The Lean user manual - MadCap Software

The Lean user manual

Ellis PrattCherryleaf

Wednesday, 15 August 2012

Overview

1. Background

2. What is Lean?

3. Taking a Lean view of User Assistance (UA)

4. Applying Lean to the writing process

5. Take-aways


1. Background


Director of Cherryleaf

UK technical writing services company

I speak at conferences


Director of Cherryleaf

UK technical writing services company

I speak at conferences


UA Europe conference

“What's just enough documentation?”

Dom Smith, Red Gate Software

“Any colour... so long as it is black”

Tony Self, HyperWrite


A long time ago

When

‘tablets’

meant

Image: Pierre Guinoiseau


A long time ago

And when

‘Madcap Flare’

meant


I wrote my dissertation

“A Systems analysis of manufacturing

production methods”


I wondered

Could we use the latest manufacturing ideas in Technical Publications?

X


I wondered

Could we use “Lean” in Technical Publications?


I also wondered

Could it help address some of the challenges of working in an Agile environment?


I also wondered

What would a “Lean” company think of Technical Publications?


2. What is Lean?


What is Lean?

A process for making things

Based on the Toyota Production System

Used today in healthcare, programming and other areas


What is Lean?

A relative of Agile &

Six Sigma methodologies


Lean in a nutshell

Maximise value to the customer

Minimise waste


Waste in Lean

1. Waiting

2. Over processing

3. Rework and correcting

4. Moving things

5. Processing waste

6. Inventory

7. Talent misused

8. Not meeting customer’s requirements

Lean breaks waste down into 7 (or 8)

categories


We’ll focus on the three original wastes

MudaNot adding value to the user

MuriOverburden

Too difficult / Too much

MuraUnevenness

Waiting


3. Taking a Lean view of User Assistance


Taking a Lean view of User Assistance

If we’re a Lean organisation,

should we be producing

User Assistance? ?Wednesday, 15 August 2012

Taking a Lean view of User Assistance

Is what Technical Writers create a waste or does it add value?

How can we tell? ?Wednesday, 15 August 2012

Is UA a waste or does it add value?

Five questions a Lean consultant would ask

Mark Eaton CEng BSc MSc MBA FIET FIOM FRAS, and holder of the Viscount Nuffield Medal



1.



1. Will the client pay for it to be produced?

A client



2.



2. If they won’t pay, is it essential waste?

A compelling need, like tests and inspections



3.



3. Can it significantly improve the user’s productivity?


Can it significantly improve the user’s productivity?

How can we maximise value for them?

How can we minimise when they are wasteful?



Not adding value to the user?

Too difficult?

Unevenness & waiting?


Does embedded Help keep users’ work flowing?

Does it reduce unevenness and waiting?



How can we tell?

Measure to discover what really adds value

Verify your assumptions


A/B testing

https://wiki.mozilla.org/Support/Q2HelpfulnessTests

A B

https://wiki.mozilla.org/Experiments


Measure to discover what adds value

Track what users do next

User ratings of topics

Benchmarking against support calls



4.



4. Can it lower other costs?


Can UA lower other costs?

“Poka-Yoke”

The technical writing process will identify waste in the product


Can it lower other costs?

Discover the root cause of a problem using “5 Whys”

Can User Assistance offer a proportionate intermediate fix?

esp. if the cause is at the customer’s side

Pete Abilla



5.



5. Are Technical Writers ‘processing waste’?

i.e. Creating unwanted information


Are Technical Writers ‘processing waste’?

Do you have an inefficient process?

Do you have an efficient process, but you’re producing something that add little value to the user?


Question recap

1. Will the client pay for it to be produced?

2. If they won’t pay, is it essential waste?

3. Can it significantly improve the user’s productivity?

4. Can it lower other costs?

5. Are Technical Writers ‘processing waste’?

Mark Eaton


Other Lean activitieswhere Tech Pubs can help

Value Stream Mapping

Voice of The Customer


4. Applying Lean to the writing process


Lean conceptswe could use

One piece flow

Runners, Repeaters & Strangers

Andon cord

Sort-Set-Shine-Standardise-Sustain

Cycle/lead/takt time

Push and Pull/Just-in-time

Rapid Improvement Event

Focus Improvement TeamsWednesday, 15 August 2012

One piece flow

Instead of batch processing

even though it’s counterintuitive

You’ll spot errors much more quickly

Image: Geoff Rixon


One piece flow

Review topics as soon as possible?

Translate as soon as a topic is completed?

Publish as soon as a topic is completed?


Runners, Repeaters and Strangers

Runners

Repeaters

StrangersImage © Mark Eaton


Runners, Repeaters and Strangers

Priority is Runners

Leave Strangers for post-release or Support to deal with?

Image © Mark Eaton


Andon cord

If there is a problem, anyone can stop the production line


Andon cord

Swarm around the problem

No more coding until documentation is fixed?


A Lean project planIs there a

compelling need to do the work?

Current state Implementation plan

How we measure success

Desired state Result from change

Risks, limitations, issues

Roles and responsibilities

Lessons learnt


What Lean isn’t

Lean ≠ minimalism


Summary


What are thetake-aways?


Key take-aways

Better way to position UA in an Agile environment

Helps you identify when “document late” is a bad idea

Better way to assess and apply DITA, adaptive content, intelligent content etc


Just remember this

Rock image: Matthew Davalle

MudaNot adding value to the user

MuriOverburden

Too difficult / Too much

MuraUnevenness

Waiting


Is it time for Lean?

Better deliverables

Makes problems visible

More efficient system


For more information


More information

Cherryleaf blog

Cherryleaf newsletter

Free mini ebook on Lean http://tiny.cc/xxj2iw


http://tiny.cc/xxj2iw

http://tiny.cc/xxj2iw

For more information

[email protected]


mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Questions?


End

(c) Cherryleaf 2012


Documents

The Lean user manual - MadCap Software