20-year evolution with a 5-year strategic plan

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20-Year Evolution with a 5-Year Strategic Plan

Megan Gilhooly

©2013 INVIDI Technologies Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Proprietary @MeganGilhooly @LavaCon

A little about me

Megan Gilhooly, Manager Technical Communication

INVIDI Technologies• 80 employees and contractors• Software for cable and satellite operators• 4 direct reports• Training and documentation

MS Strategic Management

MS Broadcast Journalism

[email protected] @megangilhooly


mailto:[email protected]

Summary

Strategic plan

Vision

Steps we took

(What worked, what didn’t)


October 2010

Strategic Plan


Megan Gilhooly

What is a strategic plan?• Formal consideration of future course• Long term (3-5 years)• Consider current factors• End with goals, not tactics

Why do one?• Provide a base for measuring progress• Clarify goals & objectives• Communicate goals & objectives• Increase awareness of risks and opportunities• Encourage participation


Create Strategic Plan

• Current State of the Department• The team (skillsets, personalities, opportunities)• The deliverables (the good and the bad)

• SWOT• Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats• Analysis

• What Customers Want• Customer surveys one month prior• Organized quotes into 4 themes

• Getting There• Objective• Tools, processes, and people required


Inte

rnal

En

viro

nm

ent

Strengths Highly Skilled Staff Strong Leadership Functional Process

Opportunities New Technology

Alternative Resources ExpansionExt

ern

al

En

viro

nm

ent

Weaknesses Dysfunctional Process Lacking Specific Skill

Not Using Latest Technology

Threats Legislation

Lack of Support Negative Publicity

7

From www.businessballs.com


SWOT Analysis

Where we started

ToolsUsing MS Word, Framemaker 8, SVN repository

Problems: • Losing support of Adobe for Framemaker 8• Couldn’t collaborate with new writers on Framemaker 9• Framemaker template had been “borrowed”, so no one knew

how to fix the degradations• SVN wasn’t working as a company-wide CMS• No training tools


Where we started

ToolsNeeds: • No more Framemaker• Company-wide CMS mandate• DITA XML authoring tool• DITA CCMS• Language standardization software• Learning management tool


Where we started

Processes

Problems: • No recorded processes for documentation or training• No recorded processes in entire company• Delivering documentation 6 weeks after release• Every SME has a unique perspective on what is the

“accurate” answer• No sense of corporate strategy to align with• No corporate standards for style or terminology


Where we started

Processes

Needs: • Adopt a style guide• Record the current process and refine for

the short term• Move to DITA XML authoring and rewrite

processes• Encourage others to look at company-

wide processes• Increase visibility of training processes


Where we started

PeopleFour employees: 1 manager, 2 technical writers, 1

trainer who could write

Problems: • Team had been mismanaged, so team

members were angry• Other teams had no respect for Tech Comm• Customers had no faith in the documentation• One writer per customer model was not

scalable


Where we started

People

Needs: • More technical depth• Re-engagement• DITA skills and knowledge• Editorial skills


What we needed

• Content Management System

• DITA Content Management System

• Learning Management System

• Knowledge Base• Styleguide


• Drastically cut word count• Standardize terminology• Implement DITA• Processes• More technical depth• Re-engagement• DITA skills and knowledge• Editorial skills

Tools, Processes, and People

Where we started

Budget

$0


VisionDevelop strategic information management that will drastically increase customer satisfaction by providing the right information to the right people, when and where they need it.


7 Steps


What we did

Step 1

Fix what we could


What worked What didn’t work

• Hired a contract writer by writing a compelling business case

• Caught up on schedule (deliver docs with release)

• “Stole” a support guy who could write to improve the depth of product knowledge

• Only brought us in line with expectations in 1995…we still had a long way to go!

What we did

Step 2

Build relationships



• People started to appreciate Tech Comm

• My employees were able to work with other teams more effectively

• We were able to get a lot of information from other teams

• Relationships overshadowed what’s best for the customer

• The information didn’t jive because while I was building relationships, our SMEs were not

What we did

Step 3

Find a CCMS that would also work as a company-wide CMS



• We found one the board would approve (great deal!)

• We did numerous trainings• We predicted the push back and

were ready for it• Created a cross-functional team• We succeeded in full adoption in

1.5 years

• We got the value we paid for• No DITA expert on our team made

it tougher to negotiate with vendor• We were using the tool outside of

its intended scope

What we did

Step 4

Transition to DITA



• I learned from the mistakes of the previous manager

• I recognized our deficiencies• We planned for DITA when

choosing our tools• Backfilled training position with a

DITA expert

• Started too early, wasted effort

What we did

Step 5

Taxonomy, Personas, Scenarios



• When dealing with VPs, we did all the work and just had them provide their opinion

• Got buy-in of Support team so they would help with personas/scenarios

• People didn’t understand the need for a taxonomy, so it took a lot of convincing that it wasn’t a waste of time

• It took a long time to get buy-in from the VP who “owns the customer relationship”

What we did

Step 6

Create Learning Management System



• Hired e-learning experts• Chose LMS carefully• Effective business case• Reviewed storyboards with entire

company before prototype development

• Overambitious schedule• Impact of time off• Turnover within consultant org• Time differences are tough• No dedicated resources

What we did

Step 7

Build Knowledge Base



• Got budget approved • As of two weeks ago, approved budget items were frozen until next year

20-year evolution with a 5-year strategic plan

Business

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