Evolving Docs Beyond PDFs: A Chat with Holli Hamilton, Corero Network Security

Transcript:

• 01:11 – 03:05 Holli’s Journey into Technical Writing

  Gowri Ramkumar: Good day, everyone! Welcome Holli Hamilton, to our Knowledge Base Ninjas podcast.

  Holli is a Senior Technical Writer at Corero Network Security, and how are you doing today, Holli?

  Holli Hamilton: I’m great. Thank you so much for having me on your podcast.

  Gowri Ramkumar: Fantastic.

  So there’s lots to talk today, but let me just hear your beautiful story of how did you get into this field of profession and how are you enjoying so far?

  Holli Hamilton: Yeah, sure.

  It’s, I came in a bit sideways, and, like, I did a fine arts degree. Finished up that working in as an office assistant for a online knitting supply company. Realized that wasn’t a career I was going to spend the rest of my life in and started looking for options. And I applied for, junior technical writer role. Misread the advert slightly, which, you know, doesn’t say anything to my attention to detail that has gotten better over the years. It said, engineering graduates and I just read graduates, jumped at it. And then find someone…

  Gowri Ramkumar: So it’s an advantage. Yeah, yeah.

  Holli Hamilton: Oh, yeah. Have a shot. By some luck or my nervous amusement at my having applied, I was given an interview. I submitted knitting patterns as my writing examples. And I think I might have gotten the job because I spent a good chunk of the interview talking to my seem to be boss about our shared passion for sci-fi books. And I think he thought if I’m going to have to train someone for the next few years, it might as well be someone whose books I can borrow. So…

  Gowri Ramkumar: Nice. Yeah.

  Holli Hamilton: But the rest history is, I worked there, I learned everything I could for 4 to 5 years and then launched out and took over documentation at Corero.

  Gowri Ramkumar: Okay, super, super. So yeah, it’s a very different story though. But, great to know that all has gone very well for you and you’re enjoying the role.

• 03:05 – 03:58: Do PDFs Still Have Value?

  Gowri Ramkumar: Now, I would like to start with AI, now with the rise of AI chatbots, videos and interactive formats, do you think traditional PDFs or static docs are fading out? Or do they still hold value?

  Holli Hamilton: I think PDFs have been fading out for a while now, ever since HTML5 and, you know, Responsive help, came in, so AI is not, it’s not new in that sense, but I think it is helping us get closer to that point where finding information for our users is as easy as going to Google’s, easiest ChatGPT. If we’re going to be the owners of that information, our interface has to be, as you know, easy to get to, and it’s easy to search as that. Otherwise, they will just go to the easier option, Google, the ChatGPT, where it might not be as heavily regulated and checked as our own source would be.

  Gowri Ramkumar: Absolutely, absolutely.

• 03:58 – 05:43 Striking the Right Balance in Documentation Delivery

  Gowri Ramkumar: Now, as you rightly said, different people or different users prefer different formats. Some want a quick video, others want more detailed text-based output.

  How do you make sure that your docs meet all those needs without overwhelming the team or the reader?

  Holli Hamilton: Oh, that’s always the risk.

  As we find, especially with our business, because we have such a mix of technical abilities coming to the docs, we have to be able to have content for the manager who’s just perusing

  to find out if they’re going to purchase. We have to have content for the day-to-day user who’s picking it up to do a quick job on our management applications, or we need the real deep dive technical stuff for the network administrator who’s installing this and troubleshooting and all of that.

  Yeah, it’s always a balance to strike. We’re never going to be perfect for everyone. The best we can do is think about the customer journey through our docs, and we think about where the different types of customers are going to interact with the documentation.

  Gowri Ramkumar: Yeah.

  Holli Hamilton: So, you know, there’s no point in having the day-to-day quick questions in a PDF. But you might want the full technical deep dive in the PDF when you want someone to sit down and really get into it, that’s the use case for still having those sometimes. You want a quick headline for your managers, you might want a quick video, a quick blurb somewhere that explains your concept easily. So yeah, a variety of things and just trying to get the users the information they need, when they need it, where they need it, is always going to be the goal.

  Gowri Ramkumar: Yeah. That’s right. How quickly can they access it as well? Right?

  Holli Hamilton: Yes, exactly. They already come to us frustrated. If they click the help button they’re already at red. Let’s try not to escalate that.

• 05:43 – 06:42 Meeting Users in the Moment with In-App Help

  Gowri Ramkumar: Now, just as a continuation to our conversation, now from your experience, which delivery formats, like in-app help or video, or chatbots, are gaining the most traction with users today?

  Holli Hamilton: Our in-app help always gets a good response because it’s very immediate. I’m already in the interface, and I want to click help. I’m panicking. I need a button. Yeah. And if we can get to them there immediately, that’s great. Anything where you have to come out of the interface and start looking for PDFs or even have to come out to start looking, you know, through chatbot systems, anything like that, it takes you away from what you were doing. But something that we’re looking at the moment is getting that LLM sort of interface into our online help experience. So not just being able to search, but being able to ask an actual question to an AI. So that’s something we’re working on. Ready, not yet. But like it’s in process at the moment.

  Gowri Ramkumar: Nice. Nice.

• 06:42 – 07:47 Challenges of Delivering Docs at the Right Time

  Gowri Ramkumar: Now, one of the hardest parts is meeting users where they are, right? What challenges do you face in making documentation available to them in the right place at the right time?

  I think it’s kind of a conversation that we spoke few minutes ago.

  Holli Hamilton: Yes. Yeah.

  That’s I think that’s always our main goal is getting to them where they need it when they need it. And let them that it comes with the help of our support team, who are wonderful. They will get customer questions, and they’ll disseminate the right docs straight to them. Avoid the customer having to trawl through downloads sections if they’re struggling.

  But ultimately, the job of docs is to try and keep the burden off of the support team if they can find it through us first, then that’s the best way to do it. So, we’ve worked a lot on our search function within the online help, tried to make it as Google-friendly, and if you’re used to googling, you’re used to you know, typing in search and going to that, just, help any method we can. We’re happy to use any delivery mechanism that’ll help.

  Gowri Ramkumar: Nice. Yeah.

• 07:47 – 08:45 AI and Video Shaping the Future of Tech Docs

  Gowri Ramkumar: Now, if you look ahead 3 to 5 years from where we are now, how do you think delivery mechanisms for technical content would have changed?

  Holli Hamilton: Oh. Good question.

  I think we’re definitely going to see more AI, I think that is the way of the future. I think it’s also video content. I don’t think we’re going to get away from the quick learning desire that we have nowadays. And people want fast information, fast videos, fast clips. But I think there’s always going to be a spot for more information, you can get your summary from a quick video.

  You can get the start of your interaction from AI, but you’re going to need that, maybe not a PDF, maybe you know, a web, maybe something. But you’re going to need the bigger source where did you get this snap information from, and how can I trail back to the original and deep dive on the technical stuff that I need?

  Gowri Ramkumar: Understand. Understand.

• 08:45 – 11:01 ⚡Rapid Fire Round

  Gowri Ramkumar: Now, I think let’s move on to the rapid-fire round questions if you’re ready.

  Holli Hamilton: Okay.

  Gowri Ramkumar: Any documentation-related resources you’ve consumed recently that you’d like to share with our audiences?

  Holli Hamilton: Yeah.

  I’m a big fan of Tom Johnson’s blog, I’d Rather Be Writing. He’s a friend of one of my mentors back in the day. So he put me on to him, and I find his content incredibly useful, especially as we’re bridging into AI as a company. He’s done so much work on prompt engineering, and I’m just reading through blog articles at the moment, trying to figure it out for myself.

  Gowri Ramkumar: Nice. Thank you. Tom, again.

  Now, one word that comes to your mind when you hear “Documentation”?

  Holli Hamilton: I think, Advocacy. So we’re often the first, I think, less technical users to see a feature, where the first sort of people who might advocate for a customer journey and customer interaction with something. So we’re here to help explain things to the customer, but also here to feedback to the engineers and try and make the whole cycle easier.

  Gowri Ramkumar: Absolutely. Like a bridge between both the ends.

  Holli Hamilton: Yeah, exactly.

  Gowri Ramkumar: Correct. Now, one piece of advice that you would give to your 20-year-old self?

  Holli Hamilton: Apart from applying for the job, even if you don’t think you’re qualified, which is what worked for me, I would say that there is a career out there for your strange enjoyment of presenting data properly and properly formatting word documents and all those weird things that you enjoy and you need that no one else is interested in. There’s a niche out there for you.

  Gowri Ramkumar: Okay, that’s really, really sweet. Very nice. Thank you.

  Now, Holli, I think I’ve almost come to the end of my questions to you, but is there anything else you would like to add on top of what we discussed already?

  Holli Hamilton: No, I don’t think so. I don’t have anything additional. It’s been really lovely talking.

  Gowri Ramkumar: Thank you.

  So yeah, all the best for your current projects and for your future engagements as well. And once again, appreciate your time with us today. Have a lovely day.

  Holli Hamilton: Thank you, you too.

  Gowri Ramkumar: Thank you, bye-bye!