December 2024 Meetups

December 5: Coffee Hour with Experts - Authoring Strategies

Highlights from this Coffee Hour:

• Jessica Betterly (Sylogist) raised the challenge of getting users to read documentation. This sparked a discussion about strategies for encouraging documentation usage, including the integration of contextual tools like Pendo with MindTouch to guide users.
• Moshe Armel (Proofpoint) shared challenges with migrating content, describing the difficulties of manually adjusting image links and cross-references after exporting content from other platforms. He sought tips for making this process more efficient.
• Rachel C (Verizon) and Katherine Wedgewood (Liaison) responded with their approaches to content migration and review:
  • Rachel C detailed a "lift-and-shift" method followed by incremental improvements, emphasizing the value of consolidation and addressing duplicate or incomplete content.
  • Katherine Wedgewood shared her team's use of Word documents with screenshots for collaborative review, noting the advantages and challenges of working outside the primary platform.
• Kalyn Howard (Westerra) elaborated on her organization’s license management and documentation workflow:
  • Rotating licenses to maximize efficiency while controlling costs.
  • Establishing defined roles (e.g., Mountaineers, Trail Blazers) to manage contributions and approvals.
  • Using process maps and categorization to ensure content is organized and accessible.
  • Implementing a permissioning strategy to align contributor access with organizational priorities.
• Danielle Duffy (Hudson Valley Credit Union) described her team’s annual process for allocating licenses and managing content approvals, emphasizing the necessity of compliance reviews and leveraging project management to align documentation priorities with business needs.
• Sharon Huey prompted further discussion on review strategies, where:
  • Kalyn Howard detailed how her organization uses Review Manager for content approvals, paired with a spreadsheet to track requests and ensure timely publishing.
  • Katherine Wedgewood highlighted their approach of setting semi-private pages and linking reviews to draft content.
• Rachel C and Katherine Wedgewood expanded on how they use screenshots and PDFs for review, sharing workarounds to address license limitations and ensure clarity in feedback.
• Moshe Armel asked about numbering conventions in articles, leading to Kalyn Howard explaining how process maps are labeled and categorized in their system. She emphasized the importance of consistent labeling for cross-referencing and tracking.

The conversation shifted to global variables, with several participants sharing how they leverage this feature:

• Kalyn Howard explained that her team uses global variables to manage frequently updated content such as legal disclaimers and contact information. This ensures that updates propagate automatically across all relevant articles, reducing manual effort and minimizing errors.
• Rachel C noted the importance of version control when using global variables, particularly for compliance-related information.
• Danielle Duffy added that using global variables has improved their ability to maintain consistency across large-scale documentation projects, especially in environments with frequent regulatory changes.

December 12: Annual Customer Meetup Review

​Join us for our annual Customer Meetup Review, where we’ll reflect on the highlights from this past year's events, share key takeaways, and celebrate our community's growth. We'll discuss what worked well, gather your feedback on improvements, and brainstorm ideas for next year's meetups. Your insights are invaluable in shaping future experiences, so come ready to share and connect. Let's make next year's meetups even better together!

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