Introduction

My name is Rina (@chimrindayo) and I’m involved in development and operation of Mobility Market and operation of Tech Blog at KINTO Technologies. I mainly work as a frontend engineer using Next.js. I'm excited that Oden season is here🍢 and this year I’m looking forward to Tomato Oden! 🤤

At KINTO Technologies, we do our best to provide company-wide support for the output of acquired knowledge and skills, such as presenting at external events and posting on the Tech Blog. In this article, I will introduce what we do before a Tech Blog article is released, the process of publication, and our efforts to promote output at each step of the process!

The Tech Blog Project

First things first, I would like to introduce our team, the Tech Blog Project of KINTO Technologies. We aim to promote the input and output of employee knowledge, starting with the operation of the Tech Blog.

There are 8 members in the team, all of us holding concurrent positions. While working as a product manager or an engineer on other projects, we are always in the pursuit of fun ways to create output!

https://www.wantedly.com/companies/company_7864825/post_articles/510568

The initiatives I'm about to introduce are part of our ongoing efforts to promote the Tech Blog Project!

The Tech Blog Publishing Flow

Our publishing flow is divided into 3 main phases.

1. Writing

The first phase of the flow. The writing phase involves researching information, deciding on a theme, developing a plot, and composing the article.

2. Review

The second is the review phase of the written content. At KINTO Technologies, we conduct a 3-step review to check for typographical errors and ensure the content of articles.

3. Release

The third one is the phase of releasing articles. We translate the articles and release them via GitHub.

Now, let me show you what kind of support we provide in each phase and what we are actually working on!

Until the Tech Blog Article is Published

First of all, I'd like to introduce you to the efforts of the Tech Blog team during the writing phase.

Consultation Desk

During the writing period of the Advent Calendar, us Tech Blog team members take turns to be on call for an hour each day in a huddle meeting on a Slack channel, creating a system where writers could ask questions freely and clarify any doubts in their process. Up to 5-6 people would join the huddle per day, and was used as a place and time to solve minor issues in writing or ask how to convert into markdown format, etc.

In fact, we received comments such as "I recommended the Consultation Desk to others!" It was more well received than I expected. ✨

Interviews with Writers

For those who think "I can't come up with a story, but I want to write something!" or "I have a story, but I'm not sure how I can make it into a good article," the Tech Blog team is available for interviews with you. The interview takes about 30 minutes and focuses on what kind of work you've been doing since joining the company, as well as how you solve problems and issues in each task. Moreover, based on the results of the interview, we will even make a plot of the article within the interview time.

Through the interviews, we aim to bring out the best in everyone who is worried about writing articles, by lowering the hurdle and by reminding them how valuable the work they do every day is.

In addition, the content of the article is focused on their relevant work. We ensure to promote everyone’s output, not only creating what is commonly referred to as tech content but also the output of skills from support functions, such as management and office environment, ensuring that all team members contributing to the maximization of technology also bring valuable output.

Review

After the articles are written, we go through a 3-step review from different perspectives. The goal is to ensure the quality of the article through a 3-step review and to create an article easy to understand from a readers point of view. We also emphasize expressing gratitude to the writer when conducting reviews.

Content Review

First, we conduct a content review to ensure the accuracy of the article's content. This review is conducted by the writer’s team members or managers, mainly in the below terms. Most articles undergo reviews by 2 to 3 or more reviewers, who provide feedback on suggestions for more reader-friendly expressions and praising its good points as well!

Review Perspectives
･ Verify the accuracy of the content as a Subject Matter Expert
･ Check for confidential information

The Tech Blog Team Review

Next is a review by the Tech Blog Team. We check from the following perspectives: While valuing the tone and voice of the writers, we suggest reader-friendly sentences and article structure, and check for orthotypographical errors such as proper use of prepositions. We also strive to see the article from the reader's point of view, suggesting to add more context in some cases.

Review Perspectives
･ Ortotypographical errors
･ Copyright

While I mostly review content as a Tech Blog team member, it's interesting to learn and discover new ideas as a reader, such as "JIRA can track the deployment history of GitHub!", and it makes me want to try out these review guidelines in my own projects as well.

The CIO Review

The final review is from our CIO, Mr. Kageyama. All articles are reviewed by him, and upon his approval, the article is ready for release. I personally believe that this review process helps writers release articles with confidence.

Release

After all reviews are completed, we make final adjustments for the release. Here, I'd like to introduce "Translation of Articles," where we place particular emphasis on!

The Translation of Articles

About 25% of employees at KINTO Technologies are non-Japanese (as of November 2023). Therefore, some of our members want to write in their native language or are not too confident writing in Japanese. To meet their needs, writers can choose whether to write in either language and all articles are translated from Japanese to English or vice versa.

A Language Service Provider (LSP), an external subcontractor, help us in the delivery of the base translation and the final LQA work is performed internally. LQA stands for Linguistic Quality Assurance. A text composed entirely from an external point view may inevitably lack the accuracy and context to convey the the author's original intent. These adjustment in expressions or spelling errors are checked during the LQA step. (Reference: Proactive Engagement of Foreign Employees)

Conclusion

In this article, I have introduced the initiatives undertaken to promote output before the release of the Tech Blog to the public. I would like to continue to make improvements that contribute to a more effective work environment for our colleagues! I also hope that the content we share in the KINTO Technologies Tech Blog is helpful to you.

Finally, I would be delighted to exchange ideas with you regarding the operation of Tech Blog and about technical PR! Please feel free to contact me through X with any comments you may have 🕊

https://twitter.com/KintoTech_Dev