We at Common Sense Advisory are enjoying the heat wave that is hitting the East Coast with a lot of hard work (except for Don, who is on vacation in Mexico, without a computer… lucky him).

In addition to other great projects that you will be reading about in the Fall (that is the Spring for those of you below the Equator), we are putting the final touches to Version 1.0 of the Localization Maturity Model in which we discuss localization using capability maturity model (CMM) frameworks pioneered by Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute’s (SEI). We are basing our description of localization maturity model (LMM) behaviors on our four years of research at Common Sense Advisory and on many years of prior research, observation, and market participation at previous firms as consultants, advisors, and providers.

In this context, we recently had a conversation about Terminology Management with industry pioneer Inna Geller, Senior Communications Manager in charge of Translations at Medtronic, in Minneapolis, who shared with us some of her experience and challenges.

Medtronic manufactures medical devices that require very strict and documented translation processes that are governed by multiple regulatory agencies.

The web-based terminology system managed by Geller was developed in-house and is accessible to all Medtronic employees (30,000+ people). It was designed to provide strategic value on the quality of documentation and communications that go to Medtonic customers; those picky members of the medical community who are always ready to complain about inconsistent product feature names and patients who need as much clarity as possible.

The system was born from the early understanding by the company that accumulating knowledge and leveraging it across multiple business units and thousands of Medtronic products could save not only a lot of money, but mostly a lot of time in bringing products to market.

At Medtronic, data in 16 languages is consistent throughout all product lines and all documentation (software, manuals, brochures, etc.) — an elusive goal for traditional software giants who find it hard to maintain such consistency, since they rely on individual terminologists working on individual products in individual languages. Having a centralized management system, makes it natural for Medtronic to have consistent terms from product release to product release.

Terminology is developed very early in the product development cycle, when the product might not be built yet and may have only engineering specs. Having the terminology developed early allows for a consistent use of terms in the whole spectrum of communications and documentation.

What does it mean?

From the customer perspective (doctors, patients), all communications have one voice and the consistent terminology eliminates ambiguity or inconsistency of any messages or content in product features or therapies. From the point of view of authors (and English-language developers), they have a high confidence level in the English terms they use and do not need to spend time doing research, as it was all done for them by the terminologist before the writing starts.

As an early-adopter, Medtronic had to develop its tools and processes from scratch and could use a makeover to bring its processes to more current practices. But newcomers to terminology management can accomplish similar benefits with off-the-shelf solutions from SDL (AuthorAssistant and MultiTerm) or acrolinx, or as part of service offerings from vendors like Lionbridge and thebigword. And we wouldn’t be surprised if terminology management companies start to offer their services in the same way as outsourced DTP firms do.