Let the feeling sink in. Your boss has just stopped you in the corridor and told you “I want you to follow-through on all documentation processes in the company”. Your heart sinks.

It’s been a number of hours since this incident and you are still trying to figure out how to fill in the documentation gap which needs bridging since you became PMO over 4 months ago. If it had gone to Product, this task would have come out of their budget or Marketing, but shouldn’t this be in R&D?

The project Gantt is empty, needless to say it’s going to take more than one person to fill.

Where do you start? If realizing your dream is what is at stake, it’s more than a project management goal; meaning, if you want to settle for less you’ll continue to drag your heels instead of going to the ‘go-to’ documentation people.

With over 20 years experience, TechDocs has become the ‘go-to’ company for turn-key documentation projects. TechDocs will help you figure out the 5 W’s:

• What needs to be done?
• Who needs to do it?
• Where will the budget come from?
• When should it have already have been ready?
• Why did the gap happen?
• How can it be managed?

https://techdocs.co.il/about/contact-us/

Intel, the world’s largest producer of computer chips, has agreed to purchase Israeli company Mobileye for a reported $15 billion USD. If finalized, the deal would become the largest tech deal in the history of Israel. Mobileye specializes in self-driving car technologies, and recently made news for a deal with BMW to use its technology. […]

via Intel purchases Israeli tech company Mobileye for $15 billion — According to History

Your manual will be perky if you can answer YES to the following:

• Does the manual describe the procedures after the version update?
• Do the procedures work?
• Have the screen-captures been updated to show the current running version?
• Have the screen-captures been updated to show available new options, pop-ups and floating windows?
• In cases where windows can be accessed in one or more ways, are they fully described in the Getting Started, Quick-start or the Procedure itself?
• Does every heading 1, 2, & 3 have a lead in sentence introducing the subject?
• Do you have updated fields, styles or buttons which you need to carry over from other files to update the template?
• Have you checked your Grammar & Spelling?
• Also, Technical Manuals should be tested in the same way the product is tested: Documentation bugs should be added into the QA bug report system under Docs.
• The documentation and products teams should review the data, while the QA should test the data.

Contact us for an online consult:

https://techdocs.co.il/about/contact-us/

1. Don’t tell ‘the story’: Implement a step structure using a Font Set or other Formatting.
2. Use Callouts and Arrows: Show What & Where to systematically cut reading time.
3. This is not the place for Concepts: Rather give an Example and “shoot for gold”.
4. Addressing Issues:  Do this in your Blog Space or References to other subject matter written elsewhere.
5. Everything should be Aggregated in not more than 8 steps.

Happy Passover 2016,

Your User Guides took long to write, due to development issues and the fact that your service people are on-site at the Customer.

Finally you have reached the promised land and the Guide is ready. So how are you publishing your Manuals?

All too often, the User Guide is sent directly to a customer who uses it as a prop for their keyboard, or worse.

The best case scenario is they come back a year later with requests. The worse case scenario is they call the service center and nobody knows why. Is the manual outdated or has the wrong information in it?

Publishing user documentation to the public is often undesirable to companies.

What can you do with your much needed documents?

1. Use a Knowledge-base with Username & Password (eg Atlassian).
2. Publish to the cloud with Username & Password (eg. Dropbox).
3. Publish to your website with Username & Password.
4. Publish to all of the above without Username & Password.

Make sure everyone knows where your Data is published using PR to your verticals & provide updates from time-to-time.

Driving just got a whole lot better

Source: Morgan Freeman Is Finally a GPS Navigation Voice

Next-Gen Cybersecurity Is All About Behavior Recognition – http://wp.me/p1FaB8-51SZ

TechDocs is wishing you all a happy, peaceful and healthy new year filled with fun and excitement and love –

Subscribe to our list at http://eepurl.com/pyD_j. Or here on our blog.

Happy New Year!