Atlassian Doc Sprint Event a Success!

I believe most participants and observers would agree that the Doc Sprint event organized by the imaginative Atlassian technical writing team was a success. I, for one, was able to complete a much-needed revamp of my JIRA on Linux reference guide during the two-day event.

The new JIRA on Debian Linux Reference Guide provides an improved layout. The Guide features embedded links to multimedia screencasts, which help communicate concepts better for those of us who are more visually or audibly inclined. Screencasts can also save a ton of writing and many series of screen shots. While a picture speaks a thousand words; a single screencast can speak volumes.

The new JIRA on Linux Administrators Reference Guide is still in the works. Now numbering close to a hundred pages, this Guide addresses installing, configuring and testing JIRA on a variety of Linux platforms, including Fedora and CentOS. I’ve added additional information and resources of interest to both JIRA administrators and application developers in the new Guide. The new Guide will also feature screencasts to better communicate certain topics. Look for the new Guide to be released sometime next month.

Atlassian Doc Sprint Worldwide Event Begins Today

Today marks the first day of Atlassian’s Doc Sprint event. Writers from around the world will set aside time over the next two days to focus on creating and updating reference materials that support Atlassian products, such as JIRA.

Atlassian’s technical writing team created the Doc Sprint event to enable content creators to collaborate and create reference materials in support of Atlassian products. This years’ Doc Sprint event focuses on ‘Quick Start’ and ‘How To’ Guides for Atlassian products. As one of the content creators who will be participating in the event, I’ve decided to focus on revamping my JIRA on Linux Administrators Guide (“The Guide”).

My goal for the Doc Sprint will be to revamp the last release of The Guide, into two separate new references, the JIRA on Debian Linux Admin Reference Guide, and the JIRA on Linux Admin Reference Guide. The latter of the two Guides will detail installing JIRA on application servers platforms running a variety of Linux distributions, including Fedora and CentOS.

In addition to including more screenshots and illustrations, the two new Guides will feature links to screencasts. Screencasts are a great visual aide when “seeing” is the best means of communicating a concept, idea or procedure. If you are not familiar with Screencasts, check out Don McAllister’s ScreenCastOnline.com.

I expect to post the first release of the JIRA on Debian Linux Admin Reference Guide over the coming weekend. The more comprehensive and broader JIRA on Linux Admin Reference Guide will be available by year-end. As always, your feedback and suggestions toward improving The Guides are always welcome.