cultivating content: designing wiki solutions that scale
TRANSCRIPT
8 November 2013
Cura%ng Content: Designing Wiki Solu%ons that Scale
Rebecca Glassman Opower Product Documenta6on Manager
Opower • So9ware company that partners with u%li%es that want to help their customers save energy
• 6 minutes
• Mo%vate people to pay a?en%on and change their behavior
Products • Printed Home Energy Reports
• Email Reports
• Web, Mobile, and Thermostat Apps
• Alerts • Many more!
Opower Product Docs • Audiences
– Opower employees
– U%li%es – U%lity customers
• Deliverables – Confluence knowledge base – Online help – API guides – Many more!
Opower at Scale
• Hiring and onboarding constantly • Mul%ple product lines
• Itera%ve development
• Interna%onal clients and offices
• Specialized teams
• Symptoms of scaling problems
• How you can uncover root causes
• Real solu%ons to solve similar problems
• Symptoms of scaling problems
• How you can uncover root causes
• Real solu%ons to solve similar problems
• Symptoms of scaling problems
• How you can uncover root causes
• Real solu%ons to solve similar problems
You might have a scaling problem if…
you get the bad wiki buzz.
Can’t find what I need
Search doesn’t work
Missing informa%on
You might have a scaling problem if…
you get the bad wiki buzz.
Can’t find what I need
Search doesn’t work
Too much informa%on
Missing informa%on
Old informa%on
Keep ge`ng lost
You might have a scaling problem if…
you get the bad wiki buzz.
Can’t find what I need
Search doesn’t work
Duplicate informa%on
Don’t know where to start
Too much informa%on
Missing informa%on
Old informa%on
Keep ge`ng lost
Don’t know if it’s current
Don’t understand how ranking works
You might have a scaling problem if…
people start hoarding informa%on.
“I’m going to save this informa%on in a Google Doc, so I know I can get to it later.”
You might have a scaling problem if… people request new knowledge sharing tools.
“I can’t find anything on the wiki. Let’s buy another tool instead.”
You might have a scaling problem if…
major influx of product ques%ons. “I’m not sure if this is current. I’m going to check with the Product Manager.”
You might have a scaling problem if…
people start making more mistakes.
“I didn’t know I could only sell that feature in the US. It didn’t say so on the wiki page.”
Unearth Root Causes 1. Stakeholder interviews 2. Metrics
3. Usability tes%ng 4. Ques%on tracking 5. Knowledge mapping
Interviews: Groups • Different roles • New hires and experienced • Tech and non-‐tech • Browsers and contributors • Management
Interviews: Ques%ons • How o9en do you use the wiki? • What frustrates you about the wiki?
• What other systems of record do you use?
• What are the five most important things your team needs on the wiki?
Interviews: Results • Frequency of use: varied by group • Frustra%ons: credibility and accessibility
• Other systems: too many
• Cri%cal content: product limita%ons
Easy Usability Tes%ng: Method • Schedule 15 minutes
• Ask them to answer a ques%on
• Observe how they answer (2 min. max)
• Ask 5 more ques%ons
• Repeat with 5+ more people
Easy Usability Tes%ng: Ques%ons • Did they search or browse? • What keywords?
• Where did they start?
• How many levels deep?
• Did they find the answer? • If not, what did they expect?
Easy Usability Tes%ng: Results • 55% TOC, 45% search • Users skip landing pages • Users only check top 2-‐3 results
Ques%on Tracking: V.1 Results
42% 58%
New hires
Veterans 50% 50% Same 8 people
Everybody else
55% 45% Easy Hard or
Missing 43%
40%
17% TPM
EM
Other
Model your wiki a9er a Na%onal Park.
1. Sustainable: Easy for your team to maintain.
2. Accessible: Easy for everyone to find.
3. Credible: Easy for everyone to believe.
Sustainability 1. Only what’s cri%cal • Use templates
• Exclude “extra” info. 2. Plan for maintenance • Build snippets library • Mul%-‐excerpt & archive macros
3. Allow contribu%ons • Set boundaries • Ad hoc workflows macro
Ad hoc Workflows Macro
Accessibility 1. Search and discovery • Create mul%ple paths
• Target content by role
2. Lessons from UX • Toc < 3 levels • No content only on landing pages
3. Other systems of record • Incorporate data • Keep people in their workflow
BOOK TOC
Credibility 1. Set cri%cal content apart • Keep it in different space • Suggest space search
2. Brand it • Add a logo • Use unique colors and layout
3. Promote it • Get endorsements
• Go on a roadshow
Results “This is going to help Opower be a be?er company.” -‐ Execu%ve
“The BOOK looks great. Using it daily already!” -‐ Client Engagement
“BOOK = RAD” -‐Technical Staff
30 Day Metrics
Welcome Page 10X • Old = 134 page views
• New = 1,469 page views
4th Most Popular Page
Alerts Guide Page 7X • Old = 43 page views
• New = 294 page views
Solu%ons Summary
• Use knowledge management to enable hyper-‐growth.
• Manage your wiki like a product.
• Model your wiki a9er a Na%onal Park.
1. What if I don’t have enough people or resources?
2. What if I can’t afford plugins?
3. What if I can’t get cross-‐team consensus on a
solu%on?
4. What if I don’t have support from management?