and then there was one ... documentation team
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©2013 Ventyx, an ABB company | Confidential & Proprietary
And Then There was One … Documentation TeamMay 2013
How did we get here? And where are we?
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VENTYX brings together industry leaders Ventyx, Mincom and ABB Network Control to create the world’s most complete industrial enterprise software and solution provider, backed by the global reach of ABB, that optimizes the assets and operations of customers in asset intensive industries.
Who is Ventyx, an ABB company?
Network Control
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Global Operations and Customers2,600+ employees in 33 offices () and over 2,000 customers worldwide
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21 people, 3 continents, 11 offices
Content team
Ventyx M&A before Mincom
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Central doc team Multiple acquisitions in years leading up to 2010 Aligned tools Aligned standards and styles – doc, training, online help Aligned responsibilities and roles Distributed team, but central function and reporting structure Consensus
And then Mincom got added to the mix
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Largest acquisition to date (for tech comm - nine technical writers)
Two separate, but collaborating teams from Oct 2011- Sept 2012
Upper leadership changes for the company in that time
Dec 2012 – EVP R&D started
Mar 2013 – VP of Quality Operations started
Was not like a takeover
Separate but Together
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Managers started emailing and working together from about Oct 2011
Able to meet face-to-face in Nov 2011
In February 2012, Mincom officially merged into Ventyx
Refreshed branding for all
Early 2012, formed a standards committee for online help with key team members.
Narrow and define the number of voices at the table. Want a range of ideas, but also want cohesion and a group that will work together
Quick wins and some collaboration
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Online help stylistic standards
Monthly meetings
Output format Not tools Not writing style Not information architecture
Can we start looking like one company and acting like one team? Even when we’re not technically a single team?
Used knowledge and experience gained from earlier mergers and acquisitions to help guide us all
Try not to kill anyone’s babies. We all have babies.
Problems? Have we got some problems …
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Let’s call them Challenges instead
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Time zones – 2 offices are 12hrs apart. 7am PER is 7pm ATL (the day before).
Time zones + variety of personal preferred work times & times where our team members are most alert and at their best = tricky for managers scheduling meetings, but not impossible
M&A and other standards work in the US meant the team there are used to these discussions and negotiations.
Aus team have been used to getting everyone on a phone call/webinar, discussing, making a decision, and going back to their desks and making the changes
Easy to group and name by former company or region – gives both a sense of belonging and creates/enforces a division
Our company is still consolidating and standardising many technologies and tools for us to use internally (e.g. webinar, phone conferences, leave requests)
More challenges
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Tools – for content creation, curation, publishing, eLearning, classroom training materials, demos/videos, screenshots, UI text
What is standard in one office or region may not be standard globally. Be aware of imposing or assuming norms.
Content/writing standards US English and Australian English (it’s not just s, z, and u – and what about the UI?) Information architecture Voice And more …
Create cohesion and a sense of team. If you’re a manager, choose your vocabulary careful. We and Our are very important words.
Foster and develop relationships between team members across the pond
Team building proposed
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Encouraging our team to collaborate
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Global team meeting with getting to know you game and slide on each team member
Internal social networking – Chatter Team discussions Share articles and blog posts Ask questions and interact with one another
Buddy pairs for particular topics or projects Give & take on meeting times Allow WFH for early meetings, or early start and evening meetings from home
Team task list SharePoint locale settings
Virtual brown bags, webinars, recorded demos
Main themes so far
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Our people Change management Team relationships
Processes Align Explain/Justify Change management
Systems Our tools Align Explain/Justify Change management
Cooperation. One Team.
Questions? Discussion?
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Contact me:
Twitter: @kirstyt