evolution of a technical communicator

a ux journey from documentation...

about

me – challenge your minds

sap – I work there

you – it is up to you

journey

english language school – geo milev, ruse

fast rewind… a ‘couple’ of years

preparatory ‘b’

translator did I become

image source: https://raykliu.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/shepherd-sheep-10.jpg

преводач

image source: http://www.kansas.com/incoming/ngioa7/picture861124/ALTERNATES/FREE_960/110710cattledrive

I could have built a career as a ‘transferer’

sociology archaeology ethnography geography anthropology history

cognitive science

technical writing

“documentation looks like this”

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writing documentation

pe2 felt like this

then I read a book

http://www.jnd.org/books/things-that-make-us-smart-defending-human-attributes-in-the-age-of-the-machine.html

“why does the ui work this way?”

ui suggestions

usability testing was a natural extension

suggestions were not enough – design was needed

it is all user experience now

sap

product experience officer – sap hana cloud platform

usability, guidelines, reviews, ux, training, awareness

the hcp docu team’s job

ui texts – especially in non-graphical interfaces

APPROVED

messages

msn health & fitness

+ content of course

contextual

marketing

legal

NO

analysis of use

the docu team does ux stuff every day

work with users: tests, interviews, co-design

an hcp docu storyrestructuring – info architecture anew

analytics + user tests + interviews> users get lost

card sort

users involved

similarity

first draft

test it

users involved

update it

test again

users involved

fine tune it

result > users get lost less often

take this home, please

the job is not to provide content

as info developers or techwriters we help users to: solve problems prevent errors increase productivity make sense get things done

you are in the ux business

you must know what your most important users need and want

user experience is an umbrella…

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documentation

documentation is under it

user experience is an umbrella…

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documen tation

documentation is a spike in it

documen tation

interface

security

support

reliability

performance

users are out there waiting for you

this could be your story… you can do it too

evolution of a technical communicator

… to documentation

Dimiter Simov@dsimov

about.me/dsimov