Applying "Mass Customisation" Manufacturing Principles to Solve Technical Communication Problems

This article discusses how organisations can resolve the conflict between the need to produce bespoke, customer-specific, technical communication and the need to re-use as much information as possible. It begins with a description of the conflict and resulting trade-off and then compares it to the field of manufacturing, which has found ways to deal with a similar issue. Universal information modules are introduced as the solution - these allow the manufacturing principle of mass customization to be applied to technical communication. The article ends by outlining the requirements needed for supporting tools in order to adopt this solution.

Rombauts, Yves. Cherryleaf (2005). Articles>Content Management

Enabling Mass Customization for Communication: a Paradigm Shift  

This article will discuss how technical communicators can break the fundamental trade-off between the need to re-use as much information as possible on one hand and the need to produce customer specific technical communication on the other hand. I will begin with a description of the fundamental trade-off between re-use and customized communication. I then make an analogy with the field of manufacturing, which has found ways to deal with a similar trade-off. Universal information modules are introduced as the solution, allowing the application of the manufacturing principle of mass customization to technical communication. The article ends by outlining the requirements needed for supporting tools to apply the notion of universal information modules.

Rombauts, Yves. Trisoft. Articles>Content Management>TC

Enabling Mass Customization for your Technical Communication: a Paradigm Shift  

Today technical communication departments are facing the challenge of producing a continuously increasing volume of technical documentation. Indeed, as companies accelerate the pace of new product launches in response to changing markets and competitive forces, so must the technical authors produce more, and faster, the accompanying documentation for these new products. We also recognize that information users are not a uniform group; they have different product knowledge, different backgrounds and may have different reasons for using a product. As such, they need specific, personalized documentation rather than a standard one-size-fits-all document.

Rombauts, Yves. tekom (2005). Articles>Information Design