carolina event November 29, 2018. Check out the event recap on the STC Carolina blog: https://www.stc-carolina.org/2018/12/07/event-recap-finding-the-right-authoring-tool-webinar/

1. Finding the Right
Authoring Tool
Christina Mayr
STC Carolina, November 2018

2. About Me
• Technical Writer & Knowledge
Manager, Epic Games
• Previously Information Architect
& Tools Administrator, Extreme
Networks
• Tools Instructor, Duke University
Technical Writing Program
• STC Carolina Past President &
Current Competitions Manager

3. There is no perfect tool!
THE END

4. Gather
Requirements
Research
Options
Make
Shortlist
Attend
Demos
Pilot Test
Roll-out
Document

5. Gather
Requirements
Research Options
Make Shortlist
Attend Demos
Pilot Test
Roll-out
Document
Define the problems first. Your
requirements should solve those
problems.
• User
• Business
• Translation
• Security
• Performance
• Usability
• Extensibility
• Maintenance / Support
• Cost

6. Problem Statement Example 1
Angela is a lone writer in a small
software company. She uses
unstructured FrameMaker with a
plugin to publish to Webhelp.
The plugin is buggy and time-
consuming, but she is also finding
a lot of opportunity for reuse.
Angela is wondering if moving to
structured authoring is right for
her.

7. Problem Statement Example 2
John manages a small
documentation team that writes
proposals, grants, and sales
support documentation.
The writers spend a lot of time
copying and pasting boilerplate
text into Word.
They need a better way to reuse
this kind of standard information
and increase their time to delivery
without moving to costly
structured authoring.

8. Problem Statement Example 3
Shannon works on a large doc
team that delivers print and
PDF manuals.
The company is expanding into
new countries, and translation
costs are very high.
To reduce translation costs,
Shannon wants to investigate
authoring tools that also
manage translation workflows.

9. Gather
Requirements
Research Options
Make Shortlist
Attend Demos
Pilot Test
Roll-out
Document
User Requirements
You are the primary user.
• Are there secondary users?
• Why are you looking for a new tool?
• What is the main objective or goal?
• What pain points, inefficiencies, or
bottlenecks are you experiencing?
• What do you need?
• What do you want?
• Usability and reuse fall under this
category.

10. Gather
Requirements
Research Options
Make Shortlist
Attend Demos
Pilot Test
Roll-out
Document
Business Requirements
• What do your customers need and
want?
• What do you need to deliver but can’t
because of tool limitations?
• What could you deliver to give your
company a competitive advantage?
• What resource, technology, and cost
constraints are you working with?
• Translation is a business requirement.

11. Gather
Requirements
Research Options
Make Shortlist
Attend Demos
Pilot Test
Roll-out
Document
Requirements Gathering Documentation
• Document all requirements in one file.
• Use to communicate to all stakeholders.
• Plenty of templates exist. Example
• Don’t overcomplicate it.
• Determine Must Have and Nice-to-Have
requirements (or
Critical/High/Med/Low)
• Start from end result and work
backwards.
• Consider “anti-requirements” – what
can go wrong and how do you prevent
it?
• Manage that scope creep!

12. Gather
Requirements
Research Options
Make Shortlist
Attend Demos
Pilot Test
Roll-out
Document

13. Gather
Requirements
Research Options
Make Shortlist
Attend Demos
Pilot Test
Roll-out
Document
Requirements Gathering Challenges
• All requirements are critical (no
priority).
• Requirements change after
cost/schedule determined (scope
creep).
• Vendors and users have different
terminology.
• Business environment changes:
• Mergers/acquisitions
• Organizational changes
• Project re-prioritizations

14. Gather
Requirements
Research Options
Make Shortlist
Attend Demos
Pilot Test
Roll-out
Document
Options:
1. Develop in-house tool.
2. Purchase existing tool.
Most will choose option 2.
• Research vendors:
• Review Tools Survey results.
• Go to conferences and writers’
events.
• Tap your network - ask what they are
using
• Follow tech comm blogs,
newsletters, and Twitter feeds
• Look for ways to augment existing
tools instead.

15. Gather
Requirements
Research Options
Make Shortlist
Attend Demos
Pilot Test
Roll-out
Document
• A shortlist is a small list of viable
candidates you want to investigate
further.
• Accomplish this by comparing all
options against your requirements.
• Tools that meet 95-100% of must-
haves and 60% of nice-to-haves
should be on your shortlist.
Requirement / Tool Tool 1 Tool 2 Tool 3 Tool 4
User requirement X X X
Business requirement X X X X
Translation requirement X X
Security requirement X X X X
Performance requirement X X

16. Gather
Requirements
Research Options
Make Shortlist
Attend Demos
Pilot Test
Roll-out
Document
When making your shortlist, also
compare the tools against these criteria:
• Number seats/licenses in base product
• Requires external CMS/CCMS
• Free trial available
• Cloud hosted or on-premise
• Collaborative authoring features
• Costs:
• Proof of Concept/Pilot
• Purchase/subscription
• Additional licenses
• Training
• Support

17. Gather
Requirements
Research Options
Make Shortlist
Attend Demos
Pilot Test
Roll-out
Document
• Schedule demos with sales &
technical/implementation staff.
• Ask to see specific workflows/features
you care about.
• 2 demos is common

18. Gather
Requirements
Research Options
Make Shortlist
Attend Demos
Pilot Test
Roll-out
Document
• When you have picked your 1st
choice, consider a pilot test.
• Helps gauge writers’ reactions and if
system is ready for a larger scale
deployment.
• Include 5%-10% of your intended
population and select writers who
are naturally enthusiastic about the
new system.
1. Install system
2. Migrate sample content
3. Systematically evaluate against
requirements & features
4. Decide if still 1st choice

19. Gather
Requirements
Research Options
Make Shortlist
Attend Demos
Pilot Test
Roll-out
Document
How to ensure a successful roll-out:
• Focus on making the pilot test successful.
• Establish a schedule and manage it carefully.
• Create a communication plan.
• Explain the why before speaking about the how.
• Back up the benefits with hard facts.
• Have empathy - people are emotionally
attached to current system
• Invite writers to make the change better.
• Plan your deployment in phases.
• Build in time for absorption of new ways of
operating.
• Recognize and reward the teams/writers that
adopt the process first.
• Encourage early adopters to train others.

20. Gather
Requirements
Research Options
Make Shortlist
Attend Demos
Pilot Test
Roll-out
Document
• System architecture
• Vendor/IT support information
• Future deployment phases
• Policies & Procedures
• Admin tasks
• User training material & recordings
• Tips/stories from early adopters
• Issues and requests

21. Thank you!
Questions?
christinaemayr@gmail.com
Twitter: @christinaemayr