conference schedule
June 2 | Manggha
8:00 - 8:50 | registrations
9:00 - 9:15 | warm welcome
9:15 - 9:55 | Patrick Bosek
Content Operations. What it is, why it’s needed, and a high-level blueprint
This talk covers content operations at a high-level. We’ll discuss the basics of what it is, some of the drivers for implementing it, and look at the major pieces of an implementation.
Bio:
I’m a believer and thought-leader in Content Operations and structured content. My purpose is to advance the content and information development industry with new technology, thinking, and approaches that improve our experiences with the organizations we work with and for. At Heretto, I’m a co-founder and CEO. My team and I work on a wide range of projects all focused on improving authoring, production, and distribution of content.
10:00 - 10:25 | Jarosław Orłowski
How to scale docs in a fast-growing organization
Talk abstract:
The doc teams at fast-growing software companies often need to catch up to the company’s growth, and our case was the same. When we finally got new faces on the team, this seemed like a dream come true. However, it didn’t take long for us to realize the quirks and challenges of driving product-wide documentation from a relatively large central team. Hear the story of a journey of ups and downs, dramatic changes, and how we finally landed on the right mix of people, processes, and infrastructure.
Bio:
Technical writer with 15+ years of experience in the craft. My current mission is driving the framework for creation of quality content on time by the right people using efficient tooling. Takes photos of boring stuff, builds bikes to ride them, and guides street art tours in Gdansk.
10:30 - 10:55 | Aleksandra Kacperczyk
How to effectively measure documentation quality and is it even doable?
Summary:
How do you know if your documentation serves its purpose? Do users manage to successfully complete a tutorial, and if not, why? Without some concrete answers to these questions, it’ll be difficult to tell what and how to improve in your docs. At LiveChat, I tested quite a few solutions for measuring documentation quality –– I’ll happily share with you my lessons learned.
Bio: Having started as a technical writer in 2018, I now lead a team focused on developer education and developer relations. We maintain the developer documentation, build a library of educational resources, and advocate for developers who use LiveChat APIs. My golden rules for working with documentation are treating docs as a product and bridging the gap between tech writers and engineers. I enjoy all things DIY, but sewing and knitting are my current favorites.
11:00 - 11:10 | any soaper!
soapbox talks
An impromptu (or not) 5-minute talk about a subject related to ContentOps or tech comm. Sign up at the event.
11:10 - 11:40 | coffee break
11:40 - 12:05| Justyna Wykowska
Breaking the Mold: Discovering Your Own Path to Agile Success
Talk abstract:
Are you tired of hearing that proper planning is the only way to succeed or following Scrum and Kanban trends blindly? Well, I’ve got news for you – there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to work. However, if you’re willing to take risks and experiment, you can uncover a process that works best for you, your colleagues, and your users. Join my session to discover the secrets of working in a truly Agile way, and learn from real-life experiments conducted by teams that I’ve worked with. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to revolutionize the way you work!
Bio:
Since 2005, I have been continuously involved in product development. For 11 years, I worked for Motorola Solutions, leading international teams developing solutions that included not only software but also dedicated hardware. I’ve progressed from a team member to managing a department of several dozen people responsible for innovative products and have built over 20 successful teams. Since 2014, I have been supporting companies from various business sectors as a mentor and consultant.
12:10 - 12:50| Iga Koprowska, Michał Przybusz
Happy ever after: can you marry DocOps with DevOps?
Talk abstract:
You land on a new project and the team doesn’t know you yet. Or maybe you’ve already been writing for your product for some time, but the communication with the dev team and the quality of your API docs could’ve been better. How to make a name for yourself and weave docs into the development process? Can you leverage tools and methodologies devs already use for their pipelines for your own benefit?
Iga:
I’ve been in the tech writing industry for seven years now and always had an interest in project management and Agile. I’m a certified Scrum Master and though I’m not actively supporting any team as one at the moment, that knowledge helps me a lot while working with devs and their managers. At Akamai, I write all kinds of customer documentation, from traditional guides, through UX copies, to API reference. You may also know me as a member of the soap! team – I’m in charge of soapy social media and newsletters 🙂
Michał:
A Software Engineer with a background in technical writing and QA testing. He assures the quality of the API documentation and design as well as works on improving developer experience with digital documents by making Akamai’s documentation environment interactive and developer-friendly.
12:50 - 2:05 | lunch break
2:05 - 2:45 | Maciek Jaskulski
Flutter - Fast and cheap development, but what about the usability?
Talk abstract:
Since 2019 Flutter has conquered the mobile app development industry. It’s happening thanks to outstanding marketing and community, and also lower development costs and faster time-to-market results. It seems that this framework takes all the best solutions from
the native development and combines it, which is constantly being highlighted in countless articles and blog posts. There’s one question, however: Is the framework praised by the developers, testers, designers, and product owners also good for the end user? During my talk, I’ll describe the usability problem that appears in hundreds of Flutter apps and stems from the lack of communication within development teams and the platform itself. I will tell about the impact it has on apps, and how it can be fixed.
Bio:
I’ve been involved in mobile app development for over 5 years now. I started as a QA, but I realised I cared more about the users rather than bugs, so I started discovering how to make products better in terms of usability. I love sharing my experience, I gave 7 talks so far on testing, flutter apps development and product design in Wrocław, Cracow, Berlin and as a podcast guest. I also wrote a few blog posts and articles in those areas. At work, I focus on simple and effective solutions, and I try to promote that attitude in my organisation during monthly internal lightning talks sessions. After hours I create music, currently, I’m preparing my third album to be released on Spotify this year.
2:50 - 3:15 | Katarzyna Markiewicz
4-in-a-box: Content’s meaningful impact on the UX
Talk abstract:
The 4-in-a-box is a ritual that improves communication between development, product management, design and content designers. It helps teams to work simultaneously on a product and share insights. Using a 4-in-a-box ritual allows for a quicker deployment of a product.
When participating in 4-in-a-box meetings, content team can:
- Recommend on-the-glass changes to reduce dependency on documentation
- Identify potential or existing issues in the experience
- Inform future designs
- Amplify messaging beyond the traditional scope of Content Design
- Ensure that we take other products in the portfolio into consideration.
Bio:
I’m currently working as a content designer for IBM. Got my degree in both English and International Business. I used to work more on a marketing side than a technical one, which helps me to have a broader view, especially regarding users and their expectations.
3:20 - 3:30 | any soaper!
soapbox talks
An impromptu (or not) 5-minute talk about a subject related to ContentOps or tech comm. Sign up at the event.
3:30 - 4:00 | coffee break
4:00 - 4:40 | Barbara Czyż & Edyta Rakowska
There's no ContentOps without a ContentPlan
Summary: Creating great content means bringing the tools, people, and processes together. Sounds kind of straightforward. Yet so many things can go wrong.
Release planning? Be agile, they said. Releases happen every 6 months. But also every 2 weeks. Or at some point within a quarterly window. Things shift, or get cancelled.
A perfect doc set? In your dreams. You end up with several sets targeting different audiences, created with various tools and writing approaches.
Successful collaboration? Piece of cake. To get the info, just approach five people from four departments, spread across three time zones. Align with product managers, the UX team, and localization.
What do you need, then? Panic and ru(n/m)? No, you need a good plan.
Edyta Rakowska: I started out as a translator but then discovered the world of technical writing. And there was no turning back. Currently fighting for the best documentation as a senior technical writer at Guidewire Software.
Barbara Czyż: I’m a curious technical writer, passionate about the docs-as-code approach and the API world. After my adventures with DITA and Markdown, I joined Box to create developer documentation and tighten my relationship with APIs and code.
4:45 - 5:10 | Mateusz Trawiński
ChatGPT and Agile Practices: Trends and Predictions
Summary:
The impact of advanced language models like ChatGPT on the work of agile teams, coaches, scrum masters is a topic of growing interest in the tech community. In this speech, I will explore the ways in which ChatGPT is already transforming agility and the roles of agile coaches and scrum masters, and the opportunities and challenges that come with the integration of technology in agile methodologies. I will demonstrate how ChatGPT can impact collaboration and communication, redefine agile practices, and streamline processes. Additionally, we will examine the impact of ChatGPT on the future of agile coaching and scrum mastery, and provide insights into the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead.
Bio: Passionate about Agile Ways of Working since 2016. In love and hate relationship with Scrum since 2018. Co-author of two books and multiple articles in organizational research, game theory and sociology. Alumni of Poland’s most prestigious acceleration programme dedicated to future tech entrepreneurs and visionaries – PFR School of Pioneers. Rock and alpine climber. Chelsea Football Club fan.
5:10 - 5:30 | Closing ceremony
5:30 - 9:00 | Networking at Manggha
June 3 | Manggha
8:00 - 8:50 | registrations
9:00 - 9:10 | warm welcome
9:10 - 9:50 | Marco Jänicke
Nudging! What technical communication can learn from behavioural economics
Summary: Technical communication wants to inform users about the correct and safe use of products. It does so, objectively and as far as possible legally, but always successfully? With nudging, we can tickle the last percentages out of our behavioural economics and perhaps provide the essential impulse for optimal handling of the described object. Or is it not?
Bio: Marco Jänicke has been working in technical communication for 20 years. As a mechanical engineer, technical editor and graphic designer he currently works as a consultant, trainer and author. He is also behind the docuinfotainment website www.bravecroc.com.
9:55 - 10:20 | Paulina Dygoń
Why is a PM like a DJ?
Talk abstract:
Twelve software teams, a system integration test team, a product management group, a project management office, two customer support levels, a couple of cross functional teams, and…one documentation team of four writers, one architect, and a PM. That’s how we create documentation for one of the biggest radio systems.
I will tell you about how we moved from a ping pong game typical for environments in which multiple teams integrate one big solution to a team who sway in the same rythm to create highly advanced and well documented product.
Bio:
I’m an English and German teacher and translator but I only worked as tutor for a while. At the university I had my technical writing classes and I immediately knew that the world, in which technology and humanistic skills go together, is a perfect match for me. I was a technical writer for four years. Since 2014, I’ve been a project leader in learning services, and since this year I’m a documentation PM team leader. My roles change but one thing remains the same – I’ve been in techcomm for 13 years.
10:25 - 10:35 | any soaper!
soapbox talks
An impromptu (or not) 5-minute talk about a subject related to ContentOps or tech comm. Sign up at the event.
10:35 - 11:05 | coffee break
11:05 - 11:45 | Marta Bartnicka, Daniel Barrio Fierro, Jakub Reszka
Keeping the plates spinning: ContentOps at Dolby
Summary: Dolby team presents a case study on how they implemented ContentOps (Content Operations) to improve their content management process and to enhance their customers’ experience.
They showcase their front-end interface, Dolby Customer, which is a large content web portal integrated with their company’s sales backend. The portal is accompanied with static HTML and standalone PDFs for offline consumption.
On the back-end, they use GitLab repositories to store and collaborate on DITA and Markdown. They also utilize GitLab CI publishing pipelines that run DITA-OT in Docker containers to automate the content publishing process. Git-based process facilitates the collaboration with subject matter experts (SMEs) and helps introduce the docs-as-code approach to this collaboration.
To measure the effectiveness of their content, they also implemented analytics to understand how customers interact with the content, and to drive development and UX decisions.
Marta Bartnicka:
Marta is a Staff Publishing Operations Engineer at Dolby Laboratories, responsible for daily GitLab operations for Technical Communications, keeping the publishing plugins and pipelines in shape, and, at times, also supporting the translation and localization tasks. She has a degree in Computer Science and years of experience in IBM Translation Centre. Marta is a visiting lecturer in post-graduate Technical Communication studies and a trainer of localization and post-editing. Her hobbies are, in alphabetical order, cross-country skiing, daughters, gardening, and hiking
Daniel Barrio Fierro:
Daniel is a Staff Systems Engineer at Dolby Laboratories, where he previously worked as technical writer and technical documentation manager. A Linguistics and Computer Science graduate, he has worked for Google, Nokia and the Volvo group. He was one of the co-founders of MeetContent Wrocław, and a visiting lecturer in Poland’s first post-graduate degree in Technical Communication. In 2022 Daniel relocated to the Spanish Costa Daurada, where he can often be found next to an orange tree or foraging sea fennel.
Jakub Reszka:
Jakub works at Dolby Laboratories as an Associate Data Analytics Engineer, which is also his first role in his professional career. On a daily basis he works with all-things related to data – from building pipelines and automations, to making dashboards and stakeholder reports. His field of studies was Systems Engineering, but he was also very invested in academic life, as a member of an international students’ organization. Outside of work he spends a lot of time in the mountains, in front of a board game or in a climbing gym.
11:50 - 12:15 | Maria Yermakovich
Teaching Your Colleagues to Write (and Learning from Them)
Talk abstract:
There’s a course on writing for engineers by Google readily available on the internet, with materials for teaching it at any workplace and live sessions with great teachers. My coworkers were shy to take the course, though, and suggested I teach them – so I did. Thrice, to a total of 45 people, which is roughly 15% of our Engineering. I’ll talk about the experience and encourage listeners to teach writing in spite of not being 100% sure and proficient all of the time. So this talk is also about impostor syndrome. Low stakes, remember?
Bio:
I’ve been a tech writer for a while and my brand is internal engineering documentation – something that is often chaotic and overlooked in companies. I help engineers write better. I’m a no-frills, low-stakes, MVP kind of person. I like to take things apart with a screwdriver (literal or figurative) and reassemble them, better. My superpower is I’m always up for a coffee with an internet acquaintance if we’re in the same city.
12:20 - 12:45 | Denise Marshall
Sure, but you'll have to remind me: using agile methodologies to bring diverse minds together
Talk abstract:
Every team is different, every individual is different. Some people struggle with structures at work while others need the same to thrive. How can we work with who we are at work? Use the feedback mechanisms built into agile to work around your weaknesses and uncover the strengths that you can bring to your team.
Bio:
Originally from the USA, I moved to Scotland for university but found a home. I studied linguistics with an interest in language evolution and informatics but then, by way of serendipity, found myself in the niche of technical authoring.
I am ADHD and many of the people I spend my time with are also neurodivergent. Over the years, I’ve had to adapt myself to a neurotypical world, including struggling through a work life that wasn’t designed for me – until my team wholeheartedly adopted Agile. Thanks to retrospectives and a whole lot of iteration, my teams have regularly adapted to address everyone’s strengths and weaknesses.
Over the years, I’ve been involved in many hobbies – from organising Edinburgh Tech Meetup and campaigning for cycling infrastructure to babywearing consultancy and zero waste advocacy. These days, my two young children fill my non-professional time but I find a few moments to spend with my sewing and mending.
12:45 - 2:00 | lunch break
2:00 - 2:25 | Daria Boiko
Content Ops & Content Strategy. Efficient content operations for effective content
Summary: I will share my experience with implementing a Content Strategy (a part of ContentOps) in a real project. Will give some examples and tips. I will explain what a content strategy is, how it relates to ContentOps. I will tell a few words about the customer, the goal, and the main challenge in my real project. And will share the solution (e.g., how I set up the content production process and what I did to implement a content strategy).
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Bio:
I am strong, detail-oriented Information Developer with more than 10 years of experience building content management processes, developing documentation architecture, applying content strategy on projects, implementing content governance, and leading a team of Information Developers.
I am passionate about bringing high-quality software documentation to life. I love complex projects that involve problem-solving and building cool things. Always eager to learn new tech and grow my knowledge base.
2:30 - 3:10 | Katarzyna Osuch-Bukowska
Accelerate ContentOps with Innersource!
Talk abstract:
InnerSource adopts OpenSource practices to code and helps reduce dependencies between development teams, break silos, as well as increase knowledge-sharing within the company. This approach can increase agility in your organization and take it to the next level.
During this session, I will present a real example of InnerSource implementation among 12 Agile teams in a department of over 100 software engineers at Grand Parade. Based on this experience, I will also highlight pros & cons of this practice – in what context InnerSource works and where it should be avoided.
Bio:
I am Director of Engineering with 18 years of experience in IT specializing in building and running Agile development teams in various industries: transportation, finance and banking, sports betting, hospitality, supply chain. Before entering the leadership path, I worked for many years as a software developer. I am a strong advocate of setting the standards for engineering excellence and promoting best practices. Flexible in approach, I successfully combine corporate and start-up experience.
3:15 - 3:25 | any soaper!
soapbox talks
An impromptu (or not) 5-minute talk about a subject related to ContentOps or tech comm. Sign up at the event.
3:25 - 3:55 | coffee break
3:55 - 4:20 | Kristiina Kallasmaa
Is writer ratio to other roles worth measuring? Yes, but do it the right way.
Talk abstract:
When I started as a solo content designer, I was looking for ways to measure my work. As an experiment, I started tracking how many product designers I was supporting and if this metric is even useful for me. Depending on your role, you might track your ratio to designers, product managers, engineers – whatever you need. Ratios on their own can be misleading, as they don’t say much about your work’s quality or impact. But combine the ratio with other data – and you have your hands on a surprisingly powerful metric for tracking your operations.
Bio:
Kristiina got into digital content through technical writing seven years ago and then switched to UX content design full-time in 2019. Since then, her focus has been building the content design practice and writing culture in the product teams at Pipedrive, a sales CRM. She’s a passionate plain language advocate and believes user research is the most important part of the design process. Kristiina’s favorite hobby is learning foreign languages – most recently, Czech.
4:25 - 4:50 | Wojciech Aleksander
The vicious circle of the imposter syndrome.
Talk abstract:
Collaboration across disciplines is crucial in modern product development, but it’s not always easy. Tension and discomfort can arise, and it’s important to take them seriously. While conventional fixes can help, sometimes you need to dig deeper. One example is imposter syndrome, a common struggle for UX writers, content designers, and technical writers.
While imposter syndrome may seem like a personal issue, the work environment can actually fuel it. Even in a seemingly non-toxic team, imposter syndrome can create a destructive cycle of self-doubt, insecurity, and emotional detachment that can be difficult to break.
Hey, but there is hope. By approaching the issue from multiple angles, it is possible to identify the root cause and start to address it. I will share some tips on tackling this issue:
- How the team situation affects imposter syndrome.
- Ways to recognize the vicious cycle.
- Strategies for insecure people to break free from the cycle.
Ways for leaders to facilitate team health restoration.
Bio:
For over 20 years, I’ve been creating, designing, and publishing valuable content. I still think it’s fun! My daily tasks include tuning the shades of voice for brands, automating content creation processes, or ensuring design systems contain content patterns. I’ve worn many hats in my product and web design life. Some industries I supported over the years include healthcare, banking, marketing tools, data analysis, server-side software, and education. I’m also a UX writing trainer (fundamentals and advanced courses for teams and individuals). At Docplanner, I’m responsible for growing the discipline of content design by driving content strategy and content operations.