Baby steps to AGILE

Translated from Baby Steps vers AGILE march 2013

Welcome to my professional blog.

I've had several blogs, but never for work. These blogs helped me quench my thirst for writing about anything. So now, after 15 years into my technical writing carrer, I'm getting ready for a big change. I need to share the experience because going towards a non-beaten path. This diary will be for those who dare take this path too.

AGILE

What I get from this AGILE thing for us piano players, is to cut in the fat and add what's relevant for users, only. And keep up with sprints! Heeeehaw...

Note for my laymen friends: Agile is a work method. It is similar to the Toyota method.

WHY AGILE

For the last 15 years things have been working very well with current methods. But here I am now in a company with a lot of products, not enough doc, and  free reins in an agile team. It is inspiring but I am not up to date in the recent approaches.

So after a year in this company, they send me to the STC Summit in Atlanta. I spend 3 days with about 200 other technical writers, what a feeling. Very inspiring, except that they use FrameMaker and I use Word, speakers talk about DITA and the tools look far from obvious for the average joe. We are told that it's time to learn XML, but I don't agree, I would have in 1997. I don't mean disrespect to my fellows who chose Frame and XML, I am just surprised that everyone ends up there. I am skeptical and flabbergasted  to see this mass movement toward a solution that is so cumbersome, expensive and difficult. After a very resourful summit it's back to work bringing in precious new encounters and good leads to pursue.

The only sure thing is that a content audit is paramount. Whichever way is picked, the way to AGILE starts with the audit. So while looking for a way to write in xml without deeding a college diploma, I will concentrate on this baby step and and look at other writers around.