Are you involved with, or considering, agile development? Are you interested in technical writing outsourcing? Learn from our experts how to effectively combine these approaches. Presented by: Barry Saiff - Founder and CEO, Saiff Solutions, Inc. Featuring: Fred Williams - Founder and CEO, Williams Technical

10. AGENDA
Introducing our experts
Your experience: Agile? Technical Writing
Outsourcing (TWO)?
TWO: Myths, Successes, Success factors, Risks
Where do technical writers fit in an Agile
environment?
How can tech writers succeed on Agile teams?
Your questions and comments

11. BARRY SAIFF
Technical communications leader
32 years of technical documentation experience
Led writing teams at 6 US companies
Founded Saiff Solutions, Inc. in 2011
Provides content development to Fortune 500
companies in Japan & US

12. FRED WILLIAMS
Founder of Williams Technical
Offers Agile communication, training, and
consulting
Creator of the free online Technical Writing
Course at Wikiversity (Google top 10)
Featured speaker:
• Global Scrum Gathering, 2016
• Agile Europe, 2016

13. POLL: What is Your Experience with Agile
and Technical Writing Outsourcing?
Which answer best describes your experience?
A. Manager/team lead with experience in technical
writing outsourcing and Agile.
B. Manager/team lead with Agile experience.
C. Manager/team lead with experience in technical
writing outsourcing.
D. Manager/team lead.
E. Technical writer/other tech comm professional/other.

14. OUTSOURCING MYTHS
Which do you believe about TWO?
• TWO results in low quality
• TWO always leads to layoffs
• Whether or not TWO happens is up to me
• All TWO situations ____________
(= for example, All corporations are bad)

15. OUTSOURCING
SUCCESSES
What happens when TWO works well?
• Effective global collaboration
• Learning
• Process Improvement
• Improved quality
• Improved morale
• Reduced costs
• Increased global
responsiveness
• Productivity improvements

16. Carefully choose country:
- Consider language, infrastructure, labor pool.
- #1 country in business English: Philippines
(http://www.globalenglish.com/business_english_index)
TWO: KEY SUCCESS FACTORS
Carefully choose provider.
Consider process maturity first.
Start with a low-risk pilot project.

17. TWO IMPLEMENTATION:
When outsourcing goes wrong, it can be due to
any of the following issues:
RISKS
Location Function Inclusion Language
Experience
Level Culture Competency Management

18. • IF work > # writers, perhaps due to the
demands of Agile…
• IF some development/QA has moved
overseas…
• IF your scarce resource is
management/training…
• IF you are using TWO, and processes are
inadequate to support distributed teams…
• IF _______________
How can combining TWO and
agile help you?

19. Source: http://www.pmdocuments.com/2012/09/15/agile-scrum-roles-and-responsibilities/
Agile Roles and Responsibilities:
Where do tech writers fit in?
towerswatson.com

20. Agile Success:
What should tech writers do?
1. Join the daily standups
Five tips for tech writer success in Agile environments:

21. 2. Write documentation user stories
Five tips for tech writer success in Agile environments:
Agile Success:
What should tech writers do?

22. 3. Get synchronized
Five tips for tech writer success in Agile environments:
Agile Success:
What should tech writers do?

23. 4. Work on documentation debt
Five tips for tech writer success in Agile environments:
Agile Success:
What should tech writers do?

24. 5. Use intelligent guessing
Five tips for tech writer success in Agile environments:
Agile Success:
What should tech writers do?

25. Do you have questions about technical writing outsourcing?
About Agile? Do you need help with writing? Training for your technical
writers or Agile development teams?
Saiff Solutions can help.
If your answer to any of the above is yes, answer “YES.”
POLL: Can we help you?

26. Email: barrysaiff@saiffsolutions.com
Skype: SaiffSolutions
Contact: +1 415 350 2959
+63 917 872 0929
Web: www.saiffsolutions.com
CONTACT US!

27. QUESTIONS ?