The Audience

Organization

Sun Microsystems

Object Systems Development

Primary Audience

Interface developers

Secondary Audiences

Managers

Directors

Data Architects

Database Administrators

System Administrators

The Product

The Information Highway

A system of tools that eliminate the need to develop point-to-point interfaces to Sun's various computing systems and platforms

Embodies a paradigm shift from legacy-system development to one of a distributed systems model that reflects real business events at Sun

Learning Styles

Primary Audience (Interface Developers)

Impatient.

Detail-oriented.

They learn by doing.

They learn by example.

Secondary Audiences

Managers were conceptual thinkers and tended to be visual people.

Administrators wanted minimal information that was detailed and process-oriented.

Documentation Goals

• Address as broad an audience as possible
• Seduce developers into creating interfaces using the product
• Sell and market this new philosophy to Sun MIS Managers
• Deliver timely, technical, and thorough documentation
• Work within a low budget
• Make use of limited publishing resources

Documentation Strategy

• Use the Sun intranet to distribute Web pages
• Apply object-oriented concepts to reflect the product and to accommodate multiple learning styles

Object-Oriented Concepts

• Classes classify or group objects
• Objects are self-sustaining, and portable chunks of information

Object-Oriented Concepts and Documentation

• Develop self-sustaining, portable modules, or chunks, of information
• Combine each module or chunk with other modules or chunks
• Interconnect the modules or chunks using hyperlinks to form any number of possible associations

Documentation Model

Products Class and Its Information Objects

• Reference documentation
• Read by everyone eventually (high hit rate)
• Solves the learning curve problem
• Has to be current and provide loads of technical detail
• Volatile, every-changing content

Processes Class and Its Information Objects

• Task-oriented documentation
• Read by people who need to learn a new task or remember a task they perform infrequently
• Users memorize redundant tasks and will not read them again
• Somewhat stable content

Concepts Class and Its Information Objects

• Conceptual documentation
• Read once and then forgotten
• Should address visual, big-picture thinkers
• Should seduce people into wanting to learn more
• Very stable content