Meet The Change Agents: An Interview with Kyle Wiens

By Scott Abel | Senior Member

In the digital age, change happens quickly. This column features interviews with the movers and shakers—the folks behind new ideas, standards, methods, products, and amazing technologies that are changing the way we live and interact in our modern world. Got questions, suggestions or feedback? Email them to scottabel@mac.com.

In this interview, I introduce Kyle Wiens, a change agent if ever there were one. He and his merry band of digitally savvy how-to gurus have started a revolution in the technical documentation world. They’ve created a new model for documenting things that need repair, require occasional maintenance, or that could benefit from a visually rich communication approach. The method is already in use in the corporate world and is helping several organizations dynamically deliver content to those who need it on mobile devices. Trailblazing university professors are teaching the approach to the next generation of technical communication professionals. It’s one of the most exciting things that has happened to technical communication industry in quite a long while. And yet, I can hear the screams already. Will you be screaming “anarchy” or “hallelujah”? Read the interview. Then drop me a line and share your thoughts!

SA: Thanks for taking time to chat with us today, Kyle. Tell us a little about yourself and your company, iFixit.com.

KW: iFixit is the world’s largest repair manual. We help regular people—from complete novices to seasoned repair technicians—fix the stuff they own. We teach repair with image-rich, comprehensive step-by-step manuals on everything from how to change the oil on a Harley to how to fix a cracked iPhone screen. We do it because we believe that repair is better than throwing things out and it’s better than recycling. Our mission is to teach as many people as possible how to be fixers. Great manuals are the best way to do that. So, our manuals are available for free through any Web-connected device—24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Our company is headquartered in California’s Central Coast, but our manuals are used all around the world. I started the company with my business partner Luke Soules back in 2003. We were both freshmen engineering students at Cal Poly University in San Luis Obispo at the time. That year I broke my iBook when it fell off the bed. I had a reasonably good knowledge of electronics, so I decided to try to fix the laptop myself. I scoured the Web for an Apple repair manual, only to find that no such thing was available to the public. But I stubbornly forged ahead anyway. The results were catastrophic for my poor iBook—I couldn’t get it back together!

But the iBook sacrificed itself for a greater cause. People have the right to repair. All they need is a manual to teach them how. So, Luke and I sat down, wrote the manuals, and put them online for free. We’ve taught millions of people how to repair the things they use every day. To us, iFixit is more than a company, it’s a movement—one that empowers people to be self-reliant and keeps millions of once-broken devices out of the landfill.

You’ve created a really innovative—and quite different—way of documenting service and repair content. Can you tell us how this approach came about?

We’ve seen a lot of repair manuals and service documents. We’ve sifted through piles of hardcopy manuals and rooted through tons of PDFs. I think it’s pretty clear that there is a huge problem with presentation. I mean, no one gets excited about cracking opening a manual. The standard manual is text heavy, jargon dense, and (sometimes) not all that useful. We wanted to change that. We wanted our technical documentation to be easy to use, easy to understand, and educational. It sounds grandiose, but we wanted our manuals to change the world. We still do.

Repair information doesn’t belong in giant documentation binders. It should be online where it can come alive for users. We tossed out the idea of publishing in PDF pretty early on because, aside from the search function, a PDF is pretty much an online reproduction of the same broken hardcopy format. We wanted something completely different, but we couldn’t find any publishing platforms that we thought were effective. So, we rolled up our sleeves and developed our own: Dozuki. The platform we created, which powers iFixit, is natively Web-based. It’s completely searchable, and available wherever you need it—on the Web, on your phone, and on your iPad. Built-in constraints break complex processes down into clear, approachable steps. Because pictures and videos are more demonstrative than huge paragraphs, every single written guide step is accompanied with high-resolution, color photographs or instructional videos.

Finally, we wanted our documentation to stand the test of time. Information evolves; documentation should too. So, all of our manuals are easy to edit, just like a wiki. Once someone makes a change to the document, that change is immediately pushed out everywhere. It’s a dynamic approach to technical documentation.

Our community plays a huge role with our repair manuals—once we publish them, they help us keep them up-to-date. They flag content that needs improvement, annotate photos with helpful callouts, and comment on steps that need extra clarification.

Why is such an approach needed today by others? And, what types of content are the best candidates for this approach?

We’re trying to start a revolution in documentation. Technical documentation shouldn’t be an afterthought. It shouldn’t be a dumping ground for legal disclaimers. Documentation should be vital to companies. It’s an opportunity to teach people how to do what you’re passionate about. And, if we’ve learned anything from iFixit, it’s that people really appreciate good instructions. They want to learn and we’ve created a passionate online community around our guides. They ask questions and answer repair questions with our collaboration tool Answers. They contribute guides to our archive. They buy the tools we’ve designed for their repairs. But it’s the guides that really energize our community.

When companies produce sub-par documentation, they’re only hurting themselves. Great content creates lifelong customers. It empowers people. It inspires loyalty.

As iFixit grew, people would come to us and say, “I want something like this for my company.” After hearing that a couple of times we decided to make our platform available to other individuals or organizations. Earlier this year we launched Dozuki, a cloud-based technical documentation service. The applications of really great documentation are pretty much endless. We’re working with companies using Dozuki for standardized work instructions, paperless service documentation, and even as an internal collaboration tool.

How are you getting the word out about your new approach?

We like to think that our guides speak for themselves. Also, when people with no repair experience are able to get their computers up and running again because of a manual, they tend to tell people about it. We have a pretty dedicated fan base that spreads the word about iFixit’s free repair manuals.

As a company, we’re huge repair advocates. And great manuals make repair possible on a large scale, so we talk about the importance of technical documentation at conferences around the country, we blog about repair at ifixit.org, and we teach people of all ages repair (using our manuals) at events like Maker Faire. This past May, I even testified about the role technical documentation and repair manuals play in reducing e-waste in front of the U.S. International Trade Commission. It’s all about education for us.

Is anyone using the approach today? If so, who and where and for what purposes?

In addition to iFixit.com, there’s a lot of different organizations utilizing our approach through Dozuki. And they use it for a lot of different purposes. O’Reilly Make uses our documentation to teach people how to make cool DIY projects (http://makeprojects.com/). A bicycle accessory company, Lezyne, uses our approach to teach people how to use and repair bike parts. Crucial, a computer upgrades company, uses our online manuals to teach their customers how to install RAM and memory upgrades. We’ve even got clients using our platform to document veterinary surgery for e-learning purposes.

We’re also teaching technical documentation to what we hope will become the next generation of technical communicators. iFixit has partnered with colleges around the country to give students a real-world lesson in documentation. So far, our academic partnerships include my alma mater Cal Poly, the University of Maryland, James Madison University, Clemson University, and more. As part of our program, students write a comprehensive repair manual for an electronic device from start to finish. They put together instructions, photograph the repair process (we teach them how to do that, too), test their manuals, and then publish those documents online. And then real people get to use them, so the students get to see the guides they’ve written at work.

It takes a tech writing class from the realm of theory and into practical, hands-on action. We’re looking for more tech writing professors to partner with, so if you know anyone please send them my way!

If someone reading this interview recognizes a need for your approach in their organization, who do they contact to learn more? And, what resources can you provide them to get started.

Sure. If they want to see our approach in action (or just repair something) they can visit iFixit.com— you can even contribute a repair manual! If you think Dozuki might be right for your organization, we’ve got lots of information available through Dozuki.com. You can even sign up for a free trial to see if our platform might be right for you. And if you know of a university tech writing program we should be working with, email us at education@ifixit.com.