[Framers] Questions about tech docs in an Agile environment (may be off-topic)

[Pat Christenson]

Thank you all for the information! Naturally, there have been developments here since I asked my question. 

One of our product teams that is facing a huge push has designed a very simple Help system. (This was news to me and my management last Friday!) Their plan is for the product managers to write the Help topics, procedures, etc., and I will word-smith it. It's all very simple and their first pass doesn't include features that you would want in a "real" Help system (links, etc.) but it's a start and it's certainly easier than me building from scratch. So we're going to do our part and keep pushing for it to grow into something more robust.

I've had a couple meetings about reducing our gigantic monthly release notes on the other major product. I want to do a list of new and enhanced features with links to the details. I'm also pushing to make the content more focused on people who are familiar with the product. (Right now, we approach every topic as if the user has never seen it before and IMO, that's not the way to write release notes.) The question now is where to store the detailed info and how to re-use it in QuickStart guides, etc.  

I'm making some progress--I've been asked to do a mockup of a portion of last month's release notes in my proposed format.

Someone here asked how much is "a lot"? Last month, the release notes for the two major products were 120 pages. It's the largest we've had during my tenure but given the way development is going, that could happen again. (Normally it's been 30-40 pages, which is still too much.)

I'm certainly facing challenges but that's part of why I came to this company. I would like to update this group every now and then on what we're learning and how we're handling it.

Thank you again for your thoughtful input!

Pat

-----Original Message-----
From: Framers [mailto:framers-bounces+pat.christenson=morningstar.com at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Robert Lauriston
Sent: Thursday, March 02, 2017 1:07 PM
To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Re: [Framers] Questions about tech docs in an Agile environment (may be off-topic)

Can you be agile in a heavily regulated industry?

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.ibm.com_developerworks_rational_library_compliant-2Dagile-2Dmedical-2Ddevice_&d=DwICAg&c=qrd1rYdJNb4QhfvJv5PebOPglYwfSMJ71NR_1HMKptQ&r=XCAkAkKD_C5LA8IHfBffTgJF3-vQqo8LO_6iaUj61_E&m=HJebNArynM8pnwN41jSOqsJcPqRSEVwNcO-zKHrbczY&s=XYb8V-DY-dLb2QEGwCI56d7jb1lMPhkRXn8mLrZi05A&e=
_______________________________________________

This message is from the Framers mailing list

Send messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at  https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.frameusers.com&d=DwICAg&c=qrd1rYdJNb4QhfvJv5PebOPglYwfSMJ71NR_1HMKptQ&r=XCAkAkKD_C5LA8IHfBffTgJF3-vQqo8LO_6iaUj61_E&m=HJebNArynM8pnwN41jSOqsJcPqRSEVwNcO-zKHrbczY&s=SyWoXBH81_oPwlM-FBI1FCi8wboE-DueuA7ZVfso7kw&e=
Archives located at https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.mail-2Darchive.com_framers-2540lists.frameusers.com_&d=DwICAg&c=qrd1rYdJNb4QhfvJv5PebOPglYwfSMJ71NR_1HMKptQ&r=XCAkAkKD_C5LA8IHfBffTgJF3-vQqo8LO_6iaUj61_E&m=HJebNArynM8pnwN41jSOqsJcPqRSEVwNcO-zKHrbczY&s=3KbXh6SDw_feToZSlmsbAmBi6P8kQd1_XfCyKDqN780&e=
Subscribe and unsubscribe at https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__lists.frameusers.com_listinfo.cgi_framers-2Dframeusers.com&d=DwICAg&c=qrd1rYdJNb4QhfvJv5PebOPglYwfSMJ71NR_1HMKptQ&r=XCAkAkKD_C5LA8IHfBffTgJF3-vQqo8LO_6iaUj61_E&m=HJebNArynM8pnwN41jSOqsJcPqRSEVwNcO-zKHrbczY&s=Kjzwbj-5ORz2yjOWGIbFDqRDIoVxIpn10VS-CZjpu6k&e=
Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com