Work Smarter, Faster, Better with Visuals - Lavacon 2016

Editor's Notes

• #2: Image source: https://unsplash.com/photos/BjcGdM-mjL0
• #3: Strategy lead at TechSmith. Been in software industry for 14 years; 9 at TechSmith. Snagit and Camtasia people – #1 and #8 Most Used Software Products in tech comm (Scott Abel 2016 Tech Comm benchmarking survey). Get copy at site. Bringing two perspectives to bear: content guy and product guy. Background in PR, marketing, social. Content creation part of my role: video scripts, web copy, ad copy, blog posts, customer help via social channels and community. Now heading up product and market strategy for Snagit. Bringing product lens.
• #4: Had initially planned to take for granted that people’s customer-facing tech comm and marcomm materials include visuals. Just focus on third item. Conversations this week. Pressure on some to strip out or skimp on visuals, reduce development cost. Going last in the week is benefit. Provide framework for thinking through this question. Pull on various threads from the week and my experience on product side to address first two points.
• #5: Content is part of the whole product experience. Also interactions - sales, support, social. But tangible.
• #6: Content as product sounds great. Reality check: rules apply. First thing explained to me when I started product management. Can’t have it all, Mr Product Manager. How to choose where to set scope and quality? Should scope include videos, animations, annotated screenshots? Well, know your customers and their problems.
• #7: If content is a product, people hire it to solve a problem for them; they pay for it as part of product price AND pay again with their scarcest commodities: time and attention. Need to understand how, when, why it’s used to properly formulate requirements for developing it. People problems. Which people? Just end users? No. End users are not the only persona to consider.
• #8: Pragmatic marketing training. Three personas (might be same person or might not). Technical writers are great at considering users (functional buyer) and sometimes technical buyer (e.g., IT who deploys the product). Economic buyer also important. Story: Social platform selection: capabilities, team ramp up time, suitedness to my strategy and goals, vision of how to "do social." Big bet. If wrong, crow pie, disruption to switch, loss of credibility. So…what business problems, what other options (build/buy/partner/make do without), total cost of ownership, switching costs, strategic alignment, are we both heading in the same direction?
• #9: Different buyer personas leads to thinking about functional vs non-functional requirements. How might this apply to content as a product…and specifically to the question of whether to include visuals (images, videos, GIFs in the scope)? If visuals purely serve as decoration, at best might be there to serve non-functional requirements. I want to argue that, for most of you, visuals serve both.
• #10: Functional requirement: “If information is presented orally, people remember about 10%, tested 72 hours after exposure. That figure goes up to 65% if you add a picture.” Better recall means shorter learning curve, quicker path to effective use of your product. Source: http://brainrules.blogspot.ca/2009/12/worth-thousand-words.html Brain Rules, pp233-234
• #11: Functional requirement: People following directions with text and illustrations do 323% better than people following directions without illustrations. Similarly, shorter learning curve and more productivity. Source: Effects of text illustrations: Levie, W.H. & Lentz, R. , “Effects of text illustrations: A review of research", ECTJ, December 1982, Volume 30, Issue 4, pp 195–23 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02765184
• #12: Non-functional requirement: color increases engagement with content. Not directly necessary for understanding. But perception. Difference between users willfully ignoring docs vs using docs. Source: http://www.office.xerox.com/latest/COLFS-02UA.PDF
• #13: Non-functional requirement: 4 times as many consumers would rather watch a video about a product than read about it. Trends, future-looking; are you heading where the customers are heading, serving them as they are accustomed to be served? Ultimately, buyer is hiring your docs to educate and support users so they don’t have to do it. Source: https://animoto.com/blog/business/video-marketing-cheat-sheet-infographic/
• #14: Heard it repeatedly this week: technical content is a business asset. Docs are referenced by prospects (economic buyers) during consideration phase. Perception matters. Story: senior manager of tech docs group asked by her exec to make screencast videos. 40 vids. Team of writers. Why? Competitor has them; industry analyst report noted this. Customers will soon. Competitive advantage. Not driven by end user persona but economic buyer persona.
• #15: Perhaps you were already persuaded of value of visuals in customer-facing content. If not, framework for thinking through decision. Now go behind the scenes...how to use “disposable” videos, GIFs, images to reduce cost and time of content development. Don’t need a big, automated platform or system to put into practice…basic screen capture and screencasting tools are enough. Image source: http://nos.twnsnd.co/image/144705398794
• #16: Behind the scenes Image source: http://nos.twnsnd.co/image/144705398794
• #17: We all want to add more value, continually hone our craft, bring fresh ideas to our work. But most of us don’t have luxury to block off time to go looking for inspiration…just busy in the grind. Image source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/stainless-steel-hat-hanged-brown-wooden-rack-111192/
• #18: But stealing ideas is how we evolve our practice (Tom Aldous – foster creativity) – TS Eliot quote …take something, make it your own, improve upon it. Develop a habit: notice yourself noticing content that has an impact on you…then capture it. Look across media or departments to cross pollinate. Gather inspiration from: other docs, marketing content, brilliant ads, viral content, bloggers, youtubers. * Great headlines; calls to action; examples of fun, quirky tone * Content layouts or structures * Design treatments or color palettes: collect examples to illustrate what you want from designer or writer for specific project: Can share at the beginning of a project, as a mood board or look book. * Video effects or styles
• #19: Create a quick, efficient workflow for capturing inspiration when you see it in your online travels. Grab it, save it for later. Snagit library and tags is one option
• #20: Can have multiple tags to make finding easier later. Can also search by something you remember: general date, app name, words that appeared in URL of webpage captured.
• #21: Could also capture and send to Evernote or OneNote. Or pool inspiration with team members in dedicated chat channel: slack, flowdock, yammer.
• #22: When creating video content… Storyboarding avoids rework by getting feedback and buy-in during early stages of content development, when change is less expensive. Lo-fi visuals give clearer idea than text alone: helps stakeholders, designers, content developers all “see” the same thing in their head, rather than each one having a different creative vision. Especially important when there’s a “baton handoff.” Image source: deathtothestockphoto.com
• #23: As marketing writer, worked with video specialist for Snagit 9 launch. I script, he shoots, edits, produces. Storyboard is how we meet in the middle. Screenshots great for basic scenes or screens.
• #24: For certain scenes, made rough prototype video to… * show anything complex: action sequences, transitions * identify mismatches in timing between visuals and narration for tightly choreographed sequences: too much or too little narration to go along with action * Prove to my video guy that the scene I wrote could “work.”
• #25: Capture the sequence plus audio if you need it. Rough staging of the environment. Link to video or GIF from the doc (with Google Doc, can put animated GIF inline)
• #26: Need info from subject matter experts to inform docs. Can be really hard to get time with SME; not usually being paid to help with docs. Curse of knowledge - SMEs often take things for granted that a new learner or user would not know. Easy to get an incomplete understanding from them. Image source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/technology-music-sound-audio-1770/
• #27: Schedule a half hour interview with SME (in person or screen share). “Just show and talk through steps, new feature, whatever…not a formal demo.” Conversational. * You may do this now, taking notes. Can go one further. * Record their screen and audio. Captures things they think to explain AND some things they do without explaining. * Use for content planning, share out with others on the team, reference later if you’re unsure on a detail. * Depending on your constraints, may even be able to excerpt or cut together some parts of screen recording in your content
• #28: Behind the scenes: Production Image source: http://nos.twnsnd.co/image/144705398794
• #29: Review and feedback. What are your biggest pain points when sending content out for review? (shout out, I will repeat; remote viewers, too). Quantity, Clarity, Timeliness, Friction/Tone. Why? My experience on both sides: writing out detailed feedback takes time. Scheduling meeting time with stakeholders is impossible. Being on the receiving end of the red pen sucks. Ugly baby. Image source: https://static.pexels.com/photos/17845/pexels-photo.jpg
• #30: Open up document, talk through it, point at things. More depth, nuance, warmer tone. Educators pioneered this: quantity, clear, personal. Webcam for even more human element. Coach, not critic.
• #31: For videos, “director’s commentary” style…scrub through and comment. Creator can see exactly which scene you’re talking about, without having to reference time stamps.
• #32: Not just video…a quick screenshot with some markup communicates effectively. This one created by one user assistance team member for another when reviewing her content.
• #33: Localization - Short deadlines, often just before shipping; rework is costly in terms of time and budget…could jeopardize launch and related activities. We localize products and portions of video and written content into German and Japanese. Trying to communicate about changes with translation service provider is tough. Need to be super clear to minimize back and forth. Image source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/city-people-lights-walking-34142/
• #34: Andrea on our UA team shared this trick: open mp4 in Snagit (File > Open), scrub through video to frames with errors, save frames as PNGs, mark up to highlight and explain precise issue. Can also show errors that span frames, like a transition: select that section and export as animated GIF. If no Snagit, could screen capture and annotate. Make sense?
• #35: Behind the scenes Image source: http://nos.twnsnd.co/image/144705398794
• #36: Nobody has time for internal documentation…but incorrect publishing steps can be costly. Guides for your team help reduce risk. Story: drop-off in traffic to key product pages following Snagit 13 launch…digging…problem hidden in metadata: “noindex/nofollow.” Delisted from Google. Simple publishing mistake but costly. * Find a way to do internal documentation. * Little life hack. Create searchable repository (wiki, Google doc, SP, something). * Trigger: one-off question, typing long email/chat…STOP. Don’t answer for just one. Make quick video, GIF, series of screenshots to answer for many, post in repository. * Story: twitter support…help “concierge;” started posting to external community (link people there) and tips feed on twitter. Hundreds or even thousands of views over time, rather than one. * Will be thankful for internal docs when on-boarding, outsourcing. Image source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/mountains-nature-arrow-guide-66100/
• #37: Who’s had sales or support request content that already exists? The best content is wasted if stakeholders don’t know when to use content, where to find it, who it’s for. Also last chance for content QA by people in support or sales, before it goes live. Record a screencast video: guided tour of new content, expose various pieces available. Image source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-in-black-t-shirt-standing-while-spreading-his-arms-facing-light-127712/
• #38: Also a chance to toot your horn, show off work, put your team and their work in limelight. Market your content; think like a marketer. Do a before-and-after GIF to show how you’ve evolved the content design. If you don’t, marketing might just take credit. (Mischa’s story of seeing his team’s content, lightly reworked by marketing, them getting praised.)
• #39: Real examples: Which emails came from tech writer and which from product manager? You don’t get many marketing emails that are all text. So don’t just link out...grab screenshots, embed IN the email so people don’t skim past it. With video, insert juicy thumbnail with a play button on it, linked to video.
• #40: Behind the scenes Image source: http://nos.twnsnd.co/image/144705398794
• #41: Ever spent hours putting together reports nobody reads? May be required to do that. But can go one better and walk through highlights in video form. Raises visibility of team members, shows personality. Image source: https://unsplash.com/photos/xVptEZzgVfo
• #42: Video from TechSmith marketing group, sharing stats from recent product launch campaigns. Quick camera intro, then screencast of select reports directly from analytics dashboards (no heavy prep). They used Camtasia. Could do similar with new webcam recording in Snagit, or use your favorite video/screencasting app.
• #43: How many hours a week in meetings? >4, >8, >12, >20 How hard is it to find time on everyone's calendar, especially when you have people in various timezones? Couple of ideas: * Avoid meetings altogether: record quick videos or screenshots to show progress between distributed teams or offshore groups (asynchronous communication). * Record live meetings or live demos for people who can’t attend but need the info (Scrubbing and 1.5x playback). * Record employee shareouts: tips or best practices shared in a live meeting are recorded, excerpted, shared to others. Image source: http://kaboompics.com/one_foto/895/behind-of-woman-gesturing
• #44: Scheduling with people outside the company: huge pain, ping pong to find open slot. Calend.ly is awesome. Cheap hack: screenshot of calendar, blur out details, show available slots, have them pick one.
• #45: Who knew that you’d also be QA? But it’s true, tech comm (and sometimes marketing) is often first user / last line of defense for QA. Can lead to awkward conversations. Engineers sometimes don’t like to hear there are bugs. “Looks fine on my machine.” Some issues hard to describe in words. Screenshots, videos, GIFs give clear visual evidence. Image source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/broken-heart-love-sad-14303/
• #46: We do issue logging in Github. Screenshots really common. Recently, using more GIFs. Saves a ton of words, especially for really bizarre or hard to describe issues.
• #47: “I love gif for bugs. I used it a ton for text tool bugs. This was a good one because it was hard to track down and the gif made it easy” – Sara Frederixon, software engineer, Snagit (New version of Snagit has animated GIF creation built in. Could also get an app like LiceCap.)
• #48: GIFs, memes, videos as morale boosters. People prefer to work on a team / at a company they perceive as fun. Distributed/remote teams or people who don’t get much face time – can lose personal/human connections. Death marches, departmental tension or just unfamiliarity. Humor is a bridge. Shows that they are not so different from us. Gives expression to emotions that might not surface in face to face settings. E.g., Superheroes from CMac team; meme graphics; people’s heads on other bodies, Kittens are high-fiving in sales emails when a large sale is booked
• #50: Image source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/light-sign-typography-lighting-519/