Guest blog: Jennifer Heins: Future of Redbooks

December 19 2008

It's been a while since I've had a guest blogger...this topic is so important that I thought the voice should be first-hand.  Jennifer Heins is Lotus Technical Content Architect and Strategist.

Our Lotusphere 2009 Birds of a Feather session on the Future of Redbooks has been scheduled and I wanted to provide an update on the successful year we have had with publishing Redbooks in wikis.

We started 2008 with one goal in mind: bring back Redbooks to Lotus. We also wanted to provide a more dynamic and collaborative approach to create and maintain the Redbooks content. The results were six Redbooks projects developed and published in our Lotus product wikis.

We used the same tried-and-true Redbooks residency method and assembled a team of subject matter experts made up of IBMers, business partners, and customers. However, we used a virtual approach instead of asking everyone to travel to one location. This opens residencies to a wider set of experts, since travel isn't an option for everyone.

In 2008 we were able to produce in-depth content on the following topics:


The comment feedback and site traffic trends indicate that we are on the right track. People are telling us that the content is valuable, and statistics for page views and unique visitors are high compared to other wiki content.

Next year we will continue down this path. We are aware that people have concerns about residents' availability and focus, access to IBM subject matter experts, and having a printable version of the material. During our Birds of a Feather session, I look forward to talking with you about these issues, what improvements you'd like to see, and learning what would help you find, use, and contribute content going forward.

Jennifer Heins Category:  Lotus  Add/View Comments [11]

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  1. 1  Keith Brooks http://www.vanessabrooks.com | 12/19/2008 7:50:52 AM

    But will there be a new Lotus Redbook CD out at Lotusphere?

  1. 2  Stuart McIntyre http://blog.collaborationmatters.com | 12/19/2008 8:09:33 AM

    It is *such* a shame I can't make this session as my BoF is on at the same time. It is great that the Redbooks team is having this discussion in the open at Lotusphere, and I hope that good things come from that debate.

  1. 3  Kevin Mort http://www.theglobalmind.com | 12/19/2008 10:48:54 AM

    @2 - Totally agree Stuart. Too bad I can't attend at all now...at least at the moment...would love to join that discussion.

    Having the community involved in a discussion at Lotusphere is a great thing to do.

  1. 4  Chris Almond http://youturn.wordpress.com | 12/19/2008 1:55:06 PM

    It is great to see a BoF dedicated to this topic! Kudos to Jennifer and her supporting cast in the Lotus doc and Redbooks teams. This is a very important discussion and the fact that they will be engaging the Lotusphere community to help guide their efforts is fantastic!

    Are the BoF sessions going to be broadcasted or recorded?

  1. 5  Wolfgang Fey http://www.ebf.de | 12/19/2008 2:27:20 PM

    Having been a RedBook author onsite in Residencies for two times in the past I can say there is nothing like that experiene. Not only being in the Lotus offices onsite but also working in this close personal relationship with the whole RedBook team and close interaction with the developers in Westford makes it worth traveling to Cambridge, Boston, Westford or whereever. Amazing.

  1. 6  Pankaj Sharma http://www.shreecement.net/sysadmin.nsf | 12/19/2008 10:29:21 PM

    Having a Redbook for the Lotus Domino & Notes 8 basics would be great... Since we don't have many books in the market as well on Lotus 8.

  1. 7  marco foellmer http://ebf.de | 12/20/2008 4:45:06 AM

    vote yes for a redbook and a wiki too. a redbook is always a very good value for partners, ibm and customers.

  1. 8  Frederic Dahm  | 12/20/2008 1:50:51 PM

    I can attest to the fact that there are very some problems with the new model of creating redbooks (using a virtual residency approach) and I speak from experience, having authored a number of redbooks using both types of approaches.

    I'd like to share my opinion at your Birds-of-a-Feature session since I too will be presenting at Lotusphere and, by chance, neither my sessions are at the same time as the Birds of a Feather.

    Is this something that would be discussed as part of the session's agenda? From the abstract, it seems that the focus is more on the form and delivery method once the redbook/wiki has been created than the creation process itself. It may be that this is best discussed in a different manner or forum...

  1. 9  Karen Lilla  | 12/20/2008 2:23:14 PM

    I'll assume this Redbook content isn't a topic that's front of mind for most of your readers, but as a frequent reader I had to share a link to my favorite Redbook. (Yes, Ed, I have a favorite Redbook. You learn something new every day.)

    The Redbook shares IBM's best practices as a geographically distributed software delivery organization:

    Global Development and Delivery in Practice: Experiences of the IBM Rational India Lab

    { Link }

  1. 10  Bill Malchisky http://www.EffectiveSoftware.com | 12/23/2008 7:07:31 PM

    The Redbook residency program is important and a valuable experience. The Redbook I co-authored proved very popular and also taught more more about how IBM is using the products, beyond what I would be able to learn by writing on the topic remotely. If my schedule allows, I will attend this session. I would like to contribute to this discussion.

    Also, post LS09, might be a good idea to have a few townhall style conference calls with both partners and Redbook authors (that are interested) to see their thoughts, and increase the collaborative audience beyond what the LS09 subset will provide.

  1. 11  Jennifer Heins http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/ltieteamblog.nsf | 1/19/2009 1:24:59 PM

    During the birds of a feature session on IBM Redbooks I anticipate discussing topics in these three areas: Content quality and focus, delivery, and the residency process. I look forward to hearing everyone's thoughts on how we can continue to innovate in this space. Also, I will be handing out IBM Redbooks CDs at the BOF.