Information Development: Managing Your Documentation Projects, Portfolio, and People

Preface

In 1994, with the release of Managing Your Documentation Projects,^[1] I put together many of the concepts and processes about managing technical documentation development that had been percolating in the field. The book has been well received, indicating that people involved in developing documentation needed a codified approach to the process. Many people tell me that Managing Your Documentation Projects continues to be their industry bible, providing them with a step-by-step process from planning and design through development and production. Most of the processes described in that book have changed little because they represent the basics of sound project management techniques. Except for some of the information associated with print product, little about the basics of documentation plans, project estimates and schedules, project tracking, and project completion has changed.

Nonetheless, much has changed for information development. As information-development managers, you are under considerable pressure to reduce costs and project time, to do the same or more work with fewer resources, send more projects to lower cost economies, and, in general, to increase the value of the information you deliver. I have designed this book to help you do so, in part by aiding you to make strategic decisions about information development, moving yourself squarely into the ranks of a professional mid-management leader. I have directed the discussion of project management toward smarter ...