TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: The Agile / Xtreme TW From:Tara Charter <chartertmc -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:Mike Starr <mikestarr-techwr-l -at- writestarr -dot- com> Date:Sat, 7 Feb 2009 12:48:10 -0800 (PST)
The transcript refers to 'user docs' - as 'risky if you do it too early' - - I've written user docs in parallel on Agile projects and it isn't any more risky than writing code too early - Agile iterations create usable software - usable software translates to usable user docs. But TWs have always worked in an iterative fashion, and in an agile manner (independently thinking through the tasks at hand, selecting one, without governance, finishing it, going to the next one). And so, I think that Agile is not new to technical writing at all. I think the Agile development community could relate to what TWs have been doing all along.
ScottAmbler: wfreds, treat user docs like another requirement for the project.
They should be estimated, prioritized, and created as appropriate. I highly
suggest waiting until later in the project to do the docs once the system has
stabilized. You can write user docs in parallel, particularly for stable
aspects of the system, but you're at risk if you do it too early
--- On Sat, 2/7/09, Mike Starr <mikestarr-techwr-l -at- writestarr -dot- com> wrote:
From: Mike Starr <mikestarr-techwr-l -at- writestarr -dot- com>
Subject: Re: The Agile / Xtreme TW
To: "Tara Charter" <chartertmc -at- yahoo -dot- com>
Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Saturday, February 7, 2009, 11:38 AM
I haven't seen/heard the Ambler presentation you're referring to but in many cases where they're talking about documentation and agile in the same sentence, they're talking about code documentation rather than product documentation.
Mike
-- Mike Starr WriteStarr Information Services
Technical Writer - Online Help Developer - Technical Illustrator
Graphic Designer - Desktop Publisher - MS Office Expert
(262) 694-1028 - mike -at- writestarr -dot- com - http://www.writestarr.com
Tara Charter wrote:
> Fellow Agile / Xtreme TWs:
> Am interested to know your experiences with Agile software development and if you've observed what happens when the idea is "purchased" but not put into practice fully.
> Also, if you listen to Scott Ambler at all, you'll notice that he initially seems to be shrugging off "documentation", then later on in his presentation, as he is going through his slides - and the slides start showing how "documentation" is still important, although perhaps less formal, - he says, "there, SEE, look, these graphs prove that we are still doing documentation...
> Tara Charter
> Sr. Technical Writer / BA
>
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 2009 is your all-in-one authoring and publishing solution. Author in Doc-To-Help's XML-based editor, Microsoft Word or HTML and publish to the Web, Help systems or printed manuals. http://www.doctohelp.com
>
> Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
> authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
> once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
>
> ---
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as mikestarr-techwr-l -at- writestarr -dot- com -dot-
>
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/mikestarr-techwr-l%40writestarr.com
>
>
> To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
>http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.
> Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
>http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat
>
>
ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 2009 is your all-in-one authoring and publishing
solution. Author in Doc-To-Help's XML-based editor, Microsoft Word or
HTML and publish to the Web, Help systems or printed manuals. http://www.doctohelp.com
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
