In lean management, a concrete head is someone resistant to change. In my years working on content strategy projects, I have noticed many people are resistant to changing how they develop and distribute content—sometimes without even knowing it.
When you travel, do people ask you for directions and address you as if you live in the area? I’ve had that happen a few times, and friends and colleagues have shared similar experiences.
You may not stand out as an obvious tourist on your travels. But does the content you distribute fit in as well across different environs?
In a recent post on lean content strategy, I wrote about a focus on waste reduction:
After creating a nice automated XML-based process, waste in formatting is eliminated, and we declare victory and go home. Unfortunately, the organization is now producing irrelevant content faster, and the content organization is now positioned as only a cost center.
Is your content perceived as a commodity?
Technical Writing is only about what software you know! Is that why every where I read any type of document, web page, or article it is FULL of misspellings, incorrect punctuation, and horrible formatting?!!
That’s what started a thread on LinkedIn that encapsulates long-running debates on the skill sets technical writers need. (The thread was removed from LinkedIn sometime after Friday, unfortunately.)
Metadata is one of the most important factors in making the most of your DITA XML-based content environment. Whether you’re converting legacy content into DITA or creating new structured content, it’s important to know what metadata (or data about data) your files will keep track of and why. Coming up with a plan for using metadata can be tricky, so here are some tips to make the process easier.
“My team is looking into how we can use <incumbent tool> to handle our new content requirements.”
That’s what I heard from a manager during a recent phone call about a company’s expanding content needs. The tools-focused response made me cringe.
Product development, content development, and localization processes are too often viewed as a waterfall process.
This is not at all accurate.
When companies need to change the way they’re producing content, localization and scalability can be two of the biggest motivating factors. If your company’s content is not consistent, you may face significant challenges with translating it into new languages or distributing it via new platforms. A content strategy that embraces consistency and emphasizes planning for the future will help your company navigate these changes more smoothly.
Things have changed since we wrote this! Check out the latest post here with new insights from our team.
Does your house have good bones? Ugly paint, terrible carpet, and dated appliances are all fixable. But if a room is too small, a door is in the wrong place, or the rooms don’t match your requirements (need a downstairs master bedroom?), then you have a serious problem.
Content can also have good bones. Or not.
General Stanley McChrystal offers sage leadership advice you can apply to your content strategy.
Here are your marching orders:
One of the major challenges in implementing DITA projects is training. Although we (and others) offer fabulous live, instructor-led training, there is also a need for asynchronous learning–where can a student go to learn DITA independently? To address this need, Scriptorium is starting an open-source effort to develop training content for DITA.
The recent slate of announcements for candidacy in the 2016 US presidential election got me thinking—how do campaigns relate to content?
What’s the best way to minimize conflict when developing and implementing a new content strategy?
It finally happened. A part of your production pipeline has failed too many times, and everyone is in agreement: you need a hero.
I used Uber and lived to tell the tale. And I found a lesson for content strategy in my rides to and from the airport in San Francisco.
Having the budget to buy new technology isn’t the same as having a content strategy. Case in point: the US government has spent billions on electronic medical record (EMR) systems that can’t communicate with each other.
You’re probably hearing it more and more: silos are bad for your business. They discourage collaboration, lead to duplication and inconsistency, and prevent you from delivering a unified content experience to your customers. But what really happens when you try to break them down?
These days, I generally avoid fast food, but it’s hard to pass up good French fries every now and then. Look beyond those yummy fries, and you can learn some valuable lessons that apply to content strategy.
This guest post is by Carlos Evia, Ph.D., the director of Professional and Technical Writing at Virginia Tech.
The DITA Troubleshooting topic is one of the “new” features in version 1.3 of the standard. However, troubleshooting has been around the DITA world for some good eight years now.
Content strategy is taking hold across numerous organizations. Bad content is riskier and riskier because of the transparency and accountability in today’s social media–driven world.
But now, we have a new problem: a talent deficit in content strategy.
Robert Anderson, one of the DITA architects, compared the transition from DITA 1.1 to DITA 1.2 to the difference between having a couple of drinks with friends and a huge party. The DITA 1.2 specification introduced broad changes in the form of new base elements, new architectural structures, and new specializations.
DITA 1.3 isn’t the rowdy gathering that DITA 1.2 was—it’s more a group of friends going out to the new pub downtown while being sure to get some designated drivers. This article describes the most important additions to DITA 1.3.
It’s a new year, which means it’s time for Scriptorium to discuss—and wildly speculate about—the latest trends in content. Here’s what Bill Swallow, Gretyl Kinsey, and I had to say about 2015 content trends.
We hear a lot about the learning curve for structured authoring, but what does that really mean?
