Mike McGinnis, of Tridium, shared Tridium's journey of multiple docs migrations. The size of the team and the type of the people are factors in how you do migrations and whether to do migrations.
Environment is agile, mostly software, some hardware, publishing to PDF, in-product help, and a document portal.
The first migration was from FrameMaker to Windchill (Arbortext). Had too many files, DITA looked promising, wanted to avoid vendor lock-in. The migration took 2 years, Arbortext required separate training and tooling.
Migration #2 was Windchill to Git, because the Windchill environment was being lost. Had short notice, and saw docs as code as an option. Had experience with Git and knew could set up a repo. Export not as easy as thought, had to export one book map at a time, and files were put in one folder. Had to refactor all references, mostly done with scripting. Writers needed to install and learn Git and Sourcetree.
Docs as code led to merge conflicts and confusion because of no training, and it was easy to break things. We also had no dedicated support, which was a problem.
Migration #3 was docs as code to CCMS. Publishing effort was high, legacy tools were expiring, writers were unhappy, the vision was unclear. Redefining the requirements need to include "easy." Easy system architecture, admin controls, operational controls, authoring, publishing, and reviewing.
Lead people, not just tech. Create shared vision, and empower others. Adapt and reflect.
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