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AGENDA

Introducing our expertsYour experience: Agile? Technical Writing Outsourcing (TWO)?TWO: Myths, Successes, Success factors, RisksWhere do technical writers fit in an Agile environment?Case study discussion: CoordinationYour questions and comments

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Barry SaiffTechnical 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

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DAVE WILKSTechnical Communications Leader at Willis Towers Watson

7 years in several flavors of Agile environments

Experience in both Agile and Tech Writing Outsourcing

Featured speaker:• Global Scrum Gathering, 2016• Agile Europe, 2016

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DISCUSSION: What is Your Experience with Agile and Technical Writing Outsourcing?Have you experienced (Y = Yes, N = No, N/A = Not applicable):1. Working in an Agile development environment?2. Working with writers in another country?3. Being involved in a decision to outsource?4. A well-crafted outsourcing plan? 5. A poorly-implemented outsourcing plan?6. Outsourced technical writing in an Agile environment?7. Technical writing one sprint behind development? 8. Technical writing on the same sprint as development?9. What else??

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OUTSOURCING MYTHSWhich 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)

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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

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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.

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TWO IMPLEMENTATION: When outsourcing goes wrong, it can be due

to any of the following issues:

RISKSLocation Function INCLUSION Language

EXPERIENCELEVEL Culture Competency Management

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• 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?

11Source: http://www.pmdocuments.com/2012/09/15/agile-scrum-roles-and-responsibilities/

Agile Roles and Responsibilities: Where do tech writers fit in?

towerswatson.com

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Case Study: COORDINATIONBackground: The developers started before technical writers got involved. So, it is not possible for the writers to work on the same things on the same sprint schedule as development and QA. Issue: How can the writers best participate? Should they skip documenting portions already developed and jump into the team sprint schedule? Or, devise their own sprint schedule, matching the team in dates but differing in content? Or another approach?

What do you, as Documentation Manager, do? Let’s discuss.

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Questions & comments!

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Do you have questions about technical writing outsourcing?About Agile? Do you need help with writing? Training foryour technical writers or Agile development teams?Saiff Solutions can help.

Can we help you?

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Email: barrysaiff@saiffsolutions.comSkype: SaiffSolutionsContact: +1 415 350 2959 +63 917 872 0929Web: www.saiffsolutions.com

CONTact US!