CIDM Matters

Shruti Deshpande
June 1, 2021

RWS is the global leader in content management and translation technology and services — 90 of the top 100 global companies work with us. Founded in 1958, RWS is headquartered in the UK and publicly listed on AIM, the London Stock Exchange regulated market (RWS.L). Over the last 60 years, the company has built a reputation for quality, reliability and flexibility with its global team of translators, researchers and technical experts. RWS’s specialist divisions combine the latest technology, proven processes and highly skilled staff to deliver complex services at each stage of the product lifecycle to meet the diverse needs of a global, blue-chip client base spanning Europe, North America and Asia. […]

Sairam Venugopalan, Qualcomm
May 15, 2021

Not until so long ago, information developers were hemming content, out of raw engineering source materials and scientific data, in a palatable form for consumption as full-blown printed manuals or wholesome portable books. It is true that several organizations continue to render their product literature as fully downloadable PDFs or compiled help files, alongside modular or layered documentation in the form of standalone topics as Web files. However, most of us will quickly concur that it was fairly easier to manufacture and maintain content for whole-blown containers or publications than to chunk and comb content for modular or tiered topics. […]

Yashenka Nesmith
May 15, 2021

The Challenge of Continuous Development in Agile

At Workday, the Information Experience team in technical documentation operates in an Agile continuous development environment, where writers draft, edit, review, and publish documentation on a weekly basis. Teams make significant efforts to stay on top of product changes, collect material from stakeholders, and process content for publication — prioritizing content alignment without sacrificing quality. Everyone who participates in the process has different challenges and goals: […]

Amber Swope, DITA Strategies, Inc
May 1, 2021

Agile Information Architecture

Agile methodology is very popular in technology organizations because it provides a blueprint for organizing teamwork. However, developing information architecture (IA) in Agile can be difficult.

The biggest challenge is that every organization does Agile differently. This means that you have to identify your team’s flavor of Agile. One key variation is the sprint length — some organizations staunchly limit their sprints to two weeks, while other organizations stretch out their sprints to three or four weeks. Another variation is the terminology they use for Agile artifacts. Before you start planning, talk with your team to understand their approach. […]

Rekha Raman and Macy Douglas, ServiceNow
April 15, 2021

According to the Institute for the Future, cognitive load coping, which is defined as our ability to discriminate and filter information of importance, is one of the most valuable skills needed to manage information coming at us from all directions. We have new technologies that continuously improve the quality of our lives — whether it is at work or at home — and we need to keep pace with them.

Here at ServiceNow, we automate workflows to make work, work better for people. We recently launched a product, Workforce Optimization for ITSM, that enables managers to manage and maintain the productivity of their workforce from a single location. […]

Anuradha Shukla
April 15, 2021

Adobe Technical Communication delivers best-in-class solutions and services that help businesses streamline end-to-end content workflows. With our cutting-edge solutions, teams can effortlessly collaborate on content creation, manage, and reuse assets efficiently, and seamlessly publish it across multiple channels and devices. Published content can be tailored to audiences, increasing relevance and consumption. All this, and more, while offering the highest return on investment. […]

Kathy Madison, Comtech Services
April 1, 2021

It’s widely known that when employees are satisfied with their jobs, they’re much more likely to be happy, more engaged, and more productive. In other words, they are having fun. But how do we know if our team members are satisfied with their job and what are we doing to keep them motivated and engaged?  Several CIDM members discussed this topic in a recent manager roundtable, and here are some of the best practices shared during the session. […]

Kathy Madison, Comtech Services
March 15, 2021

Want to learn the newest information-development trends — how to make your team and documentation more inclusive — what are the best practices in the “new normal” — what’s new in DITA 2.0? Join us for ConVEx, April 26-28, 2021!  See all the details.

ConVEx has something for everyone, with topics like content strategy, DITA, localization, management issues, media, metrics, publishing, searchability, technology, user experience, writing standards, and more! Sessions are offered during standard working hours in North America, Europe, and Asia. If you are a night owl or early bird, you are welcome to join any and all sessions regardless of your time zone. […]

Vishal George Palliyathu, Manju Joseph, and Bijo Jessy Francis, Cisco
March 15, 2021

The Git-Markdown-HTML ecosystem has had many early adopters in the Technical Communication discipline and is often a big boon for the nimble-footed start-ups who need to get their mandatory documentation through the door, with fewer hassles. The trio has the appeal of being open-sourced and setting up the ecosystem is adventurous enough in its own right. […]

Christina Brunk, Extreme Networks
March 1, 2021

Remember the days of working in offices, meeting face-to-face, and in-person conferences with travel, hotels, and free meals? While the global pandemic has put a stop to all types of personal interactions, this only means we are forced to get creative and do things virtually that we would normally do face-to-face. This year, I decided to use this to my advantage and plan a Virtual Global Summit.

As the leader of the Information Development team at Extreme Networks, I have held global meetings in the past; however, budgetary constraints have kept me from planning one recently. This year, I didn’t have to obtain approvals for travel expenses, so I took my cue from Nike and Just Did It. […]