How to Manage a Remote Tech Writing Team?

FAQ on Technical Writing

Technical writers, just like software developers, very often work remotely. Some teams are located in one city, others in one country. There are international teams as well. How to cope with the problems of remote cooperation and communication? Actually, it is easier than it might seem at first.

Here are the tips that will help you:

• Use video conferencing tools to talk to your colleagues. That’s vital for everyone to keep in touch and keep track of the latest changes, ideas, solutions, and trends. That’s one of the ways to eliminate the feeling of isolation for those who need more communication within a team.
• Create a clear plan and schedule. Each teammate should know what they are responsible for and when this or that piece of work should be completed. In case you manage an international team of writers, you should keep in mind the time zones and working hours of all the writers.
• Choose the most suitable project management tools. They will help you see the whole picture of what is happening at the moment: which projects are being worked on, what requires updating, what needs to be done as soon as possible, what is still in backlog, etc.
• Keep the working hours in mind. Remote workers cannot be available 24/7. They have their own working hours. They are not obliged to answer every email or every message as soon as they get it. Though, they may be flexible in case of an emergency. Respect their right to stick to their timetable.
• Choose the right technical writing tool. There is a great deal of debate about which tech writing tools to use. Some companies still use Google Docs, and they are quite satisfied. But that definitely won’t work for remote teams. Cloud tools are the best solution for a remote team. Writers work in an online portal and have access to all the content of a project.

Is ClickHelp Good for Remote Teams?

ClickHelp is a cloud tech writing tool that can become a real helping hand for a remote team. That’s how it works:

• ClickHelp is a unique environment for all team members: tech writers, reviewers, SMEs, etc. They can work in one portal simultaneously. For example, each writer works on a set of topics. As soon as each topic is ready, it can be reviewed. Reviewers, in their turn, cannot change content, they can only leave comments for writers. When the topic gets updated, it can be published. So, it is possible to create a clear strategy for working on content: no updates or comments will be lost as there is a smart system of notifications. All teammates will see what has been done and what is still under review.
• ClickHelp allows creating Quick Parts to make the formatting of content identical. Formatting is something that should be identical throughout the whole document no matter what page we are looking at: tables, note boxes, warning boxes, etc — they all should be the same. For instance, you can save a note box as a Quick Part, and all other writers will be able to use it while working on a project. The document will look nice and professional.
• ClickHelp offers the analytics and reporting functionality to estimate the readiness of a project and the efficiency of content. Let’s say each author works on 50 topics. They all have different statuses: ready, draft, under review, etc. You’ll see the amount of work that is to be done and who copes better than others.
• ClickHelp has the Translation Module as well for those companies that create multi-language documentation. The thing is that you don’t have to use a separate tool to translate content. You can just invite translators to your documentation portal, and they’ll work there just like in a CAT tool.

Managing a remote team of technical writers is not that difficult, especially when you have the right tools at hand. I hope this post will give you new ideas and thoughts. Good luck with what you do!

How did I become a technical writer? What skills do you need? Read FAQ on Technical Writing.

FAQ on Technical Writing