OpenSolaris Documentation Project
29 Oct '05 - 01:12 by benrIf you've looked around my website (cuddletech) you'll know that I'm heavily involved in documentation. Naturally, when the OpenSolaris Documentation Community opened up in July I was interested. Sadly, we got off to a shakey start. I can't discuss what information was exchanged during the pilot but things weren't on the right path at all. Following discussions that left me uninterested and irritated I avoided the docs community completely....that is, untill last week.
Last Thursday I sent mail to the docs community hoping to stir the pot a little and see if the attitudes had changed. Suddenly, a new face appeared: Miss Michelle Olson of Sun Techpubs. A lively discussion ensued, I even blogged about it to pour a little sauce into the mix. Now, a week later, I'm very glad to say we're on a very very positive path!
One of my big concerns prior to the release was having a collection of OpenSolaris specific documentation prep'ed and ready for release day, but sadly that wasn't in the cards for others and the documentation efforts I took up (namely a LaTeX-ified DevRef that was put in the shitter) didn't pan out according to plan or were dropped. A dismall place to be, but at release time we had bigger concerns and I let these things fall by the way-side. It was after the release that community after community popped up and we started really seeing various internal groups at Sun besides kernel engineering get onboard in a big way. If you noticed that in the month following the release most of the communities were dead quiet and only now your seeing things really kick into gear, thats why. We've now come to a place where OpenSolaris is the accepted way of doing things internally, and its an amazing thing indeed. The security and networking groups in particular have really gotten out there and latched onto OpenSolaris with both arms, and its really really kool. This is a process and on a day-by-day basis things always seem slow from the trenches, but really when you get up out of the trenches and look at the scope of what we're doing and what has been accomplished its really remarkable just how far we've coming in one years time.
Anyway, back to docs.... I encourage you to read through the various threads shared between myself and Michelle. I think we've really worked well together to forge a path and clarify where it is we want to go, for myself as much as for her. I think she's going to be an exceptional leader and perhaps what excites me the most is that I've viewed the docs community to date as the "OpenSolaris Community Dog", devoid that the back of the pack... and thats no longer the case. In one short week I think she's pulled us to the front of the pack. It's important to realize that we're not only inventing this path as we go but we're doing something revolutionary, just not nearly as exciting as perhaps hacking on kernels. Never before has a long standing and successful Fortune 500 techpubs team opened its documentation and collaborated with the community on such a level. We're making history each step we take and hopefully setting a standard to be used for years to come.
This can't be an easy proccess for such long standing writters as those at Sun. While many techpub shops in the industry go through writters faster than they do toilet paper, Sun has a history of holding some excellent talent (although I'm still excessively pissed that Sun was so pig-headedly stupid as to let John Howard go... so f***ing stupid, he should have gotten a raise, not the axe.) Sun has within it many long standing writters that care deeply about their documentation and its quality and so for them to open up and let the world in is no simple thing. The least that we, as the community, can do is to ensure that we are always helping and adding value as best as we can without putting hurdles in their path. We want to make life easier, not harder. Afterall, even as a writter I rely on their documentation as much as anyone else.
There is a lot to do. A long long way to go. But I think that we're on a path that will lead to great things, and I think that Michelle Olson is just the person to get us there. She even came to the Silicon Valley OpenSolaris Users Group meeting this month to meet and engage community members. What a wonderful way to start out as a community leader! (Read her blog entry about it here.) Her and I talked after the meeting for probly 45 minutes or more, covering more ground than I can even recall from my shotty memory, but I was really taken by just how open she was to ideas and yet focused on pushing forward, a very difficult balance for many people.
So if your interested in writting documentation for OpenSolaris make sure you stop by the OpenSolaris Docs Community and see what we're cookin'. If your not, just know that we're online and rolling with a solid leader who's looking to push ahead, so don't be supprised when the docs community becomes a model for the others!
Holla and Happy Thanksgiving.
Nick (Email) (URL) - 13 June '06 - 00:10
This is the coolest La Cocina.earlean (Email) (URL) - 13 June '06 - 01:06
Follow your dreams, you can reach your goals.yasmin (Email) (URL) - 13 June '06 - 16:02
Very interesting & professional site. You done great work.velma (Email) (URL) - 13 June '06 - 16:15
Very interesting & professional site. You done great work.