Estimation of documentation maturity level

In chapter 2.5.1 JoAnn T. Hackos’ book Managing you Documentation Project is introduced. This book contains a tool for organisations to assess the maturity level of their publication processes [Hackos, 1994]. Having the results of the survey, knowing the current state of documentation in case study organisation, it was possible to assess the maturity level of the case study organisation’s documentation processes.

Hackos’ model introduces six levels of maturity from 0 to 5. Here are short descriptions of each level.

Level 0 is a level where the organisation is completely unaware of the need for professionally produced publications, unaware that a process of producing documents even exists. Documentation is produced, but the quality of those documents depends entirely on the ability of the writer to produce understandable or helpful documents.

Level 1 organisations are identified by their lack of processes. They do produce documents or documentations, but all is done ad hoc, and individuals do editing of

documents only voluntarily. Documentation is done with no coordination, with no support or supervision of managers.

Level 2 organisations are aware of the idea of documentation processes and might even have some in use. The most basic activity might be to develop style standards and templates for documents. But the enforcement to follow the processes is low.

In level 3 organisations the importance of process planning is understood, the link between process and project planning and the quality of the end product is seen.

Level 4 organisations have well-defined processes that are always followed and managed. Processes are so well-defined and personnel well-trained to follow them, that when necessary to differ from those processes, that too is done in an orderly manner and the end result’s quality is no different from the standard case.

Level 5 organisation is so good at following the processes, and the processes result in such detailed and good information that the organisation has the ability to monitor itself efficiently, and thus has the ability to continually develop its processes.

When analysing one’s organisation’s maturity level, Hackos emphasizes that it is most likely that different divisions of the organisation are on different levels. It’s important not to concentrate on the differences, but to look at the organisation as a whole. It’s equally important not to get discouraged if one feels their department is on a higher level than the rest, and so the organisation’s level is lower than one’s best efforts would deserve. The results will probably speak for themselves, mature processes produce good quality documents, and maybe what the organisation need is a good example of what can be achieved.

Even though most of the documents produced by the case study organisation differ from the documents Hackos’ model is mainly and originally designed to evaluate, there are enough similarities in processes and use of those documents. Project Hackos writes about are probably more like product development projects, where a new product is developed and made and then introduced to customers, when case study organisation’s projects are customer projects where certain products or services are implemented to a customer. But for example user guides or technical product documents in Hackos’ book

and in case study organisation aren’t that different when looking at them from the end user point of view.

After carefully evaluating the more detailed characteristics of each level, I have assessed the case study organisation’s maturity level to be level 1 or 2. If looking from the customer point of view, the level is 1. And also if looking at the overall attitude and commitment of the organisation, the level is 1. But there have recently been some impressive efforts made in terms of process development at some departments, and luckily documentation has been seen as an important part of those processes, and this does better the maturity level. But again, the lack of common processes and tools, and the fact that those improvements have been done very locally as if they would only influence the doings of that particular department, lowers the level.

Not all documents or documentation processes are at the same level. Case study organisation’s customer project implementation team’s Project management model and documents went through a detailed and well-managed development process during 2013. The improvements affected documents that help monitoring and documenting customer projects, such as project plans and change logs. Not only are they tools to help project managers communicate with the customer about the tasks at hand, but they also help documenting information for future projects and for evaluation. The positive feedback from customers was immediate.

“… Customer comments: “I went through he document you sent and forwarded them to our sales guys as well. I have to say, that your customer documentation and service descriptions are excellent! All details that could be agreed on are documented correctly.”” [Email conversation K.]

Maturity level of documents produced by using those new and improved document templates is quite high, 3 or 4.

Technical product documents, on the other hand, are made to support selling of the products or to help customers to implement and use the products. They are written by their developers, who, without doubt, know how the products works, how to use them and what are the benefits of them, with the assistance of the sales personnel, who know what the documents are used for. But those documents are produced without a process;

they are made because they need to be done. There is no one monitoring that the documents produced are appealing to the end customer, kept up-to-date and valuated

regularly, or that all documents look the same. Quality of these documents depends on the time available and enthusiasm of the writers. I assess the maturity level of these documents to be 1.

In addition to assessing the current maturity level, Hackos also provides tips and tools on how to step to the next level and the benefits of each level. So this evaluation should not be taken as a discouragement. On the contrary, this evaluation should be seen as an encouragement to make an effort. There is room to improve, and there are sources available to help with the improvements. There are ways to evaluate and measure the maturity level of documentation, thus it is possible to also measure if the actions taken to improve the situation have been successful.