But moving to topic-based authoring can be one of the most expensive things you've ever done. In this talk, Sharon Burton will show you the top 10 mistakes made by companies and how you can avoid them. These mistakes can include missing deadlines, delivering poor quality content, or not integrating this content development strategy into the rest of the product development strategy.

1. 10 mistakes when
moving to topic-based
authoring
Sharon Burton
E-mail: Sharon@sharonburton.com
Twitter: Sharonburton
We’ll start at 3 minutes after the hour
Make sure your sound is working
Twitter: #10MistakesTBA

2. 10 mistakes when
moving to topic-based
authoring
Twitter: #10MistakesTBASharon Burton
E-mail: Sharon@sharonburton.com
Twitter: Sharonburton

3. Thank you for attending!
▪ Sharon Burton
▪ I solve post-sales customer experience
problems
▪ Research how people feel about product
instructions
▪ Support clients in creating better product
instructions
▪ Teach communication at various universities
Twitter: #10MistakesTBA

4. Supporting role today…
▪ DCL is supporting us today
▪ If you have questions, they will help you in the questions
window
▪ Let’s say “Thank you” to Data Conversion
Laboratory for hosting this webinar
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5. Experience the DCL Difference
▪ DCL blends years of conversion experience with
cutting-edge technology and the infrastructure to
make the conversion process easy and efficient.
▪ World-Class Services
▪ Leading-EdgeTechnology
▪ Unparalleled Infrastructure
▪ US-Based Management
▪ Complex-Content Expertise
▪ 24/7 Online ProjectTracking
▪ Automated Quality Control
▪ Global Capabilities

6. Valuable ContentTransformed
▪ Document Digitization
▪ XML and HTML Conversion
▪ eBook Production
▪ Hosted Solutions
▪ Big Data Automation
▪ Conversion Management
▪ Editorial Services
▪ Harmonizer

7. Serving a Broad Client Base…

8. …Spanning all Industries
▪ Aerospace
▪ Associations
▪ Defense
▪ Distribution
▪ Education
▪ Financial
▪ Government
▪ Libraries
▪ Life Sciences
▪ Manufacturing
▪ Medical
▪ Museums
▪ Periodicals
▪ Professional
▪ Publishing
▪ Reference
▪ Research
▪ Societies
▪ Software
▪ STM
▪ Technology
▪ Telecommunications
▪ Universities
▪ Utilities

9. What is topic-based
authoring?
Quick definition
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10. Definition
▪ Topic-based authoring is a modular content creation approach
(popular in the technical publications and documentation arenas) that
supports XML content reuse, content management, and makes the
dynamic assembly of personalized information possible.
▪ A topic is a discrete piece of content that is about a specific subject, has
an identifiable purpose, and can stand alone (does not need to be
presented in context for the end-user to make sense of the content).
▪ Topics are also reusable.They can, when constructed properly
(without reliance on other content for its meaning), be reused in
any context anywhere needed.
▪ The Darwin InformationTyping Architecture (DITA) is a standard
designed to help authors create topic-based content.The standard is
managed by the Organization for the Advancement of Structured
Information Standards (OASIS) DITATechnical Committee.
FromWikipedia
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11. What isTopic-basedAuthoring?
▪ Focuses effort on the information your user needs to
use the product
▪ Develop a body of information that’s helpful to the user
▪ Maximize content reuse
▪ Roughly similar to structuring an online help system
▪ People who’ve developed a lot of help “get” these concepts
faster
▪ If you are moving to DITA, it’s part of the trip
▪ But you don’t have to move to DITA to make use of this
information development method
▪ This can be a destination as well as a rest stop

12. What isTopic-basedAuthoring?
▪ Topics are small, perhaps ½ to 4 printed pages
▪ Perhaps smaller
▪ Only include the information needed to
▪ Perform one procedure
▪ Understand one concept
▪ Topics can be (re)combined
▪ New products, deliverables, or other ways
▪ Topics are easier to update
▪ Easier and cheaper to get approval for updating topics from
management
▪ Depending on deliverables, push updated topics to your
users
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13. Library
What isTopic-basedAuthoring?
Printing
Reports
Using
Container
Objects
Saving
reportsCreating
Reports
About
Schedules
Adding
Users
Setting
Permissions
Deleting
Users
Placing
Objects
About
Objects
About Users
Exporting
Objects
About
Containment
Customizing
Objects
About
Programming
Objects and
Inheritance
Editing
Reports
Containing
Objects
Relating
Objects Importing
Reports
Setting
SchedulesAbout
Reports
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14. Library
What isTopic-basedAuthoring?
Admin Guide
• About Users
• Adding Users
• Deleting Users
• Setting
Permissions
• About Reports
• Creating Reports
• Editing Reports
• Saving Reports
• Printing Reports
• Importing Reports
Programmers Guide
• About
Programming
• About Objects
• Placing Objects
• About
Containment
• Objects and
Inheritance
• Using Container
Objects
• Customizing
Objects
• Relating Objects
Getting Started
• About Users
• About Reports
• About
Programming
• About Objects
• About
Containment
• Exporting Objects
• About Schedules
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15. What are the mistakes?
How to mess this up
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16. 1: Not getting buy-in
Management and
other teams need
to understand
why this is better
and you have to
show that.
Maybe a business
case?
▪ This is not going to be an
instant and dramatic
improvement
▪ Except localization
▪ Costs may drop immediately
▪ Schedules may be impacted
▪ Less content can be scary

17. 2: Using the same tools
AskingTechwr-l
what they use
and buying that
not the answer.
What are your
problems and
what are your
pain points?
▪ The tools that got you into this
mess are probably not the
tools to get you out
▪ Evaluate what your content
and business needs are, now
and in the future
▪ Work with the vendors and a
consultant to make sure what
you need is what they can do

18. 3: Using the same processes
The processes for
developing,
editing, and
publishing a 200
page manual
won’t work.
▪ Developing topic-based
content is different
▪ Topics “stand alone” on
content and/or formatting
▪ Topics are reviewed as they
are ready
▪ Review process must change
▪ Maybe use a special review
product

19. 4: Not training people
Not training sets
up projects and
people for failure.
You can’t expect
people to
magically know.
▪ New tools + new process =
training
▪ Training provides more than
how to use the product
▪ Includes best practices for our
workflow
▪ Identifies the changes for our
workflow
▪ Instantiates how we do what we
do

20. 5: Not planning the move
You can’t jump on
your horse and
ride off in all
directions.
Analyze what you
have before you
decide what you
have
▪ Your legacy content is not going to
fit neatly
▪ It’s at least not well written/structured/
organized
▪ One manual/help may not give you
the real picture
▪ Especially if you had a lot of
contractors, the legacy content has
been around a long time, and so on
▪ This can be very hard on the staff
▪ People want their content to be the
exception
▪ It’s special content, not like other
content and needs special attention

21. 6: Not using writing guidelines
We must have
good writing
standards in
place.
▪ Before we can start thinking
about moving to topic-based
authoring
▪ And gaining the benefits thereof
▪ Content reuse demands
consistent writing standards
▪ The content can appear in many
places
▪ In more than one deliverable
▪ Everyone cannot write in
“their style”

22. 7: Slicing content according to
headings
Because most
tools allow you to
import and slice
your legacy
content based on
headings, it can
feel like you’re
done after you
import.
▪ That’s step #1 of x and x is
bigger than 2
▪ Now you need to think about
▪ Content types
▪ Content reuse
▪ Smaller topics
▪ Embedded topics (snippets)
▪ Localization
▪ Outputs
▪ Devices
▪ More

23. 8: Not reusing content
Writing content is
expensive.
Re-creating
existing content
is very expensive.
Localizing similar
but different is
super expensive.
▪ You can’t reuse what you can’t
find
▪ Opportunistic reuse
▪ People remember this content
from before
▪ Maybe they can find it
▪ Big time sink
▪ Systematic reuse
▪ The system knows this content has
been written previously
▪ Prompts the writer for reuse
▪ Tracks reuse and reports it

24. 9: Not considering audience
Identify your
audience and
their schemas.
Identify their
domains of
knowledge.
69% of your users
are intermediate
level.
▪ Your users are not stupid
▪ They know their jobs
▪ Most users are intermediate
users

25. 10:Thinking this is trivial
Your legacy
content is not
going to fit neatly
in content
categories.
▪ It won’t take any time to figure
this out
▪ We can do this as we need to
▪ We’ll hire an intern to do it
▪ We can meet deadlines while
we completely restructure all
our content
▪ We just need some templates

26. 11: (Bonus) We don’t need to worry
about Localization
Always act like
you’re going to
localize and
nothing bad
will happen to
you.
▪ If you are not localizing now,
you will be in the future
▪ If you are localizing now, you
know how complicated it can
be
▪ Someone will decide to add
more languages
▪ Because that’s not a problem,
right?

27. 12: (Additional Bonus) Buying a tool
and then calling the consultant
New tools always
change the
workflow.Choose
the tool that
supports the
content and
business
workflow you
need.
▪ All tools are not created equal
▪ Choosing the wrong tools
wastes a lot of time and
money
▪ It can also sink the initiative
▪ Don’t be afraid to spend the
right amount of money to do
this correctly

28. More information
Resources for more information

29. Good reading resources
▪ Enterprise Content Strategy
by Kevin Nichols. XML Press. (Just came out!)
▪ Single Sourcing: Building Modular Documentation
by KurtAment
▪ ISBN-10: 0815514913 or ISBN-13: 978-0815514916
▪ Content Strategy 101:TransformTechnical Content into a
Business Asset
by Sarah S. O'Keefe andAlan S. Pringle
ISBN-10: 0982811845 or ISBN-13: 978-0982811849
▪ Content Strategy: Connecting the dots between business, brand,
and benefits
by Rahel Anne Bailie and Noz Urbina
ISBN-10: 1937434168 or ISBN-13: 978-1937434168

30. Questions?
Contact me:
E-mail: Sharon@sharonburton.com
Twitter: Sharonburton