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Creating informational content for a new product

Aim: Create an introductory overview article for a new Citrix offering (2021): Citrix Secure Internet Access (CSIA).

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Problem

 

At the time I joined the company, Citrix Secure Internet Access (CSIA) was a new component of Citrix's networking and security solutions. It belonged to a larger, urgent project for delivering secure access service edge (SASE) technology and involved rebranding another product. As a new Senior Information Developer (herein, technical writer) I was tasked with finding and writing introductory information to support the primary technical writer (Manager, Information Experience) for this product area.​

Process

1. Information gathering

 

To inform content for the article, I spoke to Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and read up on key concepts to understand the product, including how it worked and benefits for the target audience.

 

First, I documented the following information to orient myself and identify next steps:

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  • Project summary, rationale, and goals.

  • Key team members and their roles, including Product Managers and Information Developers.

  • My role, which was to write a new article consisting of introductory information to be made publicly available at docs.citrix.com.

  • Background and scope for the article. My aim was to create high-level guidance for initial questions, including what CSIA is, why you would use it, how it works, and next steps.

  • Existing resources and materials, including internal Confluence pages such as development and rollout plans, blogs, marketing materials, product pages, customer presentations, and design files.

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I then set out to read up on basic supporting concepts, clarifying the specific terminology we should be using, and talking to SMEs about predicted challenges and content gaps. 

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2. Writing and iterating

 

I shared an initial outline with the primary technical writer for this product through Google Docs. Following feedback, I created a draft that was ready for review that same week, and implemented additional changes following further feedback the proceeding week.

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After writing the initial content, I spoke to SMEs to gather feedback and seek clarification on:

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  • Mismatches between the UI and documentation.

  • Unsupported features and pages.

  • Given the rebranding, where we should point users to for support.

 

As part of the company's docs-as-code process, the article was written in Markdown files using VSCode and pushed to a staging branch in BitBucket. Final reviews were conducted as part of the Pull Request process in BitBucket.

Outcomes

 
At the point of general availability for CSIA, I published a new informational article summarising the whatwhy, and how for the product. Because I was familiar with the product following this introduction, I was able to take the documentation over when the primary technical writer for CSIA got COVID.

The article is now listed under a
new URL, but the initial content is shown in the following screenshots.

CSIA part 3
CSIA part 2
CSIA part 1

Manager, Information Experience

"CSIA has been a very challenging new project with tight deadlines. I highly appreciate your help and contribution toward this project. [...] You were on top of things and took on everything that I sent your way. You were also available for discussions at any time and stretched yourself to help me meet the project goals."

Challenges and learnings

 

I thrive when it comes to pulling information together into a cohesive whole. I got to do this whilst learning about best practices and processes for technical writing as a new Senior Information Developer at the company. This was a great way to introduce me to my colleagues, the company's processes and tools, and the docs-as-code framework.

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