Imagine a
model of simship localization whereby the translation actually follows the
source text creation and life cycle rather than necessarily coming at the end!
Heresy! Impossible! Well, not for Autodesk. Led by Senior Application
Programmer / Analyst Mathieu Cresp, the design software company is testing a
new process called Continuous Workflow, which aims to remove many of the old
localization bottlenecks and even shift the cost model for translation from
words to time spent
The bottom line is that the company's constant growth into new markets with new products means an ever-growing flow of translation jobs. "But throwing more human resources at the workload doesn't scale," says Cresp. "You simply add further levels of management, expand the delivery window, and increase the budget."
"We wanted to overcome the usual problems raised by milestone-driven projects by envisioning localization as a seamless cycle of authoring and translation. The entire workflow can be handled automatically by the WorldServer system."
Changing the workflow paradigm
This meant challenging three classic tenets of localization industry doctrine: do not work on immature source documents, use the word as a cost unit, and quality costs more.
Continuous Workflow operates with a two step translation process. First authored but not fully 'mature' chapters for a given product are spell-checked and uploaded to the CMS daily. No tagging or communication is required from authors about content maturity.
A daily automated rule collects for translation all new and modified source content (duly processed by the appropriate translation memory technology). Translators login to WorldServer and download two days of work assigments at a time. Specific guidelines and artificial intelligence within the automated workflow guarantee the translation is always carried out on the most up-to-date and mature source content.
The first translation phase is carried out without worrying about exact terminology, references, or final quality, but is fully focused on maximizing productivity. The completed translation is then uploaded into the system, and will return for more round of translation if the author has updated the source content.
Natural content life cycle
The second phase later in the cycle involves 'translation and review', similar to 'ready to translate all' in the old milestone model. It is scheduled on the basis of when the software product is frozen and the internal linguists are ready to review. It therefore comes as late as possible in the cycle, yet early enough to allow a vendor review of all content translated in phase 1. In Autodesk's case, this phase often takes the form of a translator's quality review stage, now that the final terms will be in place in the source, and the target largely completed. "This two-step approach maintains a gap between the source and translated versions right up to the last minute so that the source can keep changing without impacting translation each time." It means that Autodesk can start to localize much earlier in the production cycle, with none of the panicky milestones that often occur in an end-loaded workflow. As Cresp says, "it's the natural life cycle of the source content that decides how many times an asset is presented in the queue. The workflow automatically ensures that each asset involved is the latest and has no duplicates, while allowing the source to evolve without automatically triggering a translation."
New cost model
Continuous Workflow requires far fewer upstream resources (no tech pubs engineers or project managers), less endgame stress, and more translator empowerment within the entire process. And the linguistic reviewer can choose any completed file at random to spot-check for quality, making for a more objective linguistic review stage than is often the case in mainstream workflows.
In exchange for working cyclical mode, translators get paid by the hour, not the word load delivered. Since productivity is easily monitored by the system, and translators do not need to worry any longer about ICE (In Context Exact) or fuzzy matches when calculating their remuneration, the system can provide new metrics that support the new cost model with, for example, productivity reward bonuses.
With uploads every day or two from authors and translators, Autodesk had for the first time a 360 overview of the advancement of the project. No more surprises and enough time to adapt.
"Continuous Workflow looks as if it will enable genuine simship for Autodesk," says Mathieu Cresp now that the pilot enters its final phase, "and address increasing volumes without driving up costs. And it should certainly reduce stress levels for our LSPs and their translators!"
Read also the TAUS report on the Oracle Translation Factory for another example of a continuous translation workflow.