Exploring Organizational Models, Reporting Structures, and Skill Mixes

1
Exploring Organizational Models, Reporting
Structures, and Skill Mixes

• Session MG 4V
• Jenny Redfern (Sun Microsystems)
• Lori Fisher (IBM Corp.)
• Roz Tsai (Lawson Software)
• Ed See (Arthur Andersen)

2
Agenda for Session

• Product Information group in hardware
  engineering, producing multimedia deliverables
• Jenny Redfern
• User Technology group in software engineering,
  with user focus and multi-disciplinary skills
• Lori Fisher
• Knowledge Management team with an emphasis on
  enterprise-wide content management
• Roz Tsai
• Consulting services group with an emphasis on UI
  design, the human component of technology
• Ed See

3
Exploring Organizational Models, Reporting
Structures, and Skill Mixes
Session MG 4V Jenny Redfern (Sun
Microsystems) Lori Fisher (IBM Corp.) Roz Tsai
(Lawson Software) Ed See (Arthur Andersen)
4
Technical Communication Model at Sun Microsystems

• Mix of models dispersed across several business
  units
• Distinct perspectives software, hardware
• "Not your father's Oldsmobile"
• Professional status and career path varies with
  the mix
• "Documentation" groups focused on product,
  service training, customer education,
  marketing/sales

5
Computer Systems

• Four related product lines with their own product
  information groups
• Volume Products Group contains four product
  groups
• Internet Desktop and Server Group, East and West
• IDSG-West Product Information Group
• Loosely collegial with the other three
• Manager also has second dept., Engineering
  Coordinators

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Charter of IDSG-West P. I. G.

• Explain the operation and service of SPARC-based
  workstations and small servers to an increasingly
  less-experienced, diverse customer set
• Use text, illustrations, and animations to
  describe workstations, small Internet servers,
  and graphics boards
• Aim for continuous improvement, flawless
  execution
• Director Reduce costs, meet product schedules
  with translated documents, and do it better than
  the competition.
• Jenny Pick two.

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We are accountable for...

• Business requirements and limitations
• Ship minimal print with system
• Localize docs for GA
• Single-source from FrameMaker into print, HTML,
  PDF...and beyond
• Leverage MCAD geometry into 2D and 3D models,
  illustrations, animations
• Address audience of widely varying skill levels

• Products
• Service labels exterior and interior access
• Service booklet
• Poster to guide cabling and power-on
• Guide to install options and configure system
• Manuals for overview, administration, and service
• ShowMe How service and training animations
• Webpage FAQs, troubleshooting, site prep

8
The Department

• Contains
• 1 program manager, 5 writers, 2
  illustrator/animators, and a manager
• Leverages
• Matrixed central groups for L10N, editing,
  production, extra illustration support

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Reporting Structure

• Six degrees of separation between Jenny and Sun's
  CEO

Sun Microsystems, Inc.
IDSG
...other business units....
West - Prod. Info. Grp

...other product groups...
Volume Prod.
Computer Systems
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As Manager, I Can...

• Hire from outside and inside
• Contract for vendors
• Give monetary awards and stock
• Promote employees
• Determine salary increases
• Set schedules for deliverables
• ...when there is no hiring freeze
• ...with Director concurrence
• ...within overall product schedule

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Skillsets

• Manager determines needed skill sets and
  distribution
• Skill set within Product Information
• Writers - 70
• Visual designers / animators - 20
• Project lead ? 10
• Borrowed skills
• Editing, localization, print and CD production,
  some illustration support

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Besides L10N, editors, production, and
engineering, we work closely with...

• Service planning What will the customer and
  field engineer need?
• Human factors How can we make the user
  experience easy and safe? How do we test for
  accuracy and usability?
• Mechanical design Is the product design stable
  and ready for documentation/animation?
• Market planning What must our deliverables
  include to make the product competitive and
  successful?
• Product introduction Can our deliverables be
  repurposed for marketing?
• Supply mgt How do we manage costs and JIT
  supplies?

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Pros of the Dispersed Team, Aligned with
Engineering

• Integration and co-location with product teams,
  early involvement with product design
• Independence to design product information that
  best meets needs of the business segment
• Matrix-manage tools, SMI style requirements
• Collegial relationship with other IP groups
  across CS and Sun

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Cons of the Dispersed Team, Aligned with
Engineering

• Lack of strong central SMI IP model we are
  highly accountable for our own performance.
• Must maintain communication across matrix of
  groups with varying degrees of relationship.
• Must prove the "value add" of product information
  and the importance of customer advocacy to each
  successive product team.
• Communication and cooperation across IP groups is
  completely voluntary ? and essential!

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How We Mitigate the Cons

• Cooperative work with groups with similar
  interests, i.e. MCADMultimediaJava API
• Communication across product lines and BU's, i.e.
  IP Council, pubs_council
• Co-location with HW and SW engineering means
  continual presence, and easier access to systems
  during development cycle
• Committees, ad hoc task forces, and Sun Teams
  across product lines

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Summary and Recommendations

• To be an effective product information team...
• Lead.
• Act as the customers' advocate on the
  product/engineering team.
• Perform like a team, not an affiliation of lone
  wolves.
• Leverage all skills, assets, and relationships.
• Continually learn and expand your vision.
• Contribute to the bottom line.
• Don't get too attached to the results.

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Exploring Organizational Models, Reporting
Structures, and Skill Mixes

• Session MG 4V
• Jenny Redfern (Sun Microsystems)
• Lori Fisher (IBM Corp.)
• Roz Tsai (Lawson Software)
• Ed See (Arthur Andersen)

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Technical Communication Model at IBM

• Tech Comm (User Technology) is
• Primarily centralized within Divisions or sites
• Dotted-line reporting to a corporate Director of
  User Technology
• Budgeted as development expense
• Multidisciplinary (writing, editing, design,
  usability)
• working within a company that is
• decentralized into Groups and then Divisions,
  with many functions centralized within Divisions

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My Organization

• Data Management User Technology
• In the Data Management Division
• Lori is second-line manager of centralized UT
  organization
• functional manager
• In existence for 10 years
• Peer groups in Toronto and Boeblingen include
  some additional UT skill for the division
• Dotted line to corporate director

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Mission of My Organization

• Technical product documentation for external
  customers
• Manuals (install, user guides, API references)
• Wizards, tutorials, Quick Tours
• Online help
• PDFs and HTML books
• Read Mes
• product pages on www.ibm.com
• occasional marketing collateral
• Interface design and validation
• User-Centered Design process
• externals specifications (UI design documents)
• UI testing and validation
• Visual signature, visual design, packaging design
• Globalization

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Vision and Mission Statements

• Vision We enable customers to access and use
  data with maximum productivity and satisfaction.
• Mission Design and develop the parts of data
  management products that users can see or touch
  the information, interfaces, and packaging,
  around the world.

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Size and Structure

• 120 employees
• Divided into 8 departments
• based on product alignment (matrix)
• some sub-grouping by skill within product
  alignment (for HF and Visual Design)
• departments range from 12-18 people
• 8 department managers plus one tech lead
• Budget over 10 Million

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Reporting Structure

• Matrix structure for UT teams aligned by their
  product group, but central UT management
• Loris level is highest non-executive position in
  IBM (E-1)
• Reporting managers are Senior managers or
  Development managers (E-2, E-3)
• Lori reports to Director of DB2
• Considered Senior Management by Lab Director
  (Senior VP)
• Director of DB2 / Lab Director / Division
  President / Group VP / CEO

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My Budget and Decision Authority

• Can hire from outside
• Can contract for vendors
• Can give monetary awards
• Can promote employees
• Senior requires cross-lab approvals
• Can determine salary increases
• Cant set schedules for deliverables if dependent
  on product shipments
• Driven by product ship dates
• Manage my own budget for travel, awards,
  discretionary spending of all types (conferences,
  education, books, etc)

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Skills in this Organization

• Skill mix
• writers - 70
• usability experts- 20
• visual designers- 5
• editors - 4
• non-exempt production - 1

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Multi-Disciplinary Skill

• Make IT Easy
• Make IT Clear
• Make IT Global
• Skill mix modeled at corporate staff level, down
  to operational organizations

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Pros of this Organizational Model

• Clear understanding of hiring criteria, career
  path, development activities for these skills
  tailored education
• Sharing of professional knowledge, build on new
  technology (not reinvent)
• Matrix (aligned by products, centralized
  reporting) allows for tight integration with
  product teams

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Cons of this Organizational Model

• Communication across centralized subgroups is
  constant focus for corporate leaders - alignment
  by division vs. corporate standards, etc.
• Funding as development expense means tight
  interlock required with product managers on
  resource numbers

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How We Mitigate the Cons

• We try to optimize our situation by
• Corporate consistency
• Corporate communication databases (listservs)
• Cross-community workgroups for standards and
  guidelines
• Development funding
• Physically co-located with product teams
• Attend all product meetings, events

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Summary and Recommendations

• The key to our success
• Think centralized, act decentralized!
• Matrix attitude is what makes it work
• Multidisciplinary teamwork growing in importance
  as deliverables expand beyond traditional
  information
• If you do valuable work, development will fund
  you!

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Exploring Organizational Models, Reporting
Structures, and Skill Mixes

• Session MG 4V
• Jenny Redfern (Sun Microsystems)
• Lori Fisher (IBM Corp.)
• Rosaline Tsai (Lawson Software)
• Ed See (Arthur Andersen)

32
Technical Communications Models at Lawson Software

• Model A Dispersed within Product Development
• Model B Centralized, integrated with training
• Model C Centralized within Product Development
• The Knowledge Management Team

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Model A Dispersed

• Technical Communicators were dispersed among
  product development groups within Product
  Development
• Reported to product development managers
• Centralized editing and production function

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Pros of Model A (Dispersed)

• Intimate integration with product development
  team regarding
• Deliverable timeline
• Informal communication
• Early involvement in product cycle
• Deeper product knowledge
• Documentation became seen as part of the product

35
Cons of Model A (Dispersed)

• Disparate treatment of technical communicators by
  various product managers
• Lacked professional presence within the company
• Many standards and processes had to be negotiated
  in committees for consensus
• Inefficient resource sharing across products
• Disparate tools, standards, metrics
• Lacked professional and career development

36
Model B Integrated and centralized

• Centralized documentation function
• Integrated with training
• Technical Communicators worked in conjunction
  with Instructional Designers and trainers
• Cross-functional teams responsible for
  documentation and training (internal and client)
  deliverables
• Still part of the Product Development organization

37
Pros of Model B

• Better professional presence, with greater
  influence on the organization
• Better designed and more uniform deliverables
• More professional and career development focus
  and opportunities
• Broader focus and more diverse skills
• Improvement in budget for salary, tools, and
  professional activities
• Reduction of duplicated efforts and deliverables

38
Cons of Model B

• Less integration with Product Development teams
• Content was more diverse but less deep
• More responsibilities
• Less clarity in roles, processes, ownership
• Less focused writing time

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Model CCentralized

• Part of the Global Information Group
• Centralized group which provides documentation
  for all Lawson products
• Part of Product Development
• Integrated with translation and globalization
• Considered a cost center, as part of the product
  development cycle.
• Driven by the Globalization initiative

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Trends in Expectations

• Process specialization rather than content
  specialization.
• Project-based work assignments, rather than
  product-based assignments.
• Restore writers investigation, research and
  interview skills.
• Global market demands different writing
  processes, including controlled language use.
• Repository approach requires writing for
  individual information modules.
• Content authors in support of KM and customer
  support.

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The Lawson KM Team

• Charter---Lead the company in establishing the
  infrastructure and business practices to manage
  the companys knowledge assets.
• Goal---Make knowledge accessible, by employees,
  clients, partners.
• Initiative led by Product Development with
  significant participation from IS, Documentation,
  Translation, and Customer Support.

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Strategies

• Drive for integration among the various KM
  initiatives within the company.
• Establish corporate-wide content structure and
  standards.
• Adopt an XML strategy to facilitate content
  sharing across the company.
• Facilitate decentralized implementation of tools,
  processes, and cultural changes within business
  units.

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KM Core Team Participants

• Executive sponsors
• Business Unit owners (VPs)
• Business Unit participants (including KM managers
  and intermediaries)
• IS and Product Development Developers
• My specific group
• Information Architecture specialist
• Information Retrieval specialist
• System Engineer
• Reporting to Director of Strategic Initiatives in
  Technology Product Development.

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Skills Required in the KM Team

• Information architecture
• Information retrieval
• Technical development
• Process facilitation and design
• Project management
• Change management

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Skills Required in the KM Team

• Information Architecture
• Information analysis
• Target audience analysis
• Content analysis
• Deliverables analysis
• Information structure design
• DTD design
• Authoring tools selection and implementation
• Authoring process design and training
• CMS (content management system) integration

46
Skills Required in the KM Team

• Information Retrieval
• Analysis of user search patterns
• Target audience analysis
• Information search and access needs
• Search operators
• Librarianship
• Search engine tools selection and implementation
• Input to information architecture design

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Skills Required in the KM Team

• Technical Development (System Engineer)
• Technical tools development, integration and
  implementation
• CMS (content management system)
• Authoring tools
• Search engines
• Business unit specific systems
• DTD development
• Liaison with IS and Product Development

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Pros of this Organizational Model

• Consistent knowledge structure
• Emphasis on integration
• Leverage skills from business units
• Build buy-in from business units

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Cons of this Organizational Model

• Who pays for what?
• Depends heavily on trust
• Different business units timelines, technology
  bias, and business goals

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How We Mitigate the Cons

• Establish executive support
• Focus on business units shared common interest
• Initially work with business units with specific
  business goals for KM
• Allow for maximum flexibility for decentralized
  implementation

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Summary and Recommendations

• Regardless of your organizations structure,
  clear and direct ties to specific business
  objectives are critical to your own success.
• Broaden your teams view of the business, the
  customers, the industry, and the financial impact
  of their work.
• One structure does not fit all it may change
  according business priorities.

52
Exploring Organizational Models, Reporting
Structures, and Skill Mixes

• Session MG 4V
• Jenny Redfern (Sun Microsystems)
• Lori Fisher (IBM Corp.)
• Rosaline Tsai (Lawson Software)
• Ed See (Arthur Andersen)

53
The Value of Experience Design
54
Technical Communication at Andersen Experience
Design

• What we do
• The Andersen Experience Design Team produces user
  experiences that help increase revenue, and
  reduce costs.
• Through a user-centered process, we combine
  strategy, design and technology to align market
  solutions with business goals and user behavior.
• The team is a independent practice, market
  facing, with full revenue targets and partner
  career paths.

Increase Revenue for clients
Reduce Costs for clients
Increase productivity
Build relationships
55
Where we fit
We are here
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Where we fit
Arthur Andersen comprises four strategic business
units that work together to create the best
solutions for our clients
Business Consulting
Audit Business Advisory
Tax, Legal Business Advisory
Global Corporate Finance
8.4B in FY00 77,000 professionals Offices in
84 countries
We are here
57
The Team
58
The team our Engineered Approach

• Andersens Experience Design approach bridges
  industry best practices from software
  engineering, user interface design and
  communication design to produce market solutions
  that are

On-Target Our iterative process ensures quality
solutions through continuous testing and
refinement. Scalable and Modular We produce
component-based, form-factor independent
solutions that can be quickly modified to meet
changing business needs.
FlexibleOur criteria driven model meets client
needs by allowing different points of entry into
the process. Comprehensive Our integrated
approach combines strategy, design and
implementation in each phase.
59
Experience Design Skills
Cross-disciplinary and multi-skilled team

• User Interface Design
• Usability Analysis
• Information Architecture
• Content Strategy, Management, and Development
• Marketing and Communications
• Software Engineering
• Visual Design

Need Subtle Visual
All professionals have basic competence in all
areas, with one or more deep skills.
170 Experience Design professionals worldwide
60
Our Process a full product model
61
The pros and cons
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Pros of a practice model
Experience design is a business

• Revenue generating
• Experience Design is the product
• Market facing
• Services sold stand-alone or packaged with
  integration services
• Independence and decision making
• Measurable results

63
Cons of a practice model
Experience design is a business

• Revenue generating (or not)
• Market facing (youve gotta sell!)
• Services sold stand-alone or packaged with
  integration services (you have to develop
  offerings to market needs)
• Independence and decision making (Its your
  business)
• Measurable results (no hiding here)

64
Exploring Organizational Models, Reporting
Structures, and Skill Mixes

• Learning Points
• and
• Common Ground

65
Learning Points

• Skills are broadening tech writing environment
  doesnt look like a traditional tech comm dept
  anymore.
• As business reorganizes, you need to go with it
  dont get left behind.
• Department needs strong leadership to clearly
  articulate roles. Roles carry over regardless of
  organizational model.
• Professional alignment centralized product
  alignment decentralized
• Career development can be a critical factor in
  organizational decisions (and getting buy-in)
• If you add value, funding will follow. Run your
  department like a business.