4. Projects and reusable tools

4. Projects and reusable tools

4.1 How the projects connect

My projects address different parts of the same documentation process. Product-writing examples establish the technical facts and explain the feature. Help-improvement work changes how readers find and follow the content. Review and validation tools make changes easier to inspect. Migration and export utilities preserve the content through a platform change. AI workflows connect research and authoring tasks, while practical authoring tools explore ways for more people to participate in the process.

The selected project catalogue follows the same order as the Projects page. Related work, including rendered comparisons, knowledge-base contributions, and online help improvements, appears in the Story chapters and Writing examples.

4.2 Custom DITA and XML Authoring Tool

Oxygen licensing limited who could work directly with structured documentation. I developed a custom DITA and XML authoring tool as a stopgap for authoring and review, and team managers used the runnable package while broader authoring options were explored.

The practical problem was access: writers and reviewers needed to work with XML/DITA content without always having the same licensed authoring software. The package offered a useful interim route for that work.

I used AI-assisted development to build the tool, translating an authoring need into a runnable utility used by my team.

4.3 AI Documentation Authoring Workflow

The AI Help workflow addresses the amount of context a writer must gather before drafting a feature update. My workflow connects the Jira feature with comments, attachments, related issues, design evidence, and the existing help source. It then identifies affected topics, prepares changes, and runs review and validation checks. I used this process to prepare a complete AI-generated starting version of the SOTI MobiControl 2027.0 online help so other writers could work from a comparable draft instead of a blank page; each writer retained responsibility for the final content.

The reusable element is the captured process. The training guide shared on July 3, 2026 describes setup, repository synchronization, invoking the skill with a Jira identifier, impact analysis, file and TOC changes, and validation. It was written for two colleagues so the method could be transferred to other writers.

The reusable Jira and peer-review downloads let other writers adapt parts of this approach to their own products and documentation systems.

4.4 Peer reviewing with AI

The peer-review project captures recurring editorial judgement in a reusable skill. I mined approximately 2,500 peer-review comments from Git commit history to identify recurring patterns, then refined the skill against differences between automated suggestions and my final edits. A 40-commit sample helped me test that feedback. The detailed guidance includes grammar, direct topic openings, UI terminology, wintitle and uicontrol treatment, and comment-only Oxygen-style review.

The skill helps writers and reviewers apply consistent editorial standards to structured help content, with human judgement guiding the final changes.

I refined the approach through repeated peer reviews of enrollment guidance, installer instructions, and other help topics. I incorporated grammar checks and feedback from my final edits into the reusable review guidance.

I have also prepared a separate technical-docs peer review skill for other writers to customize. Its company-neutral checks preserve the useful workflow—verify the claim, inspect the reader route, then give concrete editorial feedback—without exporting the original review examples or internal paths. DITA and Oxygen guidance is optional within that copy. The download page explains its scope and installation.

4.5 Umbraco Migration Tooling

The team wanted to move structured help from Oxygen XML into Umbraco so more contributors could participate without the same authoring licence. Manual re-entry was too slow for that scale. I developed AI-assisted conversion, reconciliation, and export workflows to carry existing content into Umbraco-compatible HTML and then into a static help package. The work had to preserve notes and tips, tables and merged cells, images and icons, local links, context-help identifiers, navigation, and search. I also worked on a graphical Umbraco Publishing Tool and product/version configuration as the input pipeline evolved.

The migration process combines content conversion with checks on the resulting pages, links, media, and navigation. The engineering chapter explains the export requirements and validation approach.

4.6 Figma Retrieval and Export

The Jira/Figma tool grew from a repeated need to locate design evidence associated with a feature. I designed it around Jira epics, Figma links across related tickets, multiple frames or images, image export, and a local browser interface. I also examined Figma account/API limits and the case for a Dev seat.

Bringing related mockups together helps writers understand a feature without tracing every linked issue individually. The workflow accounts for designs with multiple frames and the access needed to retrieve them.

4.7 Documentation Quality and Validation

The problem began with defects that were difficult to repair without a reliable inventory: broken links, missing or misdirected images, table rendering issues, and differences introduced by migration. I used AI-assisted checks and structured trackers to identify affected pages, record symptoms, and give reviewers a reproducible route to each issue.

The broader quality chapter explains the validation practice. The Writing collection shows selected before-and-after examples of documentation improvements.

4.8 Editorial Workflow and Content Integrity

As more people contribute to documentation, a review process needs clear ownership and a way to prevent one person's stale browser session from overwriting another's changes. I documented the editorial review path, circulated the workflow, proposed safeguards for content integrity in Umbraco, and reported a related defect.

The operations chapter explains the review process and my proposed safeguards against overwriting another contributor’s changes.

4.9 Reusable Jira Issue Workflow

I developed Jira and peer-review workflows to make technical knowledge and editorial judgement reusable. The downloadable skills are generic adaptations that others can install and customize for their own teams.

The Jira issue workflow ZIP includes an installable skill, a portable PowerShell helper, and an example configuration. It can search, read, and create a requested issue, then retrieve it for confirmation. Follow the setup guide to configure your own Jira site, authentication, and REST API v2 connection.

4.10 Reusable Documentation Peer Review

The technical-docs peer review ZIP includes an installable skill and focused guidance for reviewing product claims, reader flow, links, publishing risks, and language. It includes optional DITA and Oxygen guidance. Teams can customize the references for their own style guide and publishing system.

These downloads let visitors try and adapt the methods described in the projects. Both packages use generic examples and require users to supply their own configuration.

4.11 Project files and related work

The project files include two reusable Agent Skills with installation guidance for Codex and Claude. Explore the Writing examples for rendered comparisons and online help improvements.