Work smarter, they say, so that’s what we are trying to do. In fact I’d hope that is what we are all trying to do but, like everyone else, it’s natural that once you have a process or a tool that works for you, you tend not to look about for a replacement.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, they say. But sometimes you need to break things, you need to reach the point where you know that accepting some pain, and possibly a small backwards step, will benefit you in the long run. So whilst it will be a wrench to leave our FrameMaker/Webworks based system, I firmly believe it will benefit us in the long run, and by “us” I refer to both the company and the Publications team I look after.
So, with Author-it licenses received, the first steps will be taken towards a database publishing system that will make it easier for us to work with the Training department, and ultimately make it far easier to publish the information our users require. It’s the first step down a long road.
Of course we won’t actually be breaking anything, and the migration of content and our working processes will take some time, as will learning the full capabilities and limitations of our new tool, but I’m kinda excited by the entire thing. I’m convinced if we are smart about how we handle the transition it will prove beneficial and, as I work with some really smart people, I’m sure we’ll flush out further benefits as we go along.
Consider this advanced warning that, for the next few months, I’ll largely be focussing on our transition from FrameMaker to Author-it. If you have any questions along the way, please ask, I’ll answer in as much detail as I can (company sensitivities will, of course, be my censor).