The 7 Habits of Highly Effective XML Implementations

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1 The 7 Habits of Highly Effective XML Implementations A Simply XML White Paper By Doug Gorman Simply XML LLC 25 Grant Street Waltham, MA USA +1 (781) [email protected]

2 The7HabitsofHighlyEffectiveXMLImplementations TheSevenHabits Thereare7habitsthatwehaveseenareconsistentlyappliedinsuccessfulenterpriseXMLadoption efforts.thesewillhelpyourorganizationachievesustainedsuperiorresultsbyfocusingonmaking individualsandleadersmoreeffective.thesevenhabitsfallintothreebroadercategories: Management,InformationArchitecture,andProcessImprovement. 1. ManagetheProcess 2. AdoptaWritingandPublishingStandard 3. ShifttoTopicBasedWriting 4. PracticeGoodWriting 5. SeparateAuthoringfromPublishing 6. FocusOnBusinessNeeds,NotTechnology 7. KeepitSimple,SmartPerson Thisapproachworksbecauseitisrealisticandbecauseitissimple.Let sstartwithalookofwherewe aretoday. TheInformationAge Theinformationageisstillwithus.Theamountofconsumerandbusinessinformationthatweallhave todealwithcontinuestoexpandwithnoendinsight.consumerproductsarejudgedbytheir functionalityandeaseofuse,oftenbasedonthequalityofdocumentation.morethanever,weas consumersarereadingassemblyinstructions,foodlabelsand packagingmoreclosely. Theuseofinformationtojudgebusinessproductsandprocessesis evenmorepervasive.infact,wearereachingastatewhere informationoftenistheproduct.whatwewriteandhowwewrite itmatters,fromproductdocumentationtomarketingmaterialsto policiesandprocedures.andthisistruewhetherweseethe informationonpaper,ontheweb,oronouriphones. And,bytheway,mostpeoplenowexpectthattheinformationwe usewillbeintheirnativelanguage.companiesneedtooutputtoat leastthethreemajorlanguagesoftheworld(english,spanish,and Chinese),butprobablymorelanguages,aswell. Theinformationageisstillwithus. Leadingorganizationsaredealingdirectlywiththeseinformation challenges.externally,theyhaverecognizedthatproductdocumentationisimportant.wehaveheard statisticsthat75%ofpurchasesofcomplexproductsincludeareviewofthedocumentation.anditwas reportedawhilebackthatmicrosoftspendsapproximately2%ofitscostsonlocalization. SimplyXML,LLCwww.simplyxml.com 1 P age

3 The7HabitsofHighlyEffectiveXMLImplementations SimplyXML,LLCwww.simplyxml.com 2 P age Technicaldocumentationgroupshavebeenthepioneers.Theleadersstartedmanagingthe documentationeffortfromthetop.theyadoptedsgmlinthe90sand,morerecentlyadoptedxmlas theunderlyingarchitectureforinformation(whichisnowreferredtoascontent).withthisadoption,a numberofwordprocessingsystemsemergedtocreatethexml.thesexmleditorswereembracedby technicalpeoplebecauseitwastheonlypracticalwaytotagcontentwithxml.theseeditorsallowed authorstorewritecontentinaconsistentway,drivenbyagreeduponrulesthatwereenforcedbythe software.inaddition,authorsbegantowriteintopics.therewasasignificantlearningcurveforthe technicalxmleditors,butsowhat,theylovetousenewtechnology!reuseofinformationincreased, translationcostsdroppedandthesameinformationcouldbepublishedonpaper,onthewebandeven toapda.eventhoughtherewasoftenanadditionallayerofstaffneededtomovetheinformationto XML,theROIwasprovenquickly. ChallengesandOpportunitiesBeyondTechPubs ItseemsobviousthatwithitsuseofXML,TechPubshasbeen ontosomethingbig.so,let sthinkaboutinformationin otherpartsoftheorganization. Howcanwegetthesamereturnsandbenefitsoutsideof TechPubs?Customerswanttoseeproductsheetsandwhite papersintheirlocallanguage.organizationscansavemoney ifthepeoplewhocreatetrainingmaterialscanleveragethe informationalreadyproducedintechpubs.organizational policyandproceduremanualsarecumbersometokeepupto datebyregion,butinformationoverlapsbetweenregionsis sometimes90% ormore, offeringaclear paybackforreuse.salesdepartmentsneedtoleverage customerknowledgeacrossregionsandindustries.sales proposalsofferatremendousopportunityforinformation reusetosavemoneyandimprovequalityandhitrate.and itisalittlehardertomeasure,butbettercustomer informationimprovesthemarketingbrand. So,whydon twetakeadvantageofthisopportunity?it s becausetheenterpriseneedsasimplerandmorerelevant approachtoadoptingxml.theycannotjustifyhiringan extralayerofstafftotransitioncontenttoxmlortraining peopletousetechnicaleditorslikeoxygen,xmetal,or StructuredFrameMaker.Therearealsocostsinadopting complexworkflowsandmetadata,andmanagingcontent likemarketingmaterialsorpoliciesandproceduresatthe samelevelofdetailastechpubsneeds. TechPubsareharnessingthepower ofxml.butwhataboutthe restoftheorganization? ThesuccessfuladoptionofXMLat theenterpriselevelispossible. Implementationinvolveschange, butkeepitsimple.youcanalways addcomplexitylater(ifyoustill thinkyouneedit).

4 The7HabitsofHighlyEffectiveXMLImplementations SimplyXML,LLCwww.simplyxml.com 3 P age Theycertainlydon tneedtolearnanduseall500+ elementsavailableinditaorthe2000+indocbook. Onebigissueisthatthevastmajorityofauthorsin anyorganizationusemicrosoftwordastheir authoringtool.thegoodnewshasbeenthatword letsthemdoprettymuchanythingtheywant.the badnews(fromaconsistencyandstandards perspective)isthatwordletsthemdoprettymuch anythingtheywant.thisunrestrainedflexibility impedestheadoptionandenforcementofstandards drivenbyxml. ThehopeandbrillianceoftheplantoadoptXMLcan getderailedbytheagonyoftheimplementation. Authorssaythatstructureorwritingstandardswill ruincreativity.manyrefusetolearnhowtousean XMLEditor.Addingtechnicallayersofstaffincreases costs.thousandsofpagesofcontentneedtobe considered. Wheredowestart? Let sfaceit.individualstrengthsandpersonaleffortdriveorganizations.unfortunately,withcommon distractions,conflictingpriorities,unclearobjectives,poorcommunication,andlackoftrust,it seasyto burnoutandlosefocus.don tgiveupbeforeyoustart! Thereare7habitsthatwehaveseenappliedinsuccessfulenterpriseXMLadoptionefforts. Management HabitOne:ManageTheProcess SeniorLevel:Firstandforemost,gettheirsupport.SeniorManagementis allocatingresourcesandtheycantaketheseresourcesaway.theyneedto understandthatyouaregoingtosavemoney,increaseeffectiveness,andimprove yourbrandintheeyesofthecustomer. Management:Communicatesuccesstothem.Letthem knowwhatyouaredoingtohelpyourbossesmeettheirgoals.maybethisis commonsense,butitisoftenignored.reportyourprogressandissuesoften,at leastmonthly.makesuretheyunderstandproblembehaviorsastheydevelop andiftheyarerepeated.begintomanagecontentwiththesamediligenceyou usetomanagepeopleandtechnology.makesurethatmanagementisonyour team;thereisacriticalchangemanagementefforthere. Therearemanyroadblocksonthewayto standardization,likeexcessivetechnicallayers, complicatedxmleditors,reluctantwriters,and 100,000+pagesofcontent,tonameafew.

5 The7HabitsofHighlyEffectiveXMLImplementations EnterpriseWritersandPublishers:TheirgoalsaresimilartothoseofTechPubs,but maybenotbequiteascomplicated.youcanusedifferenttoolsthanthecomplicated onesthattechpubsuses,butmakesuretheyarecomplementary.leveragethe systemsandprocessesalreadyinplace.thisincludesthesharedrepository, metadata,andworkflow.smesinengineeringorproductmanagementcan contributebetterinformationtotechpubs.techpubscancontributecontentto otherfunctions,liketraining. InformationArchitecture HabitTwo:AdoptaWritingandPublishingStandard Webeginbyevaluating,choosing,andadoptingawriting andpublishingstandard;thisissometimescalledan InformationArchitecture. YourInformationArchitecturemustmeetafewbasic requirements.itmustmeettheneedsofinformation consumers,writers,andpublishers.information consumerswantjustenoughinformation,attherighttime, intherightform.writersneedtounderstandthe architecture,but,inorderforthemtobeproductive,they needtospendthevastmajorityoftimewriting.andfor publishers,thearchitectureoftheinformationmustallow publishingtomultiplemedia. InformationArchitecturesaredesignedtopromotereuse ofinformationatanappropriatelevel.butbecareful becauseasthelevelofgranularityofreuseincreases,the overheadassociatedwithmanagingthatinformation increases,sometimesexponentially.so,whileatfirstyou mightseeparagraphsorsentencesorliststhatcouldbe reused,itisprobablybesttostartatthelevelofatopicor evensectionsofamanual. ThesevenhabitsofeffectiveXML implementationsfallintothree broadercategories: 1. InformationArchitecture 2. ProcessImprovement 3. Management Withinyourinformationarchitectureyouneedtothink aboutinformationtypes.thinkaboutwhatisappropriateforyourindustry,likespecificcontent structuresoracommonlyunderstoodvernacular. AnimportantgoalofanInformationArchitectureisconsistencyonmanylevels:structure,voice,tone, andcomplexity.sometimeswhatyoumightthinkofasaspecifictypeofinformationismorelikea commonstructurethatcanbefacilitatedthroughtemplatesforcontentlikestrategicplans,customer issues,personalobjectives,orproductsheets. SimplyXML,LLCwww.simplyxml.com 4 P age

6 The7HabitsofHighlyEffectiveXMLImplementations ContentrulesoftheInformationArchitectureareenforcedbystructurescalledDTDs(DocumentType Descriptors)orSchemas.Schemasdrivethewritingstandard,andmanyareavailable.DITA,DocBook, andinformationmappingarecommon,withmanyorganizationsusingahybridorcustomschema. OrganizationsneedtobegintheirjourneytoXMLwithaclearunderstandingoftheircontentandthe InformationArchitecturethatmeetstheneedsofinformationconsumers,writersandpublishers.And thereareoftentimeswhenthearchitectureneededbytheseenterprisegroupswillbeeitherdifferent, ormorelimitedthanwhatisneededbytechpubs. HabitThree:ShiftToTopicBasedWriting Atraditionaldocumentisusuallycomposedoftopicsandtopicsgetassembledintodocuments.The primaryfocusoftraditionalwritingbeginswithaviewofthepublisheddocument.workisparsedto writersatthelevelofthedocumentorsectionsofdocumentsifthecontentisvoluminous. Thisisreversedwithtopicbasedwriting.Theshiftmightbefromcontentownershipbymanualto ownershipbyareaofexpertise,audience,orfunction.topicscanbereusedinmultipledocuments.as wesaidearlier,itisimportantforreusetobeatanappropriateandcosteffectivelevel.authorsneedto thinkdifferentlywithtopicsratherthandocuments,yetstillhavesomefocusontheaudienceandthe finalassemblyofdocumentsforvariousaudiencesdeliveredtomultiplemedia. HabitFour:PracticeGoodWriting Everyinformationconsumerjudgesyourcompanybytheusefulnessandqualityofyourcontent. Towardthisend,architectureisimportant,structureisimportant,butgrammar,spelling,punctuation andlookandfeelareallimportant.you vegottodoitallwell. Onceyou venailedthebasicarchitectureandtopics, it simportanttofocusontheorganizationofthe documentandthegrammaticalpresentation.write clearly,andavoidjargon.effectivestyleguidesare helpful,souseyoursifyouhaveone. Finally,consideryouraudiencelevelandneeds.Write appropriatelyfortheirtechnicallevel,education, experience,andculture. SimplyXML,LLCwww.simplyxml.com 5 P age

7 The7HabitsofHighlyEffectiveXMLImplementations SimplyXML,LLCwww.simplyxml.com 6 P age ProcessImprovement HabitFive:SeparateAuthoringFromPublishing Thehierarchyofinformationisimplementedhere.The writerisfreedfrommostdesktoppublishingefforts. Significanttimeisnowbeingwastedwithmultipleauthorsall workingtomaketheirdocumentslookgood.and good mayvarysignificantlyintheeyeoftheauthor.organizations canimprovetheirimageandcertainlytheconsistencyof theirbrandbycentralizingpublishing. Publishingwillbecomemoreconsistentandcanmoreeasily bestructuredformultiplemediaandfordifferentaudiences. AndanROIfromXMLseemsclearifyouaretranslatingto otherlanguages. HabitSix:FocusOnBusinessNeeds,NotTechnology Limittheexposuretotechnology,anddon tteachthe schema.youhavedozens,hundreds,orthousandsof contentdevelopers,manyofwhomcanbenefitif informationiswellmanagedwithxml. Takeadvantageoftechnology.Thereisareasoninthisoften crumblingeconomywhytechnologycompaniesaredoing relativelywell.itisbecausetechnologyhelpsimprove productivitywhenappliedintelligentlyandcorrectly. Whenexplainingthestandardtonontechies,focuson businesstermsratherthantechnology.selltheuseof technologyastheleverinthebackgroundthatmakesthis wholethingworkefficiently. YourauthorsuseMicrosoftWordandlikeit.So,meetthem wheretheylivewithanewgenerationofproducts,like ContentMapper.Theseproductslettheauthorworkinthe familiarwordinterface,butgeneratevalidxml,including DITAandotherstandardstructures,topermitinformation reuseandmultichannelpublishing. Herearesomequickideastoget startedusingxmlinyour department. SmallTechPubs:Lookfor consistencyandreuse.ifyoucan t separatepublishing,centralizeit. Trainingorganization:Review topicscreatedbytechpubstoseeif youcanreusefortrainingpurposes. Marketing:Createtemplatesfor themostcommoncollaterallike productsheets,whitepapers,and casestudies. Sales:Reuseproposalcontent insteadofstartingfromscratch everytime. PoliciesandProcedures:Don t rewriteforlocallaws;locateand reusetherepeatingcontent,and onlyadjustwhatneedstobe localized.

8 The7HabitsofHighlyEffectiveXMLImplementations HabitSeven:KeepItSimple,SmartPerson Youractualneedsshoulddefinethescopeofyoureffort.Remember,justbecause somethingispossibledoesnotmeanitisappropriate.lookforsimpleandsuitable toolsforauthoring,storage,andpublishing.considertheroleofworkflow,metadata, controlledvocabularies,andlegacyimport. Limitthescopeofyourefforttojustenough,justwhatisneeded.Lessismore.You needtotakesomebabystepsbeforeyoudecidewhethertorun. Conclusion Attheenterpriselevel,successfuladoptionofXMLisnotabouttechnology,itisaboutchangingbusiness processesusingtechnology.focusyoureffortsonkeepingitsimpleasyoumovetothenextlevelof informationreuseandmultichannelpublishing.byadoptingthesesimplehabitstoimplementxmlat theenterpriselevel,youwillimproveyourbrandwithcustomers,streamlineoperations,andbring ordertoyourcontentrelatedprocesses. Intheend,writingcontentinXMLshouldfeeleasyandnaturaltoyourwriters andtheyshouldreadily seethebenefitsandadvantagesitprovidesintheirownjobsandfortheorganization.ifthisisn tyetthe caseinyourorganization,youprobablystillhavesomeworktodotofindtherightsolution. ImplementingXMLattheenterprisewillalwaysbeasignificantendeavor,butwe vefoundthatit sbest tokeepitassimpleasyoucan.youcanalwaysaddcomplexitylater(ifyoustillthinkyouneedit). GoodluckandletusknowifwecanhelpyoutosimplyimplementXML. SimplyXML,LLCwww.simplyxml.com 7 P age

9 About Us About Simply XML TM Simply XML TM provides simple solutions for creating and publishing XML content. Our goal is to allow everyone in the enterprise to take advantage of information standards including DITA, NLM, DocBook, other industry or custom standards by providing authors with simple, cost effective tools for creating, storing, managing and publishing valid, high quality XML from Microsoft Word. We believe that standards adoption and the related benefits will accelerate when the vast majority of authors who use Microsoft Word can easily contribute content and documents to the corporate publishing system. Simply XML offers software and related training that is changing the value proposition for this industry. About Content Mapper TM Content Mapper TM lets anyone in an enterprise easily create, find, reuse, tag, store, manage, edit, and publish valid XML content. Content Mapper supports Microsoft SharePoint and facilitates simple or complex workflows, metadata creation and publishing from an easy to use publishing wizard. Organizations can realize all of the benefits XML based single source publishing, information reuse, standards based authoring, multi channel publishing and enterprise content management for less time and money than you ever thought possible. About Simply DITA TM Simply XML introduces Simply DITA TM, which is a Microsoft Word based software product with supporting training so that casual authors can create policies and procedures, documentation, training materials, marketing materials, etc. under the DITA standard. Content Mapper supports Microsoft SharePoint and facilitates simple workflow, metadata creation and publishing from an easy to use publishing wizard. About Doug Gorman Doug Gorman is CEO of Simply XML, LLC. He has 30 years of experience in the software and information industry and more than two decades of work in the structured writing industry. He has a BA in Psychology from Colby College and an MS in Management from MIT. Simply XML, LLC Tel: +1 (781) [email protected] Web: Copyright 2012 Simply XML, LLC All Rights Reserved Simply XML and all other Simply XML product or service names are trademarks of Simply XML, LLC. All other brand and product names are the property of their respective owners.