Measuring the Quality of your Documentation
…and getting results you can work with—fast
Presented by Alice Jane Emanuel
Brought to you by the STC Europe SIG and STC France
Sponsored by UTC Fire & Security
What’s in it for you?
Improved quality
• Improve the user experience of your
technical communication product
and of the products you write for
• Be localisation ready
• Develop your skills
• Build your team and develop their
skills
• Build knowledge and confidence
What’s in it for you?
Information
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Self-audit
Build useful metrics
Address your company’s bottom line
Build knowledge and confidence
What’s in it for you?
Spin-off benefits
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Manage corporate pressure
Compete and improve your profile
Manage expectations
Build knowledge and confidence
Categories
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Structure
Reference and navigation
Graphics and other visual elements
Accuracy and grammar
Terminology
Consistency
Clarity
Task orientation
Completeness
Results!
By category
• Show a learning curve for individuals and the
team
• Give individuals solid feedback about what to
do to improve their work
• Provide a granular induction to new hires to
help them understand the level of work that
they can aspire to
• Argue for initiatives such as different media
for information delivery
• Show exactly where and how the
documentation is improving and what that
means for internal and external clients and
company revenue
Results!
Overall
• Create a documentation team history
• Create a project history, this is particularly useful
over several editions of a document set
• Show why I need more time for a project
• Discuss professional development with my team
and with my boss
• Show documentation efficiency—Using this form
is persuasive
• Negotiate perks for my team
• Show in general where and how the
documentation is improving overall and what that
means for internal and external clients and
company revenue
• Show my worth to the company
Download
the tool:
Determining technical document quality
at http://commatheory.com
Thank you!
STC Europe SIG
STC France
UTC Fire & Security
Alice Jane Emanuel
alicejanee
http://nl.linkedin.com/in/alicejaneemanuel
alicejanee@commatheory.com
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