Creating Structured Documentation -- Will You Lead or Follow?

by Andrew Davis

Andrew is President of Synergistech Communications, Inc., a technology industry recruiting firm in Napa, CA.

The next transforming trend in technical communications is structured authoring. Technical writers who can lead their employers and clients toward this goal will thrive; those who can't will miss a unique opportunity to advance their careers.

What used to be the bleat of the misinformed (non-pubs) manager — "do more with less" — is now a realistic request. It's entirely possible even for small publications and training departments to achieve huge long-term savings by creating tool-neutral content that can be re-used, managed centrally, fine-tuned for diverse audiences, translated or localized efficiently, and distributed simultaneously in multiple formats.

The question for you, the technical writer contemplating your role in an evolving marketplace, is whether to lead or follow this trend.

If you'd like to multiply your value to your employer or clients, or at least avoid compromising you career prospects, Synergistech believes you need to lead the way toward "going structured."

What's involved with implementing structured authoring?

Structured authoring involves applying consistent rules to your documents' organization and metadata. In practice, this means applying standards-based XML templates to your content that fit your specific needs and keep you organized. To realize the benefits of international standards and the latest authoring and information-management tools, most Silicon Valley companies should apply the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) content template. DITA is an XML-based architecture for authoring, producing, and delivering technical information.

Won't structured authoring constrain my creativity?

Structured authoring isn't like 'Limited English' or other attempts to infringe on your individuality. It's not mechanized writing. Structured authoring simply standardizes the organization of your content, helping you present information consistently, and allowing you to focus on what the user needs rather than on the best sequence or format for that information. Most technical writers who create template-driven content find that they can infuse it with a satisfying degree of "character" while also working much more efficiently.

How can I add value to a company that's "going structured"

Technical communicators can be pivotal to structured authoring initiatives. Here are some specific ways to boost your value:

1. Research costs and bottlenecks associated with current content creation, translation/localization, maintenance, and production. Knowing these will provide metrics by which to measure your success and help you optimize your new process.

2. Learn about DITA and how its task, concept, and reference topic types map to your existing documents' content. This will help you perfect your new template and streamline the content migration process.

3. Practice creating XSLT transformations, tweaking CSS stylesheets, and applying custom HTML templates so you can move your content painlessly back and forth between delivery formats.

4. Explore using XML metadata to tune your content for specific audiences.

5. Research utilities that will speed your migration from unstructured to structured content.

6. Determine your post-implementation content development and deployment costs, and propose ways to reduce them by further optimizing your process.

Where can I learn these skills?

Synergistech can connect you with local trainers and experienced DITA implementors who can deliver customized training, advise you on specific technical and procedural solutions to your structured authoring challenges, and even help you design a unique DITA-based authoring environment. These are consultants who work with this technology every day, so they're well-qualified to not only tell you but show you how to make things work. Hiring one of these resources, however briefly, can cut your implementation time by weeks or even months.

To avoid reinventing the wheel, let Synergistech help. We'll ensure that you are fully empowered to continue independently, but also that you'll have support whenever you need it.

What's my next step?

To learn and implement DITA-based structured authoring, contact us today. You will find us on the web at http://www.synergistech.com, you can email me at andrew@synergistech.com, or you can telephone us at 1-866-591-2968 or 1-707-554-9365.