Minimalism Revisited — Let’s Stop Developing Content that No One Wants
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Joann Hackos discusses the importance of minimalism in content development, advocating for a focus on user needs and effective information design. The document outlines barriers to effective content, the necessity of reducing unnecessary information, and strategies to enhance user engagement. It highlights the need to understand customer goals and streamline content to improve usability and support real work.
Minimalism Revisited — Let’s Stop Developing Content that No One Wants
- 1. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 1 What are the barriers? Minimalism Revisited — Let’s Stop Developing Content that No One Wants JoAnn Hackos, PhD President Comtech Services, Inc. December 8, 2015
- 2. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 2 Experience the DCL Difference DCL blends years of conversion experience with cutting-edge technology and the infrastructure to make the process easy and efficient. • World-Class Services • Leading-Edge Technology • Unparalleled Infrastructure • US-Based Management • Complex-Content Expertise • 24/7 Online Project Tracking • Automated Quality Control • Global Capabilities
- 3. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 3 Valuable Content Transformed • Document Digitization • XML and HTML Conversion • eBook Production • Hosted Solutions • Big Data Automation • Conversion Management • Editorial Services • Harmonizer
- 4. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 4 . . . Spanning All Industries • Aerospace • Associations • Defense • Distribution • Education • Financial • Government • Libraries • Life Sciences • Manufacturing • Medical • Museums • Periodicals • Professional • Publishing • Reference • Research • Societies • Software • STM • Technology • Telecommunications • Universities • Utilities
- 5. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 5 Increasing the Value of Your Information Business and technical strategies for • Enterprise content management • Standards-based information architecture (DITA) • Efficient and cost-effective content development • Localization and translation cost controls • Automated dynamic publishing for multiple platforms We focus on managing content effectively – • Supporting the sales cycles • Reducing support costs • Increasing customer loyalty • Increasing the brand value of products and services • Anticipating customer needs The Comtech global team is led by Dr. JoAnn Hackos
- 6. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 6 Upcoming Events • CIDM Online Conference: • Measure Anything: January 26-27, 2016 https://forum.infomanagementcenter.com • Conferences: www.infomanagementcenter.com • CMS/DITA North America: April 4-6, 2016 in Reston, VA • Best Practices: September 12-14, 2016 in Santa Fe, NM • Webinars: http://comtech-serv.com • Minimalism Revisited: December 8, 2015 • Moving to Dynamic Content: December 16, 2015 • Reinventing Content Publishing: February 17, 2016 • Implementing content strategy through collaboration: February 25, 2016 • Workshops: http://comtech-serv.com • Advanced Publishing for DITA: February 22-26, 2016 in Milwaukee, WI • Content Management Strategies: February 26, 2016 in Ultimo, NSW Australia • Minimalism: February 29-March 1, 2016 in Ultimo, NSW Australia
- 7. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 7 Peter Drucker on Minimalism • There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.
- 8. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 8 Minimalist –what it means Focuses on user goals and scenarios Emphasizes learning by doing rather than reading Explains how to recover from mistakes and correct errors Includes hints and tips based on typical user questions
- 9. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 9 What do we hear from customers? Why won’t this work? How do I do this? They changed it! I don’t have time for this!
- 10. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 10 People don’t read manuals Don’t make me read! I’ll just ask someone. I’d rather skim. Do I have to read all of this? Less is better.
- 11. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 11 Attention spans shorter Recognize an image in 2-3 sec from 20 secs 50 years ago Attention span surfing the web – 8 sec from 12 sec 9 sec 15 hrs media/day Seniors 19 from 11 min
- 12. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 12 No more penguins
- 13. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 13 Minimalism is here to stay “I am quite sure I can never escape minimalist instruction ….” “… now it seems less a topic on its own and more a general requirement for information design.” “… on mobile devices … There is little space and less time to burden users with instructions that are not obviously relevant … .” John Carroll in 2014 Distinguished professor and minimalism founder
- 14. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 14 Finding out what people really do and want, naturally and spontaneously, leads us to good information design – but it’s not easy. Minimalism is Good Design Good design is a tough job.
- 15. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 15 Much technical information is not minimalist • Managers and information developers know • We produce too much content for customers to use effectively • Content has grown by accretion • Much is redundant and often unnecessary • People are rewarded for quantity not quality
- 16. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 16 Minimalism is beautiful • Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius, and a lot of courage, to move in the opposite direction. - E.F. Schumacher, author
- 17. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 17 What do we do about it? • Learn who your customers are • Learn about their goals for your products • Develop customer personas to focus your approach • Enable customers to do real work right away • Remove or hide content few people ever access • Add troubleshooting
- 18. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 18 Get to know the customer • Who is using your content? • What jobs do they do? • What are their goals? • How do they think?
- 19. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 19 Build personas • Role • Description • Tasks • Goals • Critical concerns
- 20. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 20 Enable real work How to: Create and Run a Unit Test Unit Tests for Private, Internal, and Friend Methods Unit Tests for ASP.NET Web Services How to: Create a Data-Driven Unit Test What I ended up with Overview of Data-Driven Unit Tests Configure a Data-Driven Unit Test How to: Author a Unit Test How to: Create an ASP.NET Unit Test Debug while Running ASP.NET Working with Data-Driven Unit Tests Overview of ASP.NET Unit Tests ASP.NET and Private Accessors Testing Web in a Team Environment Working with ASP.NET Unit Tests Setting InternalsVisibleTo Attribute How to: Test a Private Method How to: Generate a Unit Test Testing Web Services Using Private Accessors Coding a Data-Driven Unit Test What I started out with Anatomy of a Unit Test
- 21. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 21 Get rid of content no one needs TcEnt 4.0: TcEnt 5.0: Extreme Makeover CF2.0:
- 22. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 22 Increase troubleshooting advice A subscriber is unable to send or receive email. What should I do? Send a service book to the handheld. 1. On the site Homepage, in the Account Lookup section, type the subscriber’s user ID or PIN. 2. Click Submit. 3. Click the subscriber’s User ID. 4. Click Send Service Book. A subscriber is unable to browse the internet. What should I do? 1. On the site Homepage, in the Account Lookup section, type the subscriber’s user ID or PIN. 2. Click Submit. 3. Click the subscriber’s User ID. 4. Click Send Internet Browsing Service Book. If the Send Internet Browsing Service Book option does not appear, the subscriber does not have Internet browsing capabilities.
- 23. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 23 Writer’s Plan Give users everything they need Don't give them anything they can’t use Put information where they need it Make sure it’s accurate Be clear, be specific
- 24. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 24 Try it yourself Submit your rewrite in the chat box.
- 25. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 25 Milkshake content • Harvard discovers minimalism • Clayton Christensen, Harvard Business School • Look at content the way customers do— as a way to get a job done
- 26. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 26 Milkshake content • What are your customers hiring your products to do? • How can the right content help them do those jobs successfully? What job is this customer trying to get done? What is the system the customer uses to get the job done? What is the weakest part of that system? Clayton Christensen
- 27. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 27 Milkshake content • Jobs that users want to get done • Goal-focused tasks • Strong task titles and short descriptions
- 28. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 28 Product-focused content Organizing principle – Product interface Organizing principle – Tabs on the screen
- 29. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 29 User-focused content Organizing principle – User jobs Organizing principle User goals
- 30. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 30 Good titles make a difference Creating a Batch Creator List for an <XYZ> Process Original title Specifying Who Can Create Batches User-oriented title
- 31. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 31 Remove what is not needed (by anyone) The more content you have, the harder users have to work to find what they need.
- 32. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 32 From Gerry McGovern Olde Website 100,000 pages Large Complex Old Out-of-date New Website 3,000 pages Small Focused Up-to-date Thanks to Gerry McGovern Visits up Nobody Noticed Protests KPIs up Nobody Protested
- 33. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 33 Adopt four minimalist principles • Principle 1– Choose an action-oriented approach • Principle 2 – Focus on the user’s real goals • Principle 3 – Support error recognition and recovery • Principle 4 – Support fast and easy information access
- 34. © 2015 Comtech Services, Inc. 34 Questions now? • Questions later: • joann.hackos@comtech-serv.com • markgross@dclab.com