DITA and the Integrated Product Lifecycle

DITA and the

Integrated Product

Lifecycle

Joe Gollner

Managing Director

Gnostyx Research Inc

@joegollner

Delivered at the CIDM DITA Europe Conference

in Munich Germany, November 2013

Important Acknowledgement

Nolwenn Kerzreho

Componize Software

@nkerzreho

This presentation is substantially based on

a collaboration with Nolwenn Kerzreho

based on a survey she conducted on

collaborating with casual authors

Reading this article in the CIDM

Newsletter, and attending

Nolwenn’s presentation at the CIDM

DITA North America 2013, started

these wheels in motion… CIDM Best Practices Newsletter

October 2013

• The Product Lifecycle

& its Challenges

• Content Collaboration

& the Product Lifecycle

• DITA,

Content Collaboration,

& the Integrated

Product Lifecycle

Topics

A Canadian Winter

• 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”

William of Ockham

A Piece of History

The Product Lifecycle & its Challenges

• 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

for products, services & content

The Facts of Business Life

The Practice of Management

(1954)

Peter F. Drucker

• 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

XML has played a key role

(2005)

What does this mean for Products?

ProductStrategy

Acquisition Delivery

Governance Operation

What does this mean for Products?

ProductStrategy

Acquisition Delivery

Governance Operation

Streamlined

Development

Evidence-based

Product Decisions

Customer-specific

product delivery

Rich Customer

Feedback Channels

No Trade-offs Allowed

• Specialization is

the order of the day

• Not a bad thing

• Not something that

can be reversed

What does this mean for Knowledge Workers?

(1993)

But

It does

pose us

challenges

in how we

communicate

The Product Lifecycle & its Discontents

Course Materials

Documentation

Specifications

Collateral

Requirements

Un

coo

rdin

ated

C

on

ten

t Si

los

Un

coo

rdin

ated

C

ust

om

er E

xper

ien

ce

Knowledge Base

Proposals

Training

TechComm

Engineering

Marketing

Product Mgt

Support

Sales

The Problem of Silos

Introducing Content Collaboration

• The contribution of work

from two or more people

to a common product

Collaboration Defined

• This means that

there is shared

responsibility

for the result

Content Collaboration Pain Points

• 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…

Some Known Problem Sources

Improving Collaboration & the Integrated Product Lifecycle

The Basic Improvement Strategy - Technology O

ne

Sou

rce

Inte

grat

ed C

on

ten

t

On

e V

oic

e -

Inte

grat

ed

Cu

sto

mer

Exp

erie

nce

Course Materials

Specifications

Collateral

Requirements

Knowledge Base

Proposals

Training

Engineering

Marketing

Product Mgt

Support

Sales

Guidance & Templates

Publishable Content

Feedback & Outcomes

Published Content

Information Integration Information Experience

Information Services broker internal

communications andchannel high-value

content to customers as an integrated experience & returns guidance based

on customer results

CMS

Authoring Publishing

DITA

Steps towards Technology Improvement

Nolwenn Kerzreho

Componize Software

@nkerzreho So

urc

e

Elaborating on the Steps

OrganizeCore Content

Mobilize Communicators

1

Equip & empower

communicators

to be able to deliver

new information

services as a

tactical tool

IntegrateExternal Content

Engage Subject Matter Experts

2

Engage subject

matter experts to

streamline content

pathways, speed

up content lifecycles

& improve quality

IncludeExternal Content

Team withSuppliers

3

Extend content

connections to

suppliers to

assemble a

complete picture of

product information

Go Social

Coordinate with Partners

4

Enlist partners to

improve your

understanding of

customers needs

& environments

Go Mobile

Listen to Users

5

Expand content

connections to

reach customers

& users when &

where they are

using the products

Product Content Strategy

Core Concept:

Content needs to

be planned,

created,

delivered,

used, and

managed

in the

context of

the product

lifecycle

to which it is

associated

Key Implications:

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.

Product Content Strategy: Acquisition

Modular content

can easily move

among content

contributors

Product Content Strategy: Delivery

Deliver content as

working formats

(office docs)

for reuse by

business

users

Product Content Strategy: Engagement

Engage

content

users to

enhance content

with comments

& contributions

Product Content Strategy: Management

Modular

content can be

managed in

the product

context

DITA Collaboration in Action

• 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,…

What DITA has to Offer that is Special

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

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