Agile development and tech pubs

12Jun09

I’m finally following up on the Agile tech pubs webinar hosted by CIDM and presented by Bill Gearhart and Mike Wethington on May 14th (nearly a month after the fact, but better than never!).   Mike and Bill were also kind enough to answer some follow-up questions for me, and those answers and insights are reflected in this post as well.

For those of us working in software development, I think it makes a lot of sense to learn about the Agile development methodology.  Many development teams want to move toward Agile; if/when an Agile initiative surfaces in your org, advance knowledge of Agile methods will make it possible for tech writers to ‘hit the ground running’,  adapt, and even capitalize on new opportunities created by Agile adoption.

Tech pubs groups that are seeking to innovate and expand the channels in which they publish and exchange information (wikis, forums, blogs, etc.) and the roles that they fill (content aggregators, knowledge managers, community facilitators, etc.) should probably consider how Agile adoption on the content development side would affect their efforts.  Imagine the credibility boost that tech pubs groups can get from being recognized as Agile leaders within their depts.

My personal opinion is that within organizations that value innovation, tech pubs groups that take the initiative to understand how they can function in, and contribute to, Agile development will at the very least score important PR points.  Additionally, key aspects of Agile methodology, for example, the emphasis on openness and transparency and the focus on doing ‘just-enough’ for each cycle, provide rationales for new approaches to developing and publishing content, and for engaging more directly with internal and external stakeholders.  Working through the ’story’ approach to adding features is also a potential boon to tech pubs groups, since it provides a direct mechanism for writers to leverage their engagement efforts and show direct ROI for their projects.

As the seminar pointed out, Agile is not magic, nor is it a panacea. The process of moving to Agile takes time and concerted effort, and there will be many problems  to work through and mistakes along the way.  For tech pubs groups, getting familiar with Agile methods in advance of a larger initiative within the the dev org is a worthwhile investment in internal relations.  Further, tech pubs groups can use Agile’s focus on small, discrete deliverables and open communication to enhance their ROI by delivering the items that the product team has decided up front are the highest priority.  And at the higher level, tech pubs groups can use their expertise in the emerging tech pubs channels and roles that I describe to position themselves as highly valued contributors to the development, prioritization, and execution of user assistance and community stories within the Agile development process.

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