effectively managing documentation for embedded linux™ projects jeffrey osier-mixon
TRANSCRIPT
Who Am I
• Technical writer, project manager, developer
• Open source experience• Embedded and bare-metal experience• Enterprise software experience• Consumer electronics experience
http://www.jefro.net
Who Are You
• Technical writers and editors• Project managers for open-source
projects• Project managers for Linux-based
proprietary products• Engineers stuck with writing tasks• Ten-year-old robotics enthusiasts
Goals of this Presentation
• The importance of solid documentation
• The four critical elements of documentation
• Meeting expectations of readers• The importance of effective project
management• Emerging fashions
What is documentation?
• “What you tell other people about your project”
• I emphasize solid rather than good documentation:– Complete and correct– Appropriate to audience– Answers the reader’s questions
• Spectrums of complexity, openness, and familiarity in presentation—always based on audience
What makes it solid?
• Primary education & training—concepts• Primary descriptions behavior and
features—tasks• Primary definitive organized resource
list—reference• Primary line of support—
troubleshooting
(foreshadowing the four critical elements)
Who are the readers?
• Partners—product manufacturers or others who turn your project into a product to resell
• Developers—organizations or people who use your project as basis for creating products of their own
• End-users—people who finally use the end result of the above activities
• Internal folks—people in your organization
The importance of solid documentation
From a partner’s point of view, solid documentation:
• Conveys intent as well as structure• Shows a clear product development path• Augments their own internal resources
(engineering, QA, FAE, marketing, sales) • Makes their jobs easier:
– faster time to market – lower costs– higher satisfaction with provider
• Provides a format for change requests
The importance of solid documentation
From the developer’s perspective, solid documentation:
• Cements relationship with the provider– Establishes professionalism– Reduces fear, uncertainty, and doubt
• Augments their own internal resources (engineering, QA, FAE, marketing, sales)
• Makes their jobs easier:– faster time to market – lower costs– higher satisfaction with provider
• Reduces support costs
The importance of solid documentation
From the end user’s point of view, solid documentation:
• Educates and involves the reader• Shows the product’s features in clear detail
—if this can’t be easily done, the product itself is too complex
• Provides a detailed, organized reference so that all details of the product can be instantly found
• Provides troubleshooting, the first line of support
The importance of solid documentation
From the product’s point of view, solid documentation:• Adds value to the product• Provides a glimmer of hope that education may
prevail before trial-and-error sets in• Is the essential element to convert a bench project
into a customer product–a process called productization
• Doesn’t allow cleverness go unnoticed – Describe and explain the product in ever finer detail,
otherwise…– Useful features can go unnoticed in favor of the default
behavior
The importance of solid documentation
From the internal folks’ point of view, good documentation:
• Provides a resource for the entire customer relationship:– Marketing– Pre-sales– Professional services– Support– Retention
• Provides a basis for internal training• Provides a valuable record
The importance of solid documentation
From an open-source point of view:• Collaboration and cooperation are key to
success• Collaboration is made possible by
communication
From a consumer electronics point of view:• A product can not be considered
“marketable” without documentation describing it completely and correctly
Four Critical Elements
In order by increasing level of detail:• Concepts• Tasks & Examples• Reference• Troubleshooting
Concepts
The Big Picture: 35,000 foot high-resolution view
• Describe the feature, construct, API, entire platform, etc. with the reader in mind
• Keep cross-references to a minimum• “Tell” rather than “show”• Keep tone professional, not
conversational
Tasks
Step by step examples: 5,000 foot view• Take common (and uncommon) tasks
one at a time in a logical order, with running examples
• “Show” rather than “tell”• Feed on previous tasks and examples,
but try to make each one self-contained• Consistency is key• Keep cross-references to a minimum
Reference
Organized menu showing everything that’s available: street view
• Describe in as much detail as is appropriate
• Leave no stone unturned• Refer back to previous sections for
conceptual descriptions and examples• Keep cross-references to a maximum
Troubleshooting
Answering questions: through the looking glass and looking back—the reader’s view
• Probably the most important and most-read section, and least often included
• Content is King, but understanding the reader is the Prime Minister
• Display a sympathy for the reader and a willingness to show and teach—to be an advocate for the reader
The Four-Element Theme
Four-element theme is recursive:
Good example: MontaVista’s DevRocket doc set
Concepts
Tasks & Examples
Reference
Trouble-shooting
Doc set in general
Overview & Specs
Prog. GuidesTutorials
API GuidesGlob. IndexSearch func.
FAQsKBs
Each document
Prefatory chapters
“How-To” chapters
AppendicesIndex
Optional trouble-shooting sec.
Each chapter
Overview Task and example sections
Cross-refs to reference documents
Cross-refs to related information
Each individual element
Introduce topic, task, example
Step by step instructions
Cross-refs to reference documents
Cross-refs to related information
Meeting Reader’s Expectations
Who are the readers• Partners—product manufacturers or others
who turn your project into a product to resell
• Developers—organizations or people who use your project as basis for creating products of their own
• End-users—people who finally use the end result of the above activities
• Internal—people in your organization
Meeting Reader’s Expectations
What are their expectations? Interview? Survey? Educated guess?
• Educate yourself with research—become the reader
• Find out what they need to know conceptually• Find out what tasks they need to accomplish
and make sure they are adequately described in your document
• Find out where they can look for more information
Who are you, anyway?
• For this presentation:– Technical writers and editors– Project managers – Engineers stuck with writing tasks
• Whom have I missed?
And what do you want?
• Goals of this presentation– The importance of solid documentation– The four critical elements of documentation– Meeting expectations of readers– The importance of effective project
management– Emerging fashions
• What do you want to know that we haven’t covered here?
Effective Project Management
• Documentation as a product is fundamentally different from software– Didactic rather than declarative
• Documentation project management is fundamentally similar to software project management– Development, production, testing,
deployment
• Documentation is fundamentally cross-functional
Effective Project Management
• Establish resources– Define and staff roles rather than jobs– Identify tools, SMEs, access to information
• Plan: begin with the end in mind– Get everyone’s input: marketing, sales,
support, engineering, professional services, potential end users
• Aim for synergy with partners, developers, end users
• Follow up, but don’t hover
Questions for managers to ask
Nature of the project:• Is this an open-source project, or a
proprietary project built on open-source components and/or tools
• Hardware, software, or device containing both?
• Where and for whom does this project add value?
Questions for managers to ask
Let the money be your guide, let the customer be your rudder:
• Who is the customer base? Partners, developers, end-users?
• In which market niche? How does the market set expectations?
• Who is the expected audience? Are they different from the customer base?
Questions for managers to ask
Project management issues:• Home grow the docs with available
resources, or seek professional writers?
• If home grown, how to minimize costs and development downtime while maximizing quality?
• If professional, contract or hire?
Emerging Fashions
• What kind of fashions? Why not “trends”?– “Trends” indicates business purpose
• But you just told me to ignore fashions, didn’t you?
• Many come from open source community• How to use fashions effectively in open-source:
– Emphasize developer participation & cooperation rather than secrecy and direct competition
– Follow fashions that increase value, ignore others– Remember that content is King
Emerging Fashions
• Political Direction• Content Delivery Mechanisms• Source Management• Stylistic Trends• Tools
Political Direction—Toward Openness
How does the open-source philosophy affect documentation, and CE products in general?
• Openness• Collaboration• Cooperation
Very confusing for historically proprietary markets such as consumer electronics & telecommunications
Content Delivery Mechanisms
• Open SDKs and developer portals – Blogs and RSS feeds– Developer forums– FAQ and Knowledge Base
• Wikis and public bug tracking systems– Public participation– Direct feedback to developers and end-users
• White papers, articles, technical specifications
Source Management
• Searchable HTML (printable PDF is so early 2k)
• Structured, open format—XML in its many forms
• Source-generated docs (doxygen, javadoc)
• Content management systems• Bug tracking
Stylistic Trends
• Minimalism—counteracting the “dummies” trends and showing respect for the reader
• Conversational tone vs professional tone, both in vogue in different contexts
• Writing for non-native English speakers, writing for translation and localization
• Pictures—images, line drawings, screenshots, etc. can convey meaning beyond translation
What about tools?
Tools don’t matter, content is King• Easy to bog down believing one tool is
superior• Any document can be written with any
decent set of writing tools. Pick a good one and get going
• Avoid “tool fashion” at all costs• Saving money on tools is no more effective
in software development than it is in house construction
What about tools?
Tools matter a little bit, because timing is Queen• A known tool beats a new one when time is
short• Writing tools should be a very small
percentage of the project’s budget, but time and labor can be a very large percentage with the wrong tools
• Using proprietary tools in an open-source project can sometimes lead to problems down the road
• If a tool makes the job harder, uglier, longer, or less future-proof, replace it
Solid Documentation Matrix
Concepts
Tasks & Examples
Reference
Trouble-shooting
Partners
Specifications
Low-level guides Good samples
Private API documentsSource code
Shared wikis, white papers
Developers
Conceptual overviews
Programming guides, good samples
Public API documents on a public portal
Blogs, forums, white papers
End-Users
White papersTraining
Step-by-step instructions with pictures
Good indicesSearchable docs
FAQs, Knowledge Bases
Internal Folks
Internal wikisInternal training
Internal examples
Public & private API docsSource code
Internal KBs, searchable docs
Review: Goals of this Presentation
• The importance of solid documentation• The four critical elements of
documentation• Meeting expectations of readers• The importance of effective project
management• Emerging fashions
How did we do?
Jeffrey Osier-Mixon707 326 3758
http://www.jefro.net