Patrick Hammond, Project Manager DocOps at Adyen, joins us in this episode of Knowledgebase Ninja Podcast to share how to automate documentation, the importance of observing customer feedback and the key factors to documentation success. Check out all the other episodes here.

Key Facts

• Patrick’s LinkedIn
• Adyen website
• Patrick is the project manager Doc Ops at Adyen 
• Patrick has created documentation for renowned companies like VCE (DELL EMC) and Apple 
• Patrick is passionate about automating the documentation process 
• Adyen aims to provide ease of transactions for its customers

Key Takeaways

• Since childhood, Patrick has been passionate about programming and software development 
• Patrick has experience working as a software engineer, Java tutor, communications writer and technical writer 
• Patrick has worked with renowned companies like VCE (DELL EMC) and Apple.  He currently serves as a DocOps project manager at Adyen 
• Patrick believes in automating the documentation process. He did this at Adyen using DocOps and DevOps
• At Adyen, Patrick’s primary focus remains automating the documentation delivery process and quality assurance 
• DocOps is a combination of Git and MacTel. The two unstructured docs that follow the documentation code approach and the CMS generator to deliver the final document
• Patrick emphasizes that DocOps helps you gain customer feedback
• At Adyen, the DocOps workflow is designed to observe customer feedback and track their requests using YouTrack. After this, the customers’ feedback is shared with the clients to evaluate the initial document brief. Once the brief is updated based on customers’ feedback; it is sent to the writers 
• Patrick’s team at Adyen consists of fifteen members, including technical writers, front and back-end creators and designers 
• Patrick reveals the two major factors for documentation success: 

1. 1. User focus: You should know about your target market, their needs and their feedback 
   2. Document quality: You should use the right tools while ensuring that there are no missing images or resources. The content should be easy to comprehend and well-written 

• Patrick touches upon the significance of teamwork. Communication with other departments and timely reporting and feedback to your supervisor play key roles in a documents’ success
• Patrick shares that his most prominent innovative tool towards automating the documentation process at Adyen has been DocBook, as it allows easy communication amongst teams 
• At Adyen, the docs are available publicly to make them more accessible for the customers without the need of logging-in 
• Patrick says that if technical writers want to increase organic search traffic, it is crucial to find out where the traffic is coming from. Look at the ratio of in-demand and highly searched keywords and create an SEO strategy by including those keywords in your documentation

What documentation-related advice would Patrick give to his 20-year-old self?

Never overlook the possibilities related to any industry, and keep yourself updated. 

Patrick did not know that technical documentation existed before he started in the field. But as he progressed, he noticed the significance that technical documentation plays in the IT world. 

Patrick’s biggest influence

Patrick believes that he has learned the most about documentation from the people he has been working with. The other team members who are using DocOps know it better.

Patrick’s documentation related resources

• I’d Rather Be Writing – Tom Johnson
• DocOps 
• DevOps
• Git and MacTel
• YouTrack
• DocBook

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