Write the Docs - San Francisco Bay Area

PRESENTATION: Inside Kubernetes Dominik Tornow, Director of Engineering at SAP Andrew Chen, Program Manager at Google Undoubtedly Kubernetes is complex. However, the majority of that complexity is perceived complexity, not actual complexity. Breaking through that perceived complexity has been one of the challenges of technical writing for Kubernetes. This talk will highlight the systems modeling approach that Dominik and Andrew have used during the past six months to map out, clarify, and distill Kubernetes into concise formal and conceptual models that can be used to explain Kubernetes at various levels of abstraction. The goal is to enable a larger audience to build an accurate mental model of how Kubernetes works so that they may reason about its behavior. For technical writers interested in contributing to the Kubernetes documentation, this talk will introduce them to conceptual models that can be used to aid their understanding and help improve the documentation. AGENDA: Networking & Announcements: 6:30-7:00 Presentation: 7:00-8:00 Discussion & Networking: 8:00-8:30 ABOUT THE SPEAKERS: Dominik Tornow is a Director of Engineering at SAP. He focuses on systems modeling, specifically conceptual and formal modeling, to support the design and documentation of complex software systems. Andrew Chen, formerly a Technical Writer for Kubernetes, is a Program Manager on the Open Source Strategy team. His focus now is to improve documentation in the broader open source space. FOOD & DRINK: Google is generously providing food and beverages. VENUE DETAILS: * Building Access - A Google or Write the Docs representative will greet you, hand out your guest badge, and direct you to the meetup room. The meetup room is on the second floor, accessible by elevator. * Public Transit - MTA light rail runs from the Mountain View Caltrain station and stops nearby at Lockheed Martin station. Bus 54 runs from near the Sunnyvale Caltrain station and stops in front of the building. * Bike Parking - Racks available in front of the building. * Car Parking - Free parking in the lot around the building. * Restrooms - Gender-neutral and accessible restrooms are available in the building lobby. CODE OF CONDUCT: We're an inclusive, caring group. Please take a moment to read the Write the Docs Code of Conduct, http://www.writethedocs.org/code-of-conduct/.

Building a Culture of Collaboration presented/led by Freda Salatino It's hard to get people to work together. In business as in life, people will work together if someone else organizes it, but they still think of it as performing their own narrow role as a cog in the larger machine. If their effort is time-boxed by a sprint they have little incentive to step outside their box to work with a different specialty to aid some nebulous "greater good" unless the corporate culture encourages it. Nowhere is this more true than in technical writing, where the old model of passive technical writer, toiling alone and crying over late reviews, is currently being replaced by something just as inaccurate: the coding documenter: a programmer who embeds doc with the code. Neither of these models has ever produced good documentation. Both models ignore the fact that writing good documentation that tells users what they need to know to succeed, is really a collaboration. It requires input from a product advocate, a builder, and a customer advocate. (Read: a Product Manager, a Technical Writer, and the Developer.) In Documentation-As-Collaboration, many hands, many specialties, combine to build the finished product. Each contributor is crucial, and ALL must work in coordination. True collaboration is not a tug-of-war; it's a barn-raising. How do you overcome old stereotypes of what doc and technical writing is, and create a culture where Product Management, Technical Writers, and Developers ALL think that doc is their job? There are as many answers as there are business cultures. Freda Salatino will describe her 30+ year pursuit of documentation-as-collaboration as a hardware writer, software writer, and writing manager in Silicon Valley. She will then open the discussion to the audience. Because even this presentation is a collaboration. PRESENTER: Freda Salatino Freda Salatino has been a technical communicator for over 30 years. She has avoided specializing in a particular type of content or audience, preferring to remain content-agnostic. Her technical experience includes projects in data science, web/multimedia applications, SQL/relational databases, network communications, and tech ops. Her management experience includes stints at Borland, XSoft, Informix, E.piphany, and Oracle – where she was one of the founding members of Oracle’s Documentation Architecture Review Board. Related career digressions run the gamut from teaching at the UC-Berkeley Extension's technical writing program to editing scientific journal articles to writing advertising copy on New York’s Madison Avenue. She is currently Lead Technical Writer at Renovo Motors. AGENDA: Dinner, Networking, and Announcements: 6:00 - 7:00 Presentation: 7:00 - 8:00 Networking and Socializing: 8:00 - 8:30 FOOD & DRINK: Will be provided. Vegetarian and gluten-free options will be available. VENUE DETAILS: * The event will be held on the 2nd floor of the building in the all-purpose room. The event will be recorded. The area is wheelchair-accessible. * Please provide your real first and last names in your profile or by messaging the organizer. Twitch security has asked us for the attendee list. If we have you listed in advance, you'll get in faster. * Building Access - Building access is controlled on the first floor, by building security. Please bring ID. There will be a Twitch employee there to sign you in. * Public Transit - Easy! Twitch is closest to Montgomery BART/MUNI station, and CalTrain is a short bus ride. * Bike Parking - You can bring your bike upstairs where it will be secured. * Car Parking - There are several local garages. TWITCH IS HIRING! https://jobs.lever.co/twitch CODE OF CONDUCT: We're an inclusive, caring group. Please take a moment to read the Write the Docs Code of Conduct: http://www.writethedocs.org/code-of-conduct/.