Comments on: How to be an Agile Technical Writer with a cool acronym like XTW http://justwriteclick.com/2008/02/19/how-to-be-an-agile-technical-writer-with-a-cool-acronym-like-xtw/ Documentation as conversation Sun, 14 Mar 2010 16:58:51 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: Naiya Cominos http://justwriteclick.com/2008/02/19/how-to-be-an-agile-technical-writer-with-a-cool-acronym-like-xtw/comment-page-1/#comment-243 Naiya Cominos Wed, 02 Apr 2008 17:31:57 +0000 http://annegentle.wordpress.com/?p=154#comment-243 Thank you for posting such excellent insights. I'm trying to get our developers to understand that the writers need to be part of the agile process (not just chickens on the pig ranch; not scowled at for asking for a technical review here and there, or asking, "Is this how it really works?). Wonderful; thank you so much. We (writers) can't write documentation to support vapor-ware; we try to read minds but don't always succeed. We can absolutely write documentation to support what you're designing and developing, and if you just nod or shake your head, that's all we need. :-) Thank you for posting such excellent insights. I’m trying to get our developers to understand that the writers need to be part of the agile process (not just chickens on the pig ranch; not scowled at for asking for a technical review here and there, or asking, “Is this how it really works?). Wonderful; thank you so much. We (writers) can’t write documentation to support vapor-ware; we try to read minds but don’t always succeed. We can absolutely write documentation to support what you’re designing and developing, and if you just nod or shake your head, that’s all we need. :-)

]]> By: ffeathers http://justwriteclick.com/2008/02/19/how-to-be-an-agile-technical-writer-with-a-cool-acronym-like-xtw/comment-page-1/#comment-242 ffeathers Wed, 20 Feb 2008 22:38:31 +0000 http://annegentle.wordpress.com/?p=154#comment-242 Hallo Anne Glad you like the 'XTW' acronym :) You're quite right in assuming that we use Confluence wiki for our technical documentation. (The 'eat your own dogfood' thing.) We use the Confluence wiki to document Confluence itself, as one of our products. And we also use it to document almost all our other products (Bamboo, Crowd, Clover, FishEye and Crucible). Our JIRA documentation is currently held in Apache Forrest, but we're planning to migrate it some time soon. I agree 100% that you need to evaluate a few tools, if you're given the luxury of choice. First, define your requirements: a wiki wouldn't be the most logical choice if most of your readers are offline, for example. And there's a whole lot of really interesting analysis going on, about structured documentation (DITA, DocBook) and tools like RoboHelp versus wikis. Eric Armstrong has some interesting points on his Cool Stuff blog. Your own blog is choc-a-bloc with really good ideas and pointers too. I've been following it for a few months now, and I'd recommend to new-comers that they take a look at some of your past posts too :) Seeya on the page, Sarah Hallo Anne

Glad you like the ‘XTW’ acronym :)

You’re quite right in assuming that we use Confluence wiki for our technical documentation. (The ‘eat your own dogfood’ thing.) We use the Confluence wiki to document Confluence itself, as one of our products. And we also use it to document almost all our other products (Bamboo, Crowd, Clover, FishEye and Crucible). Our JIRA documentation is currently held in Apache Forrest, but we’re planning to migrate it some time soon.

I agree 100% that you need to evaluate a few tools, if you’re given the luxury of choice. First, define your requirements: a wiki wouldn’t be the most logical choice if most of your readers are offline, for example. And there’s a whole lot of really interesting analysis going on, about structured documentation (DITA, DocBook) and tools like RoboHelp versus wikis. Eric Armstrong has some interesting points on his Cool Stuff blog.

Your own blog is choc-a-bloc with really good ideas and pointers too. I’ve been following it for a few months now, and I’d recommend to new-comers that they take a look at some of your past posts too :)

Seeya on the page, Sarah

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