Fwd: RE: The Technical Writer vs. Agile Development Methodologies

[Tracy Taylor <ipsque -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

>From a writer that used Agile formerly on my team.  

--- Bonnie Turner <bonnie -dot- turner -at- oracle -dot- com> wrote:

> I've been working as a technical writer on an agile
> development team for a couple of years now and it
> can work really well. In fact, I much prefer it to
> working on teams with waterfall development methods.
> There are more informal discussions, so you can get
> answers quickly and don't have to wait for special
> meetings or discussions. As well, instead of being
> handed a product at the end of a development cycle,
> you can affect decisions and the product. For
> example, if something is difficult to use, you have
> the opportunity to question it before the plans are
> complete. It's a great chance to be a representative
> for the customer and an advocate for usability. 
> 
> Here are a few things that really helped me:
> 
> 
> - Try to do background research yourself. Rather
> than assuming that developers and managers will
> provide you with all the information you need, try
> to find things out yourself. Go to meetings, and try
> to absorb what is going on. If your team uses a Wiki
> (a collaborative website) to record decisions, look
> around it-- it can be an excellent source of
> information. Try to figure out basic things
> yourself, so that you can ask intelligent questions.
> Doing some background research can help you gain the
> respect of your development team. 
> 
> - Sit with the development team-- preferably near
> the main decision makers. That way, you can be
> constantly in touch with what is happening in the
> project. For example, if you hear a decision being
> made, you can turn around in your chair and say
> "Hey-- did you just say XYZ" and get immediate
> answers, or at least know that you should ask about
> that decision at a convenient time. Even if people
> are disciplined in writing down their decisions on a
> Wiki, or collaborative website, there are often
> decisions made on the fly. By sitting with the
> development team, you can overhear the things that
> people forget to write down. 
> 
> - Have iteration review sessions. At the end of each
> iteration, our team has an iteration review so that
> everyone can see what has been accomplished. These
> sessions can be quick, but let everyone from
> developers to QA and managers to quickly understand
> where the product is at at that time. It can also be
> a great chance to have discussions and provide input
> on usability.
> 
> The most frustrating part of working in an agile
> development team, for me, has been when the team as
> a whole is not working well. For example, if agile
> development is used as an excuse for not planning or
> making decisions, it can waste everyone's time.
> However, when agile works well, you can build on
> your writing each iteration.
> 
> Bonnie
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tracy Taylor [mailto:ipsque -at- yahoo -dot- com]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2006 3:42 PM
> To: bonnie -dot- turner -at- oracle -dot- com
> Subject: Fwd: The Technical Writer vs. Agile
> Development Methodologies
> 
> 
> Please weigh in with your hard won wisdom!  Thanks,
> Tracy
> 
> --- Kevin McGowan <thatguy_80 -at- hotmail -dot- com> wrote:
> 
> > From: "Kevin McGowan" <thatguy_80 -at- hotmail -dot- com>
> > To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> > Date: Tue, 31 Jan 2006 14:28:21 -0500
> > Subject: The Technical Writer vs. Agile
> Development
> > Methodologies
> >
> >
> > Hi all,
> >
> > Is anyone else out there struggling with a
> > development team determined to
> > use Agile Development methodologies? I'm trying to
> > research on what the
> > ideal role for the tech writer in all of this
> Agile
> > madness.
> >
> > In one of our courses, we actually had a trainer
> say
> > something to the effect
> > that end-user docs aren't a concern in agile... I
> > know that's not exactly
> > the best way to say it, but it seems that Agile
> > methodology may well be
> > suffering with a bias (intentional or not) against
> > the tech writers who must
> > keep up with all the Agile-ness to create end-user
> > documentation.
> >
> > I'm curious who out there has been through this.
> > We're sorting out our roles
> > here, but it's been a bit of a battle to get it
> all
> > straight.
> >
> > Kevin
> >
> >
>
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