A single-sourcing tool is a must have if you are supporting more than one scrum team. In my latest position, I supported nine scrums teams who were developing multiple applications or supporting legacy apps.
Using Author IT, I was able to reuse basic topics, such as, copyright, how to log on, introductions to software, and application navigation.
Author IT can publish to Word, HTML, Web Help, XML, and DITA.
What more can you ask for? Well, getting an answer from customer service is somewhat problematic. Author IT is located in New Zealand and this causes a one to two day delay for most e-mail questions. There is an Author IT user group and a fairly good help file.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
30 days and Tech Writing
Scrum teams develop in blocks of time called sprints. Sprint times can vary but the average is 30 calendar days. The goal of each sprint is to have developed something that could be put into production as is.
The technical writer must have documentation for each sprint. This is great because they can be small pieces of a larger application. You are working in the group with the developers, probably regression testing, and living and breathing the application for the 30 days.
The bad news is when you are supporting more than one Scrum team. Since I am a member of one scrum team, they get my full support and I have to tear myself away in order to help other teams.
One of the critical elements of a scrum team is that everyone does whatever is necessary to reach the goal. I do not code but I can test the UI. No one on the team is up for technical writing.
The quandry is that there are nine teams producing workable app's on a 30 day cycle. This means that the shared resource (me) is forced to decide what minimum amount of documentation is necessary for each team. Has anyone else come to terms with this dilemma?
The technical writer must have documentation for each sprint. This is great because they can be small pieces of a larger application. You are working in the group with the developers, probably regression testing, and living and breathing the application for the 30 days.
The bad news is when you are supporting more than one Scrum team. Since I am a member of one scrum team, they get my full support and I have to tear myself away in order to help other teams.
One of the critical elements of a scrum team is that everyone does whatever is necessary to reach the goal. I do not code but I can test the UI. No one on the team is up for technical writing.
The quandry is that there are nine teams producing workable app's on a 30 day cycle. This means that the shared resource (me) is forced to decide what minimum amount of documentation is necessary for each team. Has anyone else come to terms with this dilemma?
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Scrum links
I will be posting new and interesting links to Scrum related sites. Let me know if you have a good scrum site.
What is scrum? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrum_%28development%29
Implementing scrum - http://www.implementingscrum.com/blog/2007/09/12/about-30-new-certified-scrummasters-in-charlotte-nc-today/
What is scrum? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrum_%28development%29
Implementing scrum - http://www.implementingscrum.com/blog/2007/09/12/about-30-new-certified-scrummasters-in-charlotte-nc-today/
Lone Tech Writer and Scrumming
I am the only technical writer in an IT department with over 120 employees and contractors. We now have 8 scrum teams with major projects. I am the shared resource but I belong in one scrum team. Do you have any advice on sharing resources in the scrum team environment?
Caliber RM
We use Caliber RM from Borland to track our requirements. Does anyone else use this tool? I find it useful if the Product Owner associates the requirements with the backlog items. What is your experiences with the tool.
Tools of the trade
I use AuthorIt to single-source my documentation. I find that it helps me to focus my writing. Do you single-source your documentation? If so, do you use AuthorIt or annother application?
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