My presentation on Lean at the GDS mini-conference, AgileTheDocs

1. Towards an
Agile Authoring
methodology:
Learning from
Lean
Ellis Pratt
@ellispratt
December 2016
GDS

2. Overview
1. About me
2. What is Lean?
3. A Lean view of technical
writing
4. Towards an Agile
methodology

3. About me

4. About me
Director at Cherryleaf, a
technical writing services and
training company
A very long time ago, I wrote
my undergraduate
dissertation on an analysis of
manufacturing production
methods

5. Agile is problematic for
Technical Communicators

7. Agile’s effect on writing
1. Changing requirements and
rework
2. Sizing a project is difficult
3. Defer commitment and
“Document late” to avoid
waste
4. There’s no time

8. What is Lean?

9. Lean

10. What is Lean?
A process for making things
Based on the Toyota
Production System
Used today in healthcare,
programming and other areas

11. What is Lean?
A relative of Agile

12. Lean in a nutshell
Maximise value to the
customer
Minimise waste

13. Waste in Lean
1.Waiting
2.Over processing
3.Rework and correcting
4.Moving things
5.Processing waste
6.Inventory
7.Talent misused
8.Not meeting customer’s requirements
Lean breaks waste down into 7 (or 8)
categories

14. We’ll focus on the three
original wastes
Muda
Not adding value to the
user
Muri
Overburden
Too difficult / Too much
Mura
Unevenness
Waiting

15. Optimise the whole, not the
parts
Optimise the whole value
stream, not just individual
functions or teams
This leads to complete, multi-
disciplined, co-located
product teams
Image: RMI.org

16. Lean methods

17. One piece flow
Instead of batch processing
(even though it’s
counterintuitive)
You’ll spot errors much more
quickly
Image: Geoff Rixon

18. Andon cord
If there is a problem,
anyone can stop the
production line

19. A Lean view of
technical writing

20. Common types of waste in
content
“Waste in formatting -
formatting and
reformatting and re-
reformatting…
http://www.scriptorium.com/2015/09/lean-content-strategy/

21. Common types of waste in
content
“…Waste in review - oh,
so much waste in the
review cycles”

22. Waste - for the writer
Creating content that’s not
needed
Editing/multiple draftsToo much work and
Not enough time
Delays in approving & publishing
content

23. Do you have an inefficient
process?

24. Do you have an inefficient
process?

25. Essential wastes
Will the client pay for it to be
produced?
If they won’t pay, is it essential
waste? (A compelling need,
like tests and inspections)
Mark Eaton

26. Are you ʻprocessing wasteʼ?
Do you have an efficient
process, but you’re
producing something that
add little value to the user?

27. Waste - for the user
Content that’s not needed or
Doesn’t meet their needs
Too difficult or detailed
Delays in finding information

28. Common types of waste in
content
“…Waste in delivery -
information cannot be
used by end user
because it’s not in the
right language or the right
format…
http://www.scriptorium.com/2015/09/lean-content-strategy/

29. Towards an Agile
methodology

30. Load balancing

31. Who does the work?
Try and even out the workload
Find a long term partner
Tricky if you are using
specialist tools others can’t
use
Developers should not
abdicate responsibility
Image: Atlassian

32. Make it easy for developers
to collaborate
Set standards
Provide guidelines
Provide templates
Enable them to use their own
tools
Share the same issue tracker
Share the same review tool?

33. Documentation as
code

34. Treat documentation as code
You are a developer (of
content)
Use the same tools as
the developers, wherever
possible
Robert Hays, Radial

35. Treat documentation as code
Add your tasks to the
Kanban board
So there is close tracking
of topics to code
development
Robert Hays, Radial

36. Treat documentation as code
Include the feature
number and the User
Story reference number in
the topic titles

37. Treat documentation as code
Treat reviews and edits as
“calibrations” and
“defects”

38. Deliverables

39. Minimal Viable Product
“Just-In-Time
Documentation Also
Means Just Enough”
Anne Gentle
Anne Gentle. 2007. Writing End-User Documentation in an Agile Development Environment
Retrieved May 2015 from http://justwriteclick.com/2007/07/02/writing-end-user-documentation-

40. An iterative publishing
process
Incremental release
Service à la russe
Prior to product release?
Image: Cafe Gallay Geneva

41. Novels have been serialised
"The Strand Magazine (cover), vol. 73, April 1927" by Special Collections Toronto Public Library - http://www.flickr.com/photos/
43021516@N06/8346257651/. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:The_Strand_Magazine_(cover),_vol._73,_April_1927.jpg#/media/File:The_Strand_Magazine_(cover),_vol._73,_April_1927.jpg
"Alltheyearround 1891" by Chapman & Hall - Internet Archive. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alltheyearround_1891.jpg#/media/File:Alltheyearround_1891.jpg

42. Optimise the whole

43. Optimise the whole
Define content standards
across the company
Identify the origins of
information and use them
Streamline the workflow
Image: Joe Gollner

44. Summary

45. What are the takeaways?
Lean is a useful way to
position UA in an Agile
environment
Helps you identify when
“document late” is a bad
idea, as a result of other
wastes not considered by
Agile.
Both make problems visible

46. Questions

47. For more information
ellis@cherryleaf.com
@ellispratt

48. End
© Cherryleaf 2016
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