Technical Reports
Collaborating on
Chapter 6: Writing Projects
Learning Objectives
Understand roles of team members and project manager.
Understand the four phases of document development
process planning; writing, usability testing, and editing;
producing; and conducting a postmortem.
Be familiar with specific roles, skills, and responsibilities of
both individual contributors and project managers.
Track the project by developing schedules, progress
reports, meetings, and managing project records.
Facilitate collaboration by establishing horizontal and
vertical communication networks, conducting effective
meetings and managing conflict.
Collaborating on Writing Projects
Many writing projects are team efforts requiring
collaboration with two or more people.
To participate effectively, you need to understand the
roles and processes that make a team productive.
Like most types of writing, collaborative writing is a
process, not an event that happens all at once.
Each member must understand the factors that affect
the process and allow it to operate smoothly, i.e.:
the types of collaborative roles
project planning strategies and working together techniques
Types of Collaborative Roles
When you approach a collaborative writing project,
you should think about what role matches your
strengths: individual contributor or manager.
Individual contributors are often specialized experts
of the team and bring skills in defined project areas.
Managers have skills in managing groups and
understanding the "big picture."
Managers should be not only good writers but also
effective problem and conflict solvers (between
people, schedules, budgets, and so forth).
The individual contributor
Individual contributors need to have specialized
skills in their assigned areas of expertise.
They also need to be able to work well with
others and be responsible for meeting the
deadlines set by the project manager.
A good team member must understand the
scope of the whole project and know how his
contribution fits into the larger context, respecting
the work others are contributing.
The individual contributor
For well-staffed writing projects, the individual
team members will have well-defined roles like:
A minimum of one writer who generates the draft and
is responsible for revisions
An editor who works with writer in development stages
A designer who supplies the graphics
A technical reviewer
A production specialist (e.g printing)
Some project teams have more than one person
in each of these capacities.
MEMBERS GUIDELINES for
Collaborating Effectively
Be actively involved: Avoid the temptation to sit back
and let the rest of the team carry you through the project.
Don't be afraid to ask questions and express
opinions: If you don't understand an issue or have
reservations, speak up.
Remain open to other ideas: Everyone has different
ideas about how a project should get done.
Be patient: As in any project where more than one
person is involved, the frustration level can get high.
Articulate problems: speak up and let the manager
know before the problems become unmanageable.
The writing project manager
Managing writing projects successfully is not an
easy task. Not only do you need experience with
the product and with the industry, you also need
expertise in psychology and business.
Roles for effective writing project managers:
Visionary
Expert estimator
Communicator
Coach
Advocate
Phases of the project
To collaborate better on writing projects, you first
need to consider the general cycle for document
development known as a project “life cycle”.
The four phases of document development are:
Planning
Writing, usability testing and editing
Production
Conducting postmortem
In general, teams spend 30% of total project time on
planning; 50% percent on writing, testing, and editing.
20% on the rest.
Phases of the project:
Planning
The planning phase is one of the busiest for the entire
team. It is important to begin by planning, dividing
responsibilities, and developing a writing schedule:
Brainstorm to agree on clear ideas of the project.
Divide responsibilities:
• assign 1 person for each task: research, writing, editing… or
• break each phase of the document development process into
segments and assign everyone a task in each phase
Develop a schedule: Be realistic about the length of time
necessary to complete individual tasks and stress on
everyone the need to meet the project deadlines.
Tracking the project
A good project manager uses different
techniques for tracking the whole operations of
the writing project, which are:
Scheduling
Progress Reports
Meetings
Electronic Collaboration
Tracking spreadsheets
The Project Notebook
Tracking the project:
Scheduling (document specification)
Your first tracking step as a manager is to check
the schedule given in the document specification.
If the specification is a reasonable one, it should
have regularly spaced milestones for completing
important sections of the project.
To keep the document on this schedule and to
make sure that everyone on the team is able to
meet these milestones, set some interim
deadlines between major points in the schedule.
Tracking the project:
Progress reports (Phase-wise)
One method for keeping informed of the document's
progress is to require weekly progress reports from each
team member.
These reports should be in a standardized form no
random memos or emails. It's a good idea to provide the
forms for these weekly updates so your staff gives you
complete information.
The team members need to know what you expect, and
you need to be firm in requiring these reports on time
every week. Late reports don't keep you informed and
in control of the project.
Tracking the project:
Meetings
Establish a regular schedule of meetings so your team
members can discuss their progress and perhaps solve
some of the problems that might lead to delays.
Usually, project teams meet once a week as an entire
group and then in subgroups (for sub tasks and sub parts)
between the weekly team meetings.
Project manager should always attend the large group
meeting to keep informed of the team's progress and
to communicate pertinent information to the whole group.
Tracking the project:
Electronic collaboration
In many situations today, project teams can't meet in
person, but they can collaborate via electronic methods:
email, groupware, comment boxes, mark-up and
comment software, teleconferencing …
One easy way to collaborate electronically is by
developing a Wiki. A Wiki is a quick way to create and
share ideas through web pages that can be edited with
only a web browser.
The basic strategies for collaborating in teams are the
same. Pay attention to the phases of the project and
understand how each team member can best contribute.
Tracking the project:
Using a tracking spreadsheet
As you collect information from the progress reports, the
meetings, and the daily interactions you have with your
team, it's a good idea to chart this material in a form
where you can see the project's progress at a glance.
Keeping a spreadsheet of where the document is in the
development cycle at any given moment allows you to
visualize the project’s status.
It's important also to post it on a wall of your office:
anyone coming into your office, can take a look at the
project's progress and see how all the parts fit together.
Tracking the project:
The project notebook
The most important tool for tracking documents is the
project notebook.
This book is where you organize every scrap of
information about the project: the progress reports, the
weekly versions of the tracking spreadsheet, memos,
e-mail, the telephone logs, and notes of conversations
pertaining to the document.
At least once a week, sit down and organize the week's
information for your own reference and for factual support
should you need to justify the decisions you make or to
explain project delays or cost overruns.
Establishing effective communication
Projects run more smoothly when there is a spirit
of open communication among team members
and between the team and the manager.
That happens when communication lines are
clearly defined and open.
It's important to establish horizontal and vertical
communication networks to encourage constant
feedback and understanding, breaking down
potential barriers caused by lack of information.
Establishing effective communication:
Vertical Communication
Team members should be able to communicate
ideas and concerns directly with project manager.
The project manager can set up several channels
to foster open communication with the team:
Assure team members that you value talking with them.
Encourage team members to discuss matters with you in
your office in small groups or alone.
Schedule regular team meetings.
Ask for written progress reports weekly.
Establishing effective communication:
Horizontal Communication
Individual team members should feel comfortable
sharing information with each other.
To foster horizontal communication among team
members, effective team should try the following:
Circulate weekly project reports to all team members.
Schedule regular team meetings and discuss problems
Publish job descriptions for each team member and
list accompanying tasks.
Encourage interdepartmental meetings and
collaboration to break down departmental barriers.
Conducting Productive Meetings
Meetings are important forums where participants
express their views, expand on ideas, present solutions
to problems, and report their activities.
The success of any meeting is affected by its purpose,
the people who attend, the group, the scheduled time,
the location, and the agenda.
The meeting leader needs to plan carefully and prepare
for the dynamics of the group.
One of the worst mistakes of a meeting leader is to hold
meetings but not follow through on the suggestions
made or the actions requested.
Conducting Productive Meetings:
SCHEDULING A SUCCESSFUL MEETING
Before the meeting:
Set up a schedule of meetings well in advance
Always distribute in advance an agenda for the meeting
During the meeting:
Keep the meetings focused on the work that needs to be done.
Ask someone to take careful minutes.
Encourage participants to lead portions of the meeting.
Listen to and consider participants suggestions.
After the meeting:
Prepare a list of actions for yourself and your team members.
Distribute the minutes as soon as possible after the meeting.
Conflicts and Mediation
There are many factors that can inhibit collaboration.
Few of them are common to many project teams:
Rivalry: occurs when team members begin competing for
the resources, positions and recognitions.
Personality clashes may be intensified by the project
manager's favoring the style of one person over others.
Personal agendas that have nothing to do with the
project's goals result in disunity within the team.
Lack of respect for the project leader, for each other, and
for the project's goals can derail any project.
Teams should recognize the potential of theses problems
and must be prepared to deal with them quickly.
How to manage Conflicts
Team members need the freedom to disagree
with one another and with the manager:
constructive argument results in better decisions.
The first step for managers is to negotiate among
feuding parties to come to some productive
compromise by considering the following:
Don’t confuse the people with the problem
Avoid positional bargaining: group interest is important
Do not select a solution while under pressure
Agree on criteria for measuring solution effectiveness
Summary
Understand roles of team members and project manager.
Understand the four phases of document development
process planning; writing, usability testing, and editing;
producing; and conducting a postmortem.
Be familiar with specific roles, skills, and responsibilities of
both individual contributors and project managers.
Track the project by developing schedules, progress
reports, meetings, and managing project records.
Facilitate collaboration by establishing horizontal and
vertical communication networks, conducting effective
meetings and managing conflict.
