Successful start for our new Technical Documentation Working Group: On 27 August 2025, around 20 managers from our member companies met to work together on optimizing their technical documentation.
Every day anew, it is demanding and necessary: The demands placed on technical documentation in companies are increasing. Design managers and technical writers, as well as others responsible for this area, have to meet a growing variety of products, constantly increasing user expectations and shorter innovation cycles in a cost and quality-oriented manner.
That is why the first meeting of the new Technical Documentation Working Group was held in our port room on August 27, 2025. The very good response showed that this topic will always remain topical.
Our Managing Director Ingrid Lange welcomed the group and after a brief initial round of introductions, the participants were divided into small groups to get to know each other better. Beforehand, all participants had filled out a one-pager on which they gave the most important general information about their approach in the company. Using these posters, they introduced each other to the tasks and content that fall under technical documentation in their company, the importance of technical documentation, which process is particularly complex or which key challenges exist.
Christian Koch then presented a newly created NIRO maturity model. He provides technical support to our new working group and is a research assistant at the Digital Manufacturing research area at the Institute for Production Systems (IPS) at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at TU Dortmund University.
Once again, the participants actively explored the maturity model in small groups. They discussed the individual dimensions of content management and knowledge management, the editorial process and organizational anchoring of technical documentation, content delivery and interfaces as well as target group orientation and technological infrastructure and assessed the applicability of the maturity model.
It became clear how extensive the topic of technical documentation is overall. The maturity model was therefore also considered to be very complex, as it maps four main dimensions in many individual sub-dimensions and levels. The group made small suggestions for additions and improvements, which are still being incorporated.
The participants will then use the NIRO maturity model as a homework assignment and discuss the results at the next meeting.
In the final round, it was clear that everyone in the group found the exchange of experiences broadened their horizons and greatly appreciated the open communication culture.
Our new working group is continuing and will meet for the second time on November 26, 2025. The invitation will be sent out in good time via our NIRO app.
If anyone else is interested in joining the working group: Please contact the NIRO team, it is still possible to join now.
Another reference to the planned UniDoku research project presented by Christian Koch. The project aims to develop a universal documentation schema for the life cycle of production systems. The technical documentation will serve as the basis for the digital twin. The project is based on joint industrial research that focuses on practical issues. Managers from companies who are interested in actively participating are welcome to get involved.
Many thanks to Christian Koch, who leads our working group with his technical expertise and provides us with practical knowledge. And thank you to everyone who attended, participated in the lively discussions and shared their knowledge and experience with others.
