This presentation was delivered at DITA Europe 2009 in Munich. It is about trying to sell technology to an audience who might not be interested in technology for technology's sake.
It was the most fun presentation I ever gave. People in the next room were wondering what all the applauding and laughter was about.
Discover more inspiring stuff at HTTP://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/INDIECULTUREBOX
Does being part of the commodity crowd erodes your value?
By Rajesh Setty
(a ChangeThis manifesto)
This session will help anyone who is considering using DITA, especially if resources are limited. Maybe you've researched DITA. Maybe it all seems intimidating. In this session you'll hear how a small DITA pilot project became a successful business case.
The Hughes documentation team was producing numerous manuals with common content but also differences based on product models and audience. The team realized the traditional methods they were using were inefficient and were not reliable for producing consistent and accurate manuals. Hughes solved these problems through single sourcing and DITA and is now on track with a successful implementation.
Business and IT alignment, how to escape from the sand-trappierino23
The need for the IT to be fast enough to supply Business demand, is a false problem and can even probably be dangerous, leading to disastrous solutions often creating more and more inertia to IT itself that will be less and less capable of keeping pace with the Business. In addition an IT innovation will boost the business even more leaving IT in the dust. The approach to be fulfill is to make the Business "ride" the IT and create a virtuous circle.
The speech will describe the risks in insisting in Business-IT alignment and investigate how to leverage MDA as a way to successfully have the Business to "ride" IT.
Discover more inspiring stuff at HTTP://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/INDIECULTUREBOX
Does being part of the commodity crowd erodes your value?
By Rajesh Setty
(a ChangeThis manifesto)
This session will help anyone who is considering using DITA, especially if resources are limited. Maybe you've researched DITA. Maybe it all seems intimidating. In this session you'll hear how a small DITA pilot project became a successful business case.
The Hughes documentation team was producing numerous manuals with common content but also differences based on product models and audience. The team realized the traditional methods they were using were inefficient and were not reliable for producing consistent and accurate manuals. Hughes solved these problems through single sourcing and DITA and is now on track with a successful implementation.
Business and IT alignment, how to escape from the sand-trappierino23
The need for the IT to be fast enough to supply Business demand, is a false problem and can even probably be dangerous, leading to disastrous solutions often creating more and more inertia to IT itself that will be less and less capable of keeping pace with the Business. In addition an IT innovation will boost the business even more leaving IT in the dust. The approach to be fulfill is to make the Business "ride" the IT and create a virtuous circle.
The speech will describe the risks in insisting in Business-IT alignment and investigate how to leverage MDA as a way to successfully have the Business to "ride" IT.
Infrastructure Prowing Pains by David Poblador i Garcia - DevOpsBCN - March 2024devopsbcnmeetup
Ever thought about taking your infrastructure or platform team from a cosy group to premier league status? Let’s have a relaxed chat about making it big while staying on point. I dive into tales and tactics for beefing up your infrastructure from supporting fewer than 100 folks to powering a crowd of a thousand or more, all while keeping your tech solid and your team atmosphere upbeat. This session is perfect for leaders on the growth path and any tech pro involved in building or running infrastructure who’s aiming higher. Expect a down-to-earth rundown of dos and don’ts plus a handful of “oh no” moments from my journey of upsizing infrastructure at Spotify and beyond
2014 conference keynote addressing the agenda of the conference. Highlighting the changes and improvements in tech, and predictions for the next coming year.
The tech recruiting tactics of long ago (headhunters and classified newspaper ads) simply don’t work anymore. Discover why these outdated practices don't work and how to create a more modern developer hiring strategy.
What's happening to my clients? Extracting value from news articlesSpeck&Tech
ABSTRACT: When we think about web news as a source of information it seems that there's nothing new to talk about. Google News et similia are out there for years and everybody can access that huge amount of information, mostly for free. However, if you want to extract real value from news articles, things are getting much more complicated. At SpazioDati we are focused on collecting as much information as possible about all Italian companies from many different sources and news is one of the richest, but at the same time hardest, kinds of sources we are dealing with. So we built Sedano, our news processing pipeline that is able to ingest, clean, deduplicate, annotate, classify and cluster several thousands of news articles per day and make them available to our users. We will talk about the challenges we faced, the solutions we implemented, and the open issues we are currently working on.
BIO: Ugo Scaiella is Software Engineering Manager at SpazioDati where he leads a team of more than 30 highly skilled and talented engineers and data scientists. Previously, he spent several years developing and playing with Machine Learning and Information Retrieval systems both in industry and academic environments. When not dealing with crazy deadlines and an insane amount of projects simultaneously, you might find him grilling a wagyu steak or waiting for the pork ribs to reach 98°C inside.
How do you transform from a small company with just a few people to one that's 60+ people strong, developing and operating multiple online games at the same time?
The preentation covers:
- the pains of introducing Scrum to the company
- how to get the right people in the company and how to keep them
- our solutions for knowledge and technology sharing across the teams
- the importance of automation of the build and release process
This is the detailed Todoed slidedeck that was made by the todoed tribe. Todoed is a productivity tool unlike any other aiming to be an invisible assistant that works with you in flow.
Who owns the AV department - Creating an AV Master PlanHarald Steindl
Audio Video Departments often struggle because of shrinking budgets. This presentation was given in February 2016 in Amsterdam during the ISE, the worlds biggest Audio Video Show.
(c) Harald Steindl http://www.haraldsteindl.eu
Simple explanation of XSLT - what it is, what it does and how it can help you in creating well-structured content. No tutorial, just the basic concepts.
Faster than Agile - Proposal for Lavacon 2015Jang F.M. Graat
This is my second proposal for the LavaCon conference to be held in New Orleans in October 2015. The first version of this talk will be delivered at DITA/CMS NA in Chicago in April.
Infrastructure Prowing Pains by David Poblador i Garcia - DevOpsBCN - March 2024devopsbcnmeetup
Ever thought about taking your infrastructure or platform team from a cosy group to premier league status? Let’s have a relaxed chat about making it big while staying on point. I dive into tales and tactics for beefing up your infrastructure from supporting fewer than 100 folks to powering a crowd of a thousand or more, all while keeping your tech solid and your team atmosphere upbeat. This session is perfect for leaders on the growth path and any tech pro involved in building or running infrastructure who’s aiming higher. Expect a down-to-earth rundown of dos and don’ts plus a handful of “oh no” moments from my journey of upsizing infrastructure at Spotify and beyond
2014 conference keynote addressing the agenda of the conference. Highlighting the changes and improvements in tech, and predictions for the next coming year.
The tech recruiting tactics of long ago (headhunters and classified newspaper ads) simply don’t work anymore. Discover why these outdated practices don't work and how to create a more modern developer hiring strategy.
What's happening to my clients? Extracting value from news articlesSpeck&Tech
ABSTRACT: When we think about web news as a source of information it seems that there's nothing new to talk about. Google News et similia are out there for years and everybody can access that huge amount of information, mostly for free. However, if you want to extract real value from news articles, things are getting much more complicated. At SpazioDati we are focused on collecting as much information as possible about all Italian companies from many different sources and news is one of the richest, but at the same time hardest, kinds of sources we are dealing with. So we built Sedano, our news processing pipeline that is able to ingest, clean, deduplicate, annotate, classify and cluster several thousands of news articles per day and make them available to our users. We will talk about the challenges we faced, the solutions we implemented, and the open issues we are currently working on.
BIO: Ugo Scaiella is Software Engineering Manager at SpazioDati where he leads a team of more than 30 highly skilled and talented engineers and data scientists. Previously, he spent several years developing and playing with Machine Learning and Information Retrieval systems both in industry and academic environments. When not dealing with crazy deadlines and an insane amount of projects simultaneously, you might find him grilling a wagyu steak or waiting for the pork ribs to reach 98°C inside.
How do you transform from a small company with just a few people to one that's 60+ people strong, developing and operating multiple online games at the same time?
The preentation covers:
- the pains of introducing Scrum to the company
- how to get the right people in the company and how to keep them
- our solutions for knowledge and technology sharing across the teams
- the importance of automation of the build and release process
This is the detailed Todoed slidedeck that was made by the todoed tribe. Todoed is a productivity tool unlike any other aiming to be an invisible assistant that works with you in flow.
Who owns the AV department - Creating an AV Master PlanHarald Steindl
Audio Video Departments often struggle because of shrinking budgets. This presentation was given in February 2016 in Amsterdam during the ISE, the worlds biggest Audio Video Show.
(c) Harald Steindl http://www.haraldsteindl.eu
Simple explanation of XSLT - what it is, what it does and how it can help you in creating well-structured content. No tutorial, just the basic concepts.
Faster than Agile - Proposal for Lavacon 2015Jang F.M. Graat
This is my second proposal for the LavaCon conference to be held in New Orleans in October 2015. The first version of this talk will be delivered at DITA/CMS NA in Chicago in April.
Trailer for a presentation at the Lavacon conference, October 18-21 in New Orleans. If you would like to see this presentation, go to http://list.ly/list/N4W-lavacon-2015-call-for-speakers, find these slides and vote for them. Those with the most votes get to present their materials.
This short presentation shows how a homegrown flowchart editor, running in a web browser, can be used to design DITA tasks. Instead of painstakingly editing the steps and choice tables, linking them by cross-references, just draw a flowchart and connect its building blocks. Let the software transform your design into a valid and correct DITA task. Of course, you can also skip the DITA and go for interactive HTML5 plus JavaScript.
From user assistance to user guidance: Information appsJang F.M. Graat
Minimalism in technical documentation ultimately leads to using interactive procedures. The advantages of moving control from the user's head to a connected device are countless. But there has to be an easier way of building these so-called information apps (or procedure apps). This presentation shows how the implicit flowchart the designers have in their minds when writing a procedure can be made explicit in a graphical interface, which produces the HTML5 code. Easy design, easy error correction, no more reasons to not use procedures instead of relying on service manuals, training service staff, and the absence of stress on the work floor, where safety-critical procedures are required.
Minimalism in technical documentation ultimately leads to using interactive procedures. This presentation shows why that is the case, and what well-designed interactive procedures can do to bring down the cost of training, the risk in relying on the goodwill and good memory of service staff and the unreliability of debriefing at the end of a tiring working day.
Creating links in technical content greatly supports the user experience, but as technical content evolves, such links are getting harder to handle. Creating static links that are resolved while building the output will not work out in the end, as content creation is moving into the agile world. This is where a new paradigm is required, which enables authors to create semantically defined links, which will be resolved by querying the database of available topics, during runtime. This revolutionises the way we think about cross-references and hyperlinks.
Maximising the effect of progressive disclosureJang F.M. Graat
Minimalism in technical documentation states that we should only deliver info that the user needs. But how can we know what each individual user already knows (and does not need)? The answer is: we cannot. And this is why we should use progressive disclosure techniques to optimize the help we offer to our customers, so that each individual customer can decide for himself whether more info is needed or not, and on which aspects more info is needed.
There is one important catch: Implementing progressive disclosure can be a lot of work and be too costly to do. The solution to this budgetary problem is to use a well-defined structure in your content (preferably DITA) and an XSLT that automatically adds the required hooks and handles (triggers and targets) to make progressive disclosure work.
Progressive Disclosure - Putting the User in ControlJang F.M. Graat
This 2-hour tutorial explains the basic principles of progressive disclosure and includes a shoot-out between two tools that offer various levels of support for implementing progressive disclosure in web-based help systems: Adobe RoboHelp and MadCap Flare.
XPath-based transformations in structured FrameMakerJang F.M. Graat
XSLT allows you to transform the structure of XML files into anything you need. As structured FrameMaker is not exactly XML but follows the same structured design, the capabilities of XSLT within the FrameMaker environment can be very useful. The FrameSLT plug-in produced by West Street Consulting offers this functionality at a very low price. This presentation gives an introduction to what the tool can do, and what it means to do transformations of structure in technical documents.
Publications in DITA are handled via dita maps. Even with conditions and DITAVAL options, these are inherently static and bound to an old book type paradigm. In this presentation I am trying to outline a new paradigm, where the disclosure of information is made truly dynamic. Doing away with maps or at least with one single top-level map that defines all content. Having a dynamic information disclosure layer in place may prepare our technical content for the fast-moving world of today (which will move even faster tomorrow).
Version control systems do not work well for agile content, as this type of content is not built and published as a whole. If parts are changed, links may require changing as well. The presentation tries to outline a new paradigm for handling change in agile content.
Advanced techniques for conversion to structured FrameMakerJang F.M. Graat
Having well-formatted content available in FrameMaker enables you to automatically convert that content to structured FrameMaker (and then possibly moving it into XML). Automating the entire process is possible using a combination of preprocessing (with FrameMaker's built-in ExtendScript), smart conversion tables and post-processing (using FrameSLT, a low-cost plug-in for FrameMaker and some more ExtendScript). This tutorial outlines some of the tricks and tips that will get you started.
Create your own $35 CMS in Structured FrameMakerJang F.M. Graat
Content Management Systems for technical documentation can be expensive and do not provide a magical solution to all your reuse problems. Often, going through the excercise of building your own custom CMS helps you define your set of requirements, so you will be much better prepared to purchase the exact right CMS for you a couple of years down the road. Building your own CMS based on structured FrameMaker is not a very difficult task and teaches you a lot about all the possible issues when starting with modular documentation and reuse.
Dita Spezialisierung - Wie machen Sie es, und warum Sie es machen sollen.Jang F.M. Graat
Spezialisierung ist Alleinstellungsmerkmal von DITA und damit das Wichtigste, was es in der technischen Redaktion in den letzten Jahrzehnten gegeben hat. Dieses Tutorial zeigt, warum Spezialisierung wichtig ist, was es genau bedeutet und wie Sie es erfolgreich umsetzen.
Nur der Nutzer weiss, was der Nutzer noch nicht weiss - Progressive DisclosureJang F.M. Graat
Diese Präsentation zeigt, wie Minimalismus in technische Dokumentation letztendlich zu eine Technik führt, die sich auf English "Progressive Disclosure" nennt und am Besten als "fortschreitende Offenlegung" übersetzt werden kann. Warum Progressive Disclosure wichtig ist und wie es handmässig oder auch automatisiert gemacht wird (falls die Inhalte in einer vernünftig strukturierten Form vorliegen).
Changing the engine without stopping the rickshawJang F.M. Graat
This presentation is a reworked version of a joint presentation with a customer at TCWorld in Germany 2012. It shows how the transition from unstructured documentation to the modern world of structured, XML-based and topic-oriented authoring can be made smooth, without interfering with the publication chain. This presentation describes a project that was done using FrameMaker 10 with its built-in ExtendScript toolkit. It shows how being able to mix unstructured and structured content, including a DITA-type conref mechanism, can be used to keep the system running while the materials are converted and pushed into a repository for reuse one by one. This flattens the legacy documentation hurdle that may keep companies from moving to modern authoring practices.
How I killed the webmaster - and got away with itJang F.M. Graat
This presentation was delivered at the STC Summit 2005 in Seattle. It shows how I implemented a website for the TransAlpine Chapter without a webmaster having to do all the stupid work (uploading stuff, taking it down, etc.). We received a Pacesetter Award for the coolest website in all of STC.
How to become a trainer - and make lots of $$$Jang F.M. Graat
This presentation was delivered at the STC Summit 2005 in Seattle. Jobs for technical authors were hard to find, and I tried to show people what you can do with your technical communication skills if you also know how to explain stuff to a live audience. Sorry that the gradient applied to the background does not show on SlideShare.
Getting your hands dirty - How tech authors may be able to survive in the mac...Jang F.M. Graat
This presentation was held at the STC Summit 2005 in Seattle. It shows how technical authors, hit by the offshoring of tech comms, can find plenty of work in the machinery business. After all, that business domain is less likely to be offshored and there are many more small machinery companies than global software corporations.
Key Trends Shaping the Future of Infrastructure.pdfCheryl Hung
Keynote at DIGIT West Expo, Glasgow on 29 May 2024.
Cheryl Hung, ochery.com
Sr Director, Infrastructure Ecosystem, Arm.
The key trends across hardware, cloud and open-source; exploring how these areas are likely to mature and develop over the short and long-term, and then considering how organisations can position themselves to adapt and thrive.
Connector Corner: Automate dynamic content and events by pushing a buttonDianaGray10
Here is something new! In our next Connector Corner webinar, we will demonstrate how you can use a single workflow to:
Create a campaign using Mailchimp with merge tags/fields
Send an interactive Slack channel message (using buttons)
Have the message received by managers and peers along with a test email for review
But there’s more:
In a second workflow supporting the same use case, you’ll see:
Your campaign sent to target colleagues for approval
If the “Approve” button is clicked, a Jira/Zendesk ticket is created for the marketing design team
But—if the “Reject” button is pushed, colleagues will be alerted via Slack message
Join us to learn more about this new, human-in-the-loop capability, brought to you by Integration Service connectors.
And...
Speakers:
Akshay Agnihotri, Product Manager
Charlie Greenberg, Host
LF Energy Webinar: Electrical Grid Modelling and Simulation Through PowSyBl -...DanBrown980551
Do you want to learn how to model and simulate an electrical network from scratch in under an hour?
Then welcome to this PowSyBl workshop, hosted by Rte, the French Transmission System Operator (TSO)!
During the webinar, you will discover the PowSyBl ecosystem as well as handle and study an electrical network through an interactive Python notebook.
PowSyBl is an open source project hosted by LF Energy, which offers a comprehensive set of features for electrical grid modelling and simulation. Among other advanced features, PowSyBl provides:
- A fully editable and extendable library for grid component modelling;
- Visualization tools to display your network;
- Grid simulation tools, such as power flows, security analyses (with or without remedial actions) and sensitivity analyses;
The framework is mostly written in Java, with a Python binding so that Python developers can access PowSyBl functionalities as well.
What you will learn during the webinar:
- For beginners: discover PowSyBl's functionalities through a quick general presentation and the notebook, without needing any expert coding skills;
- For advanced developers: master the skills to efficiently apply PowSyBl functionalities to your real-world scenarios.
GDG Cloud Southlake #33: Boule & Rebala: Effective AppSec in SDLC using Deplo...James Anderson
Effective Application Security in Software Delivery lifecycle using Deployment Firewall and DBOM
The modern software delivery process (or the CI/CD process) includes many tools, distributed teams, open-source code, and cloud platforms. Constant focus on speed to release software to market, along with the traditional slow and manual security checks has caused gaps in continuous security as an important piece in the software supply chain. Today organizations feel more susceptible to external and internal cyber threats due to the vast attack surface in their applications supply chain and the lack of end-to-end governance and risk management.
The software team must secure its software delivery process to avoid vulnerability and security breaches. This needs to be achieved with existing tool chains and without extensive rework of the delivery processes. This talk will present strategies and techniques for providing visibility into the true risk of the existing vulnerabilities, preventing the introduction of security issues in the software, resolving vulnerabilities in production environments quickly, and capturing the deployment bill of materials (DBOM).
Speakers:
Bob Boule
Robert Boule is a technology enthusiast with PASSION for technology and making things work along with a knack for helping others understand how things work. He comes with around 20 years of solution engineering experience in application security, software continuous delivery, and SaaS platforms. He is known for his dynamic presentations in CI/CD and application security integrated in software delivery lifecycle.
Gopinath Rebala
Gopinath Rebala is the CTO of OpsMx, where he has overall responsibility for the machine learning and data processing architectures for Secure Software Delivery. Gopi also has a strong connection with our customers, leading design and architecture for strategic implementations. Gopi is a frequent speaker and well-known leader in continuous delivery and integrating security into software delivery.
The Art of the Pitch: WordPress Relationships and SalesLaura Byrne
Clients don’t know what they don’t know. What web solutions are right for them? How does WordPress come into the picture? How do you make sure you understand scope and timeline? What do you do if sometime changes?
All these questions and more will be explored as we talk about matching clients’ needs with what your agency offers without pulling teeth or pulling your hair out. Practical tips, and strategies for successful relationship building that leads to closing the deal.
Elevating Tactical DDD Patterns Through Object CalisthenicsDorra BARTAGUIZ
After immersing yourself in the blue book and its red counterpart, attending DDD-focused conferences, and applying tactical patterns, you're left with a crucial question: How do I ensure my design is effective? Tactical patterns within Domain-Driven Design (DDD) serve as guiding principles for creating clear and manageable domain models. However, achieving success with these patterns requires additional guidance. Interestingly, we've observed that a set of constraints initially designed for training purposes remarkably aligns with effective pattern implementation, offering a more ‘mechanical’ approach. Let's explore together how Object Calisthenics can elevate the design of your tactical DDD patterns, offering concrete help for those venturing into DDD for the first time!
Dev Dives: Train smarter, not harder – active learning and UiPath LLMs for do...UiPathCommunity
💥 Speed, accuracy, and scaling – discover the superpowers of GenAI in action with UiPath Document Understanding and Communications Mining™:
See how to accelerate model training and optimize model performance with active learning
Learn about the latest enhancements to out-of-the-box document processing – with little to no training required
Get an exclusive demo of the new family of UiPath LLMs – GenAI models specialized for processing different types of documents and messages
This is a hands-on session specifically designed for automation developers and AI enthusiasts seeking to enhance their knowledge in leveraging the latest intelligent document processing capabilities offered by UiPath.
Speakers:
👨🏫 Andras Palfi, Senior Product Manager, UiPath
👩🏫 Lenka Dulovicova, Product Program Manager, UiPath
Software Delivery At the Speed of AI: Inflectra Invests In AI-Powered QualityInflectra
In this insightful webinar, Inflectra explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming software development and testing. Discover how AI-powered tools are revolutionizing every stage of the software development lifecycle (SDLC), from design and prototyping to testing, deployment, and monitoring.
Learn about:
• The Future of Testing: How AI is shifting testing towards verification, analysis, and higher-level skills, while reducing repetitive tasks.
• Test Automation: How AI-powered test case generation, optimization, and self-healing tests are making testing more efficient and effective.
• Visual Testing: Explore the emerging capabilities of AI in visual testing and how it's set to revolutionize UI verification.
• Inflectra's AI Solutions: See demonstrations of Inflectra's cutting-edge AI tools like the ChatGPT plugin and Azure Open AI platform, designed to streamline your testing process.
Whether you're a developer, tester, or QA professional, this webinar will give you valuable insights into how AI is shaping the future of software delivery.
Software Delivery At the Speed of AI: Inflectra Invests In AI-Powered Quality
Geeks Don't Sell DITA
1. Geeks don’t sell DITA
JANG F.M. Graat
Jang F.M. Graat is an independent tech writer, trainer and consultant living in Amsterdam,
Netherlands. This talk was created for DITA Europe 2009 in Munich, Germany.
2. Hello,
I’m Hans
Meet our hero. He is a technical writer at a medium-sized company and takes his profession
seriously.
3. I’m the
Boss
This is Hans’ employer. He is a gentle, open-minded man in his early sixties. He has built his
business single-handedly and is proud of that.
4. Hans spends his own money on membership of a professional organization. And now he has
discovered something that he has been waiting for a long, long time...
5. DITA
DITA will solve all the problems Hans has been having in meeting deadlines and keeping the
documentation up to date. Hans decides to go to his boss to ask if he can use it.
6. The Darwin Information Typing Architecture
(DITA) is an XML-based method for writing
Gee
and delivering information in a variety of
kSp
forms. DITA consists of a Document Type
Definition (DTD), which specifies how the
elements that make up a DITA document can be
defined. There’s also a set of XSLT
eak
stylesheets that control the look and feel
of the output documents. Writers use the
stylesheets in conjunction with an XML
processor to convert a DITA document to more
usable formats, such as HTML or PDF. Like
HTML or other variants of XML, DITA consists
of a set of tags. There are around 200 tags
in the DITA specification. The tags are easy
to understand, and many of them are similar
Hans has no doubttags. For understand the benefits of this great new technology. He
to getting intothat hisgives his boss the short techie<p> denotes [...]
HTML it and boss will example, introduction to DITA.
is really
7. DITA ? transformation ?
conref ?
XML ?
tags ?
XSLT ?
processor ?
Hans’ boss hears all kinds of lingo that he does not recognize. He asks Hans to give him a
practical example. After all, he is open-minded and not afraid of change.
8. <task id="washcar" xml:lang="en-us">
<title>Washing the car</title>
<taskbody>
<steps>
Sil
<step>
Gee ly
<cmd>Move the car onto the
kSp
driveway.</cmd>
</step>
<step> eak
<cmd>Attach the water hose to a
spout and pull the free end over to
the car.</cmd>
</step>
<step>
<cmd>Fill a bucket with soapy
water.</cmd>
So Hans comes up with one of the standard examples from the DITA toolkit: procedures for
</step>
washing the car. Unfortunately, this does not really help him convince his boss...
9. NOT
WO
RK
First of all, most people do not associate washing the car with work, or not paid work anyway.
You either have your kids do it, or do it yourself and make it fun.
10. And second, the boss feels that he is being treated like a total moron - he knows how to wash
his car, so you do not need to write a manual for him about that.
11. DITA ?
Hans’ boss feels that Hans has taken enough of his precious time and decides that DITA is not
something they should go for. “When in doubt, don’t jump” is one of his mottos.
12. what went wrong ?
Hans is totally surprised by this, as he was convinced that DITA was the way to go for his
company and he expected his boss to see it, too. After all, it is so obvious !
13. Where’s the money ?
But Hans’ reasons to go for DITA are not the ones his boss is sensitive to. Hans should follow
the money and find a way to talk business to his boss and “sell” him DITA.
14. ROI
Hans learns to think along the same lines as his boss - which means he discovers the magic
acronym ROI. This is vital to any change in any organization.
15. So Hans starts reading up on financial aspects of business and finds business cases for DITA.
Now he has the material needed to convince his boss.
16. no DITA
DITA
Hans now presents a business case that shows how DITA brings short-term profits with only
small investments. These are the kinds of things managers love to hear.
17. DITA ? saving resources
cutting costs
ROI
free extras
Hans’ boss gets interested in DITA now, but he has not built his business believing just
anyone, so he asks Hans just how such wonderful ROIs are possible with DITA.
18. First, we need to create a DTD and buy an
Gee
XML editor. Then we define a specialisation
for our company and the translation rules
from the standard DITA DTD to ours. Also, we
kSp
create read-write rules and an XLST file to
translate the sources to various outputs.
After the topics are defined we create one
eak
bookmap for each publication. Using conrefs
we can reuse content from one XML file in
another. With the XSL-FO that is included in
the DITA-OT we can create simple PDF files.
To control the process we write ANT scripts
and call libraries to include server-side
includes. When that is finished, the output
can be processed into online help and using
XSLT can be made to fit on a PDA screen.
Hans feels he has already won and gets all excited about implementing DITA again. He reverts
to “geekspeak” and forgets that his boss does not share the same techie background.
19. DITA ?
Again, Hans’ boss hears too many technological terms that he does not understand. He does
not want to take the risk. Surprisingly (or not), he gives Hans another clear “No”.
20. what went wrong ?
So, what went wrong this time ? Hans thinks about it hard and does not find the answer. After
all, he did give a clear business case. So why did his boss back out after all ?
21. he just doesn’t see it
Hans feels that his boss is just being blind to all the potential that DITA brings. He seems so
open-minded, but he is really too old and slow to understand that he is wrong.
22. who just doesn’t see it ?
But Hans, can you see that your own preconceptions about technology might not be the
ultimate truth - that there are different kinds of truths you can choose from ?
23. What is Real ?
After all, what is real and what is not depends on how you look at it, right ? You do not need
to be Neo to know that there might be different possible views on reality.
24. Maybe you took the red pill and your boss took the blue pill. And you can discuss who is right
and who is wrong for a very long time: that question cannot be resolved.
25. I’m still
the Boss
The bad news for you is that your boss needs to pay for the whole thing, so he is going to be
right, even if he is wrong.
26. So Hans needs to really think about presenting the concepts of DITA to his boss in a language
that his boss understands. Use examples from the world in which his boss lives and thinks.
27. Many machines are built from complex subassemblies, which may vary from one machine to
another - his boss does not pay engineers to reinvent the wheel again and again.
28. So if this is true for all those modules the engineering department is creating and reusing,
why can’t this be the same for the documentation department ?
29. Hans uses the engineering style of his own company to explain what he would like to do for
the documentation, using DITA. Document modules and assemble them into manuals.
30. DITA ? higher quality
modular design
reuse
ROI
various outputs
Using this strategy, Hans convinces his boss that modular documentation design is not
different from modular machine design. This is something his boss can relate to.
31. DITA ?
Hans’ boss does not need to know technical details of DITA. He just needs to understand the
basic concept enough to run a pilot project. After that step, the rest is a walk in the park.
32. The Future of DITA ?
Special Edition
Today, clouds part, more
“All the News sunshine, recent gloom pass -
We Hope to Print” es. Tonight, strong leftward
winds. Tomorrow, a new day.
Weather map throughout.
VOL. CLVIV . . No. 54,631 NEW YORK, MONDAY, JULY 4, 2011 FREE
DITA 2.0 OUT NOW
Industry Sets Its Sights On
Reusable Documentation
True Cost Reduction, Increased Trust In DITA
By T. VEBLEN Governments To
The President has called for
swift passage of the Safeguards
leader and our religion. No won-
der the median standard of infor-
Adopt DITA
for a New Economy (S.A.N.E.) bill. mation has been declining for so By JUDE SHINBIN
The omnibus economic package long.”
includes a federal DITA toolbox, Krugman said that the new WASHINGTON — Operation
mandatory “True Cost Reducti- Treasury bill seeks to ensure the User Freedom and Operation En-
on,” a phased withdrawal from usability of all information, rather during Documents were brought
complex documentation tools than simply supporting large cor- an unceremonious close today
and other measures intended to porations and wealthy users. “The with a quiet announcement by the
improve life for ordinary Tech- manual is supposed to serve us. Department of Information that all
Writers. (See highlights box on p. Unfortunately, we have ended up new documents will use DITA.
A10.) He also repeated earlier calls serving the manual. That’s very “This is the best that could have
for passage of the “Ban on Copy- bad.” happened in the development of
ing” bill currently making its way Much as Roosevelt, after the usability in user documentation,”
through Congress. Great Depression, put the brakes DoI spokesman JoAnn Hackos
Treasury Secretary Paul Krug- on C.E.O. wages and irresponsible said at a special joint session of
man stressed the importance of banking practices, administration Congress. “Today, we can finally
the bill. “Manuals make great ser- officials claim that today we need enjoy information whenever we
vants, terrible leaders, and absurd to rein in the industry that has need it, and wherever we can use
religions,” said Krugman, quoting caused such chaos and misery. it in the best possible way.”
Paul Hawken, an advocate of cor- “The building blocks of true As U.S. and European govern-
porate responsibility and author information are simple enough ments are rewriting their texts,
of “Cut-Copy-Paste, How the Larg- to create, once the technology is the United Nations will move in to
est Movement in the World Came in place,” said House Speaker perform duties and aid in rebuild-
into Being and Why No One Saw It Nancy Pelosi, who initially op
ing legacy knowledge bases. They
Coming.”
will be responsible for keeping the
“At this point, the manual is our Continued on Page A10
knowledge available; coordinating
If DITA users start using less “geekspeak” and learn how to sell DITA to their managers, their
world might become a better place to work in.
33. JANG Communication
www.jang.nl jang@jang.nl
Jang F.M. Graat is a very experienced presenter and trainer and loves to travel. If you are
interested in his presentations or consults, check out his website and/or send an e-mail.