Technical Communication – Teamwork and Workflow as a Disruptive Technology

workflow collaboration,online collaboration,madcap flare,adobe robohelp,tcs,technical communications suite,adobe

I see Web 2.0 Integration as a Disruptive Technology within Technical Communication

Deploying corporate reusable content via an XML container is the smartest way to repurpose help file content and in the future I’m envisioning a method to capture blog information, wiki content, and other Web 2.0 elements just as well.

Now, a lesson in Disruptive Technology.Here’s the way sales should look for a successful disruptive technology integration within an existing marketplace: 

Innovation vs Established Market: Adobe RoboHelp and MadCap Flare

When MadCap Software’s got a successful Disruptive Technology product, the graph of their place within that target market will look a lot like this example from Wikipedia on Disruptive Technology.

As far as total dollars spent, Web 2.0 integration such as the Feedback Server/Service and the Analyzer are low impact. Because they produce such relevant data, they are high impact with the results. That’s Disruptive Technology defined.

I’m of the opinion, given my soon to be posted December 7th interview with Mike Hamilton, that those MadCap
guys and gals have the innovation wrapped up for at least the next few years in the Technical Communication market. At least as far as Web 2.0 goes, and I’m beginning to believe they have a stronger chance with Blaze than with Flare in the long run.

That upward curve shows when the early adopters will be, according to ‘Crossing the Chasm’, replaced by more mainstream software users. That’s when the Disruptive Technology starts becoming more commonplace. I’m going to be watching the STC (and other) numbers closely to see how well Flare is being adopted within the market.

That’s when we’ll know whether the MadCap innovation is overtaking the incumbent player RoboHelp published by Adobe.The sales may not show it for quite some time, however the user rating holds a lot of weight.

Web 2.0 - Disruptive Technology Adopted by Microsoft’s Consumer Electronics

It’s already adopted by the big players. Look at Microsoft’s Media Center Help Center:

See that center part, the Forums (Blogs, newsgroups, and other sites). That’s Web 2.0 on your television. That’s Web 2.0 on your kid’s XBox. And integrating Web 2.0 elements within traditional documentation is, in my opinion, a killer example of Disruptive Technology.

The question exists of where the print media will go and how relevant the obligatory paper manual will remain. I have all my Consumer Electronics paper manuals from my LCD wall mounted HDTV to my small automated rice steamer/cooker.

But… they’re looking more and more like they’re written by the lowest bidder who may or may not have a full command of the English language.

Thanks, I’ll take the blogs and forums search instead.