Year: 2011

bookmark_borderBig plans take time

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I’m procrastinating.

I’ve reached a certain point in the work I’m doing that requires the completion of a very large planning spreadsheet. I’m currently looking at all of our content with a view to restructuring it to fit better with the way our customers work hopefully making it easier for people to browse the content.

I’m taking an organic approach for this first pass. Taking the chapters in each current guide and rather than forcing them into a pre-existing structure, I’m making an educated guess as to where they might live in the future. Once that is complete I’ll take the list of suggested locations, give them a quick sanity check and mockup some examples and take them to some of our customers.

This is all part of a move away from monolithic PDFs, towards a more focussed set of content that is available online. However, whilst we are concentrating the bulk of our thoughts and efforts on our HTML based “Knowledge Centre”, the need for PDFs remains and hopefully the new structure will help keep the set of published PDFs much leaner by splitting out only the information that people need to be published in that format.

At present it’s definitely one of those jobs that ‘just needs done’. It’s not hugely challenging, nor particularly enjoyable but such is life. The end goal will, hopefully, just the means and all that.

It’s still got a way to go before it best my ‘most boring job’ though. That one involved reformatting hundreds of single pages of content, all held in separate Word documents as part of a migration process from one tool to another. It only took a month or so…

bookmark_borderSignposts

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I recently attended the Glastonbury Festival and, despite the mud and mayhem around me, found myself pondering an issue that we have in our documentation set.

Throughout the week I was at the festival I spent a lot of time consulting a map of the festival site, trying to figure out both where I was and where I should go next. It wasn’t always easy and I got it wrong several times causing us to have to stop at the nearest beer tent, you know, just to make sure we weren’t completely lost.

The signposts around the festival site weren’t always clear, nor particularly abundant) and whilst we coped, it is definitely something they could improve. Being lost is never fun, and at some point over that week I realised this was similar to an issue we have with our documentation.

It was very much one of those thoughts that had probably been percolating at the back of my brain (a dark and dusty place, if truth be told) for a few days. Somewhere in those dark recesses, prompted by frequently being lost at the festival, my brain dragged up a quote from a blogpost I’ve mentioned in this months ISTC newsletter (you don’t have to be a member to receive the newsletter, anyone can sign up and anyone can view the archives).

The quote that had, seemingly, lodged in my head was “every page is page one”; the blog post it’s taken from is well worth a read (it’s linked in the newsletter).

Like many of you, we have a LOT of content, particularly when it’s broken down into topics. Whilst we take care to plan out what content we will be adding to make sure the structure makes sense, we realise it’s not always easily findable. One of the main reasons is that, by and large, most people will find their way into the content via the search results.

Taking the maxim that “every page is page one” makes sense for our situation, but how do we best signpost where the user has landed?

Have you tackled this issue? Do you have a solution? I’d love to hear your suggestions on this.

bookmark_borderGlasto – Sunday

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We decided on a later start on Sunday, largely because we were knackered and not that fussed about seeing any of the bands on earlier. In hindsight this was a good move as it means we weren’t out in the blazing hot sun all day, but even then we had to seek out the shade whenever we could. This meant we heard a little of Laura Marling from the beer tent, but I don’t think we missed all that much.

We ventured out to try and find a spot of shade and catch Paul Simon, and whilst we couldn’t see much of what was going on, he delivered what sounded like a competent set. Definitely one of those artists that you forget has so many well known songs. Needless to say those from Graceland made the biggest impression, getting people up on their feet and dancing!

After that we headed to the Other Stage where we would spend the rest of the day. We stopped on the way for some food and caught the end of the TV on the Radio set (sounded good!), before setting up camp for Eels. Now THAT is one helluva hirsute band! Beards aside, they delivered a slick set with some good banter to keep things moving along. Didn’t know much of their stuff but will be seeking it out now.

And then the Kaiser Chiefs arrived. I hate the Kaiser Chiefs. Well, that’s not true, I don’t hate them, I just hate the fact that most of their songs are so bloody catchy they get stuck in my head (Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Ruby! … see!!). I had heard they were good live and have to admit I was well impressed. Full of energy, upbeat and a great setup for the headliners. It was quite a sight to see the flags and raised hands silhouetted against the setting sun, and the Kaiser Chiefs were one of the surprises for me.

As darkness descended, on strode Josh Homme and Queens of the Stone Age. They were there to deliver, mostly, a set of songs chosen by their fans and from the outset they were loud, raucous and absolutely nailed it. Having seen them live a few weeks ago in Glasgow I had a sense of what they were about but, and I hate myself for admitting this, Josh Homme is just one stone cold, cool motherfucker. Swigging from a bottle of vodka? tequila?, cigarette dangling from his lips as he strummed the intro chords, they delivered a killer set and I swear the volume level went up for the last few tracks. Certainly the loudest thing I heard all weekend and a cracking way to finish Glastonbury for us.

Well, almost.

Wearily starting the walk back to the campsite, we could hear music off in the distance. As we got closer we realised it was Kool & the Gang and they’d just started playing Celebration. Cue many staggering, tired or just drunk people starting to sing along, quietly to themselves.

Standing at the tent, looking down the hill at the spotlights scanning the sky, the thumping bass from the dance tents still throbbing, and the general clatter for several thousand people milling around, talking and laughing, all of a sudden it was over. Just like that.

Would I go back? Yes.

Would I do it differently? Yes. There is so much to explore and we didn’t see even a quarter of what we could.

The good thing is I’ve got a couple of years to plan it…

Thank you Glastonbury, it was emotional!

bookmark_borderGlasto – Saturday

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Saturday and we awoke, grabbed a roll and sausage and some much needed caffeine and looked at the sky. Grey clouds everywhere. We decided to hang around the tent until later and, thankfully, the cloud started to break up and patches of blue started to appear. Off we scuttled again.

Now, I know a lot is said about the Glastonbury mud so please forgive me whilst I discuss it a bit further. From the previous day, the mud had been slick, sloppy and whilst messy and a little slippery, largely easy to walk through. However, by the team we got to the main site on Saturday, the sun had started to dry this up, leaving large patches of, essentially, quick dry cement.

Walking through mud, in wellies which are slightly too big for you, is hard enough when it’s soaking wet but in the drying mud it became impossible. We got to within about 100 feet of the John Peel stage before abandoning our plans (we had hoped to catch Anna Calvi) and retreating to the firmer ground at the Pyramid Stage.

We arrived just in time to hear Rumer start her set. Not planned, but as the sun came out, her Carpenter-esque melodies were a wonderul accompaniment to an afternoon snooze in the sun! Once her set finished, and the time arrived from the next act to appear, we were suddenly very aware that it was getting busy. Very busy indeed. Whilst the stage was getting setup for the next act, as the sun beamed down, I reckon about 80,000 people enjoyed an impromptu singalong to the song that came wafting over the intercom, Hey Jude. That, right there, was one of the ‘moments’ for me. Around me people of all ages and backgrounds tilted their heads to the sun… Naaaa na na NA NA NA NAAAAA, NA NA NA NAAAAAAA HEY JUDE!!

And then Tinie Tempah arrived.

The field at the Pyramid Stage had been filling rapidly and by the time TT was on stage the place was heaving. I’m not a huge fan, only really know a couple of his tracks but wow, what a show he put on! U2 should take note, this was no dialled in performance, this was a guy genuinely excited to be at Glastonbury and it showed as he bounced and grinned his way through his set.

After that we Paolo Nutini (no, I can’t really understand him either) entertained us. Again, not a fan but he was pretty accomplished and has some feelgood tunes that were perfect for a sunny afternoon.

But really, we were waiting for Elbow. Striding on stage, pint held aloft, Guy Garvey proceeded to give a master class in frontmanship with his down to earth, friendly,  warm and embracing, style. You could tell the band were excited to be there and with every song Guy cajoled us into joining in the fun. It’s hard to describe Mr. Garvey’s approach but I think this tweet says it as well as I ever could: “Bono assumes he is addressing the world; Guy speaks to everyone.”

I make no secret of the fact that I’m a HUGE fan of Elbow and they delivered a pitch perfect, late evening set. Nicely setting things up for Coldplay.

Except we didn’t hang around for that, nope, instead we headed to the Other Stage where, amongst a mass of whirling lights, to an audience of glowsticks, flares and raised, fist pumping hands, the Chemical Brothers delivered one hell of a set. Dancing like a mad thing on already aching legs and not caring one bit, all too soon it was finished.

We wandered back to the campsite again, worn out, the sounds of Jimmy Cliff wafting to us on the cool evening breeze.

All of a sudden it was almost over, with only one day to go.

bookmark_borderGlasto – Friday

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Friday sees the start of the music festival proper. We had a rough idea of who we’d like to see but were happy to change our plans and so it was that we ended up catching part of Beardyman’s set at Dance East, before trudging halfway across the campsite to grab lunch at West Holts and listen to a couple of songs from Gonjasufi. We then trawled back towards the Pyramid Stage, passing Mark Potter from Elbow on the way (one of those double take moments).

As we got there, the mighty Wu Tang Clan were in full flow and had the crowd in the palm of their hands. We hung about for the last couple of tracks and waited for B.B. King.

To say that B.B. King has a good band is an understatement, this was a slick, well-drilled unit who delivered solid backing whilst B.B. did his thing. Not bloody bad for an 85-year old!

However, we decided to beat a retreat towards the end of his set, hitting the nearest beer tent to avoid the first real downpour of the day.

Once the worst of the rain had passed we nipped out to catch the last few tracks from Biffy Clyro tracks before dashing up to The Park area for the ‘special guest’ slot which (thanks to a colleague we bumped into) we knew would be Radiohead.

Yup, THAT Radiohead.

Suffice to say that word had gotten out and the place was absolutely jampacked with barely room to breath. People were clambering up on of anything they could to get a better view,  culminating in one guy proclaiming his love to everyone in the crowd from atop a wooden caravan and holding forth until someone launched a (thankfully empty and plastic) bottle of cider at him from about 30 feet… SPANG, straight in the face! The round of boos the assailant received was, I thought, a little unjust.. can’t have been easy to hit the guy so accurately from that far!

We lasted a few tracks before bailing out of the madness and starting the long, slow, muddy trek through the rain back to the Pyramid stage for an Irish band you may have heard of…

We grabbed a spot, setup our recently purchased camping chairs, and huddled under a poncho to try and fend off the worst of the rain. U2 were good, slick, and looked every inch of the “we’ve been doing this for years” rock starts that they are… again, the weather forced our hand though and we left them to it and headed back up the appropriately named Muddy Lane back to the campsite.

bookmark_borderGlastonbury

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I’ve finally been to Glastonbury.

No more can I sit at home, on my comfy sofa, in a dry place with clean toilets, watching the highlights and think that I’d like to go there some day, that it must be an ‘experience’ and that I’m missing out on something.

Been there, done it, got the t-shirt.

“What was it like?” I hear you ask (ok, probably not, but you should know by now that I a) make this shit up b) hear voices in my head c) like to put additional thoughts into parentheses for no good reason).

It was amazing, scary, exciting, huge, wet, loud, crowded, fun, exhilarating, exhausting, sunny and slightly surreal.

We were staying off-site in the Tangerine Fields campsite. I don’t do “slumming it” and this gave us both a clean pitch with plenty of room, decent toilets, hot showers and access to the car. Highly recommended, especially after seeing the chaos of the main campsites and the state they were in after a day of rain.

Arriving on Wednesday morning, after staying at Wookey Hole the night before, we were soon at the car park, parked up and trudging through the gathering gloom towards the campsite. The rain had started by then, a light drizzle, which soon became a down pour so we holed up in the tent for a while until the worst of it passed. Thankfully the sun came back out and so we got sorted and headed down to the festival site.

The next couple of days were spent wandering around the festival site itself trying to get our bearings. No mean feat given both the size of the place and the deepening levels of mud. Away from the main stages/tents there is a whole host of different acts and areas to explore. If we managed to see half of them I think we were doing well but I doubt we even managed that (some of them weren’t open, to be fair).

Glastonbury is huge, seriously large and for a few days of the year, about the size of a small town. I’d guess that on a nice dry day with no-one about it would still take about an hour to traverse, add in some hills, lots of people milling about and after a few hours we were completely knackered. Not a huge problem when there are so many places to stop for a seat and a refreshing pint of cider but it’s the scale of the place isn’t really something you get from the TV coverage.

Would I go again? Yes, I think I would. I’d try and make more time to enjoy the other areas, get off the beaten path a bit more, and will be much better prepared for the weather (from showers, to torrential rain on Friday through to heatstroke inducing sunshine on Sunday!). The vibe of the place is what makes it unique for me. I’ve been to T in the Park and, whilst it’s partly down to the audience, that felt a lot more like a big edgy crowd, with the security and staff acting accordingly. At Glastonbury everything was so much more relaxed and friendly, the policemen were walking about wearing silly sunglasses, and everyone seemed to be much more at ease and just there to chill out and have fun. There were no angry drunks to be found and those that were drunk were either profusely apologeticly as they stumbled about or fast asleep.

And then, of course, there was the music. More on that soon.