Re: The Technical Writer vs. Agile Development Methodologies

[Collin T <tutivillus -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Anna,

I run the wide road here.  I create End-User and Help docs, Spec docs,
API's, Content Management, Video Tutorials, articles, etc. Pretty wide
ranging really.

One of the first things I did was make my own personal Style Sheet. 
That's helped quite a bit with keeping my documents look and feel the
same.  I created HTML templates as well.  After a bit I started
creating Word and Open Office templates for projects as they came.

I also set up a Help repository on one of our servers so anyone can go
in and take whatever documentation they need.

And lastly...and probably most important...I have been *slowly*
training this company how to work with a tech writer.  I've gotten our
software testers to act as my Editorial review board..(hehehe!) and
have gotten many PM's used to having me around.  The Developers kind
of see me as a hybrid developer, since I use several of their tools
and do a lot of my own work (SVN, creating JSP's, messing with Tomcat
so I can see my work locally.)

I think it's very important to note that while training your company,
you must take your time.  Going in too hard and fast only causes
problems and flattens toes.

Good luck and have fun!

-Collin Turner

On 2/1/06, Anna Junglas <ajunglas -at- hotmail -dot- com> wrote:
>
>
>
> Hi Collin-
>
> What type of documentation are you creating for these modules? End user Help
> docs or developer level docs or something else?
>
> I will be starting a new position soon - like you, I was hired specifically
> to document in an Agile enivironment.   I am totally new to the concept. The
> company has been doing Agile for a while but I'll be their first tech
> writer. Do you have any pointers? templates?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Anna



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