Frustrations of He Said, She Said: How Experienced Technical Editors Can Understand and Work with Novice Writers

By Stephanie Chacharon

As a relative newcomer to the professional workplace and the world of technical communication, I’ve experienced firsthand the difficulties of adapting to the role of technical writer. More recently, I’ve been dealing with less-experienced new hires adapting to their roles as technical writers. Because these perspectives are fresh, I feel uniquely qualified to offer the following advice on how to bring novice writers up to speed. Consider this a wish-list of sorts from me, the semi-amateur wordsmith, to you, the experienced editor.

This article will address the frustrations that arise when dealing with inexperienced writers. Those frustrations hinge upon the time and energy required to bring new communicators up to the same standard of delivery as their more experienced counterparts. The elements outlined in this article are common-sense approaches that will benefit any working relationship, but they’re also important when dealing with newly hired technical communicators.

He Says, She Says Perspectives

Perspective 1: The editor First, let’s consider the following scenario: It’s the day before a deadline you were just made aware of by the newly hired technical writer on your team, who we’ll call Jimmy. He’s presented you with a twelve-page document that he would like reviewed by tomorrow. At 8:00 am, as you sigh, open the document, and mentally prepare yourself, you’re immediately confronted with the same issues you revised the last time you reviewed Jimmy’s work. And the time before that. It’s all wrong: the format doesn’t conform to your organizational templates, the word choice is awkward, the technical content is inaccurate at best, the syntax doesn’t blend with your team’s other documentation, your corporate branding isn’t maintained, and the tone is overly casual and inappropriate for your audience. He just doesn’t get it, does he?

Perspective 2: The writer Now consider this same scenario from the perspective of the new hire, Jimmy: The project team just pushed forward the deadline for a document he’s been dreading because of the seemingly overwhelming project scope and technical content. He’s been struggling to keep up with the team’s subject matter experts, and the company’s unfamiliar software has had an embarrassing impact on his performance. He frantically prepares the document for hand-off to his editor, a long-standing member of the team of which he’s terrified. As he walks through the materials one final time, he finds himself wishing—again—that there were some resources available to answer his questions. He’s uncertain about so many factors: format, word choice, content, syntax, branding, tone—the list is exhaustive. He composes an email to his editor, complete with his lengthy list of uncertainties, but at the last minute, deletes the list and simply attaches the document. They’ll just think he’s stupid, won’t they?

Talk More, Share More

The solution to these scenarios is pretty simple: talk more, share more. More specifically, establish open channels of communication and share your resources.

The benefits of proper communication will go both ways, because everyone wins when work environments are collaborative and positive. Employers judge their workers on efficiency and perceived return on investment, so it’s in your best interest to cultivate professional relationships that help everyone involved perform their jobs better and more efficiently. Plus, it’s just more fun when you actually get along with the people you work with.

Before we outline the solution, let’s take a look at some of the areas that are especially challenging for inexperienced technical communicators—recent college graduates in particular.

The Great Divide

The gap between classroom education and workplace expectations is not imagined. That divide doesn’t escape technical communicators, as illustrated in the disconnect between editor and writer in the example above. Aimee Whiteside, from the University of Minnesota, examined the requisite skills for technical communicators through a survey of technical communication graduates, managers, and curricula. Whiteside asked both recent graduates and managers to identify the areas where coursework wasn’t enough preparation for the workplace.

Whiteside’s Findings Recent graduates mentioned a lack of understanding of business operations, industry standards for software tools and computer languages, and project management skills. They expressed a desire for courses that focused on the entire writing process and software tools.

Managers were pleased with the written and oral communication skills of their new hires, but they found project management skills, problem-solving abilities, and general business know-how to be lacking. They specifically mentioned the need for improvement in working with subject matter experts, time management skills, and collaborating with experienced writers. An overwhelming 60 percent of managers reported that recently graduated technical communicators lacked project management experience.

Although the answers from graduates and managers differed slightly, Whiteside found considerable overlap in the following four areas: business operations, project management, problem-solving skills, and science and technical knowledge. She learned that incoming writers struggle to understand their place within an organization and the workings of daily business operations.

Curricula Strengths As expected, the programs that Whiteside examined all placed a heavy emphasis on written communication. All programs required a range of writing courses, and most offered a full complement of editing, style, and copyediting coursework. Most programs also required oral and visual communications courses and internship experience.

This foundation in written and oral communication was reflected in the responses from the managers that Whiteside surveyed. In short, this area of technical communication coursework seems to be adequately preparing students for the workplace.

Curricula Weaknesses The bulk of negative feedback from employers focused on areas that fall outside the typical confines of a classroom. Managers noted a need for more hands-on experience, better people skills, a better understanding of technical communicators’ context in a business environment, and problem-solving skills. One manager noted that classes often teach individuals to search for the perfect answer, while in the real world, perfection isn’t usually attainable. Individuals need to be able to analyze pros and cons to choose the best answer for any given situation, not necessarily the perfect one.

Based on Whiteside’s findings, there’s a need for increased collaboration between the classroom and the workplace to better prepare students. While coursework is helpful, students are shouldering the burden of bridging the gap between classroom and workplace.

What This Really Means As editors, it’s important to remember that inexperienced writers are not only pressured to produce material that meets organizational standards, they’re also coming to terms with the expectations of a professional work environment. When their performance is sub-par, it’s not necessarily due to a lack of talent or a lack of effort. If you understand the reasons behind gaps in performance, you can use your editorial skills to help writers address and overcome those challenges.

Communication Is Paramount

In any relationship, communication is critical. Because the relationship between editors and writers is ideally collaborative in nature, cultivate open and positive relationships with your inexperienced writers. Identify yourself as an ally, not an adversary. Think of yourself as a mentor or a teacher, and take advantage of the opportunity to shape the developing skills of your impressionable student, the writer.

Establishing grounds for open communication includes defining preferences and setting guidelines.

Define Your Preferences Nobody can read minds, especially those who are struggling to understand the basic culture of their work environment. So make things easy for new writers and plainly state your editorial preferences and expectations. Identify how you return your revisions—either in hard-copy form, electronically, or both—and how you communicate your revisions—via email, within the document itself, in person, on the phone, or any combination of those. Define how you best communicate and identify the things you expect from a writer. Don’t leave them guessing.

Understand Writers’ Preferences Another key element is learning what makes your writer tick. Ask writers to define the reasoning and process behind their submissions. For example, maybe they expect to send you a document that’s 80 percent complete, accompanied by a lengthy cover letter highlighting the areas they’d like feedback on, and once they receive your revisions, they’ll finalize the document and send it to you for one last edit. Or maybe they plan to complete a document to the best of their abilities and send it to you for edits without explanation, expecting your revisions to produce a document that’s ready for publication.

Find out how your writers communicate. Learn the kind of feedback they’re looking for. Discover what they want from an editor. All of these factors have an impact on the success of your relationship.

Once you discover what your writers are looking for, determine whether their needs are realistic. For example, if a novice writer expects you to fill the shoes of a college professor who would offer detailed suggestions for improvement, you may need to explain how your role as editor differs.

I work with a remote editor who’s extremely competent and professional. I send him documents with a list of specific areas of concern, and while he’s always prompt in returning his revisions, he never provided any direct answers to my concerns. Months into our relationship, I finally worked up the courage to question one of his revisions. His response was a thoughtful, detailed, and friendly rationale behind his editorial decision—just the kind of feedback I’d been wanting all along. I now realize that his revisions are just the starting point for an open dialogue on editorial decisions and style choices, and he now realizes that I want and welcome feedback and guidance. Our working relationship is much more pleasant and decidedly more collaborative now.

Set Benchmarks Finally, establish benchmarks to ensure expectations are met. Define project timelines and set deadlines up front, and make sure that everyone involved is informed when those decisions are adjusted. In the scenarios above, the situation would have been much less stressful if the writer and the project team had kept the editor informed of the project schedule from the beginning.

In Technical Editing, Carolyn Rude identifies three keys to collaborative editor-writer relationships: good editing, good management, and good interpersonal skills. She says good management includes the early establishment of expectations, thorough communications, and prompt work completion. It’s not only important to set benchmarks, it’s also essential that they’re communicated to everyone involved and that they’re achieved.

Beyond setting timelines, work with writers to establish service level agreements. If you require a two-day turnaround for an edit, put that in writing. If the writer requests a brief, in-person overview of each revision, incorporate that into your process. Identifying and agreeing upon these kinds of behaviors at the outset of your working relationship will improve your quality of work and leave little to the imagination.

Resources Make the World Go ’Round

The writer in our scenario above isn’t alone in feeling like there’s a lack of available resources. In fact, I had been with my company for nearly a year before realizing we had a company style guide or team style sheets. While that may seem impossible, as an inexperienced writer, it didn’t even occur to me that those resources existed.

As an editor, you can help novice writers by simply sharing your resources. Those resources fall into three general categories: documents, tools, and people.

Share Your Bookshelf Many of the mistakes our writer Jimmy made could have been avoided if he had consulted—or been aware of—a handful of basic resources. Consider the essential reference materials on your bookshelf and share them with your inexpert writer. Whether those resources include style manuals, company-sanctioned dictionaries, style sheets, or online cheat sheets, your resources will be invaluable to the development of any writers’ habits and choices.

Discovering our company style manual was an eye-opening experience for me. Revisions that I’d previously written off as merely an editor’s personal preference identified themselves as corporate-sanctioned style decisions. Nuances in product naming and copyright choices now had full explanations. I finally had a go-to resource for questions on syntax and usage. I finally had the resources to make informed choices that fit with my company’s standard before sending documents to an editor for review.

Rude says that editors often choose among acceptable alternatives. Without access to the acceptable alternatives and a guiding hand in identifying the preferred alternative, how can inexperienced writers be expected to “get it”?

Accompany Tools with Tool Manuals Every organization has their predetermined arsenal of editing and writing tools, but don’t assume that every writer your company hires is familiar with those tools. Whether it’s the track changes features in Microsoft Word or the review options offered by Arbortext, make sure new writers understand how to use the tools and where to turn for more information.

As illustrated in Whiteside’s study, recent graduates felt the need for more hands-on experience with software tools. They recognized their lack of knowledge and embraced the opportunity to learn more. Experienced editors can help point novice writers in the right direction. A better understanding of software tools will have a positive impact on performance. Again, everybody wins.

Create a Network Having a support system of knowledgeable and skilled individuals is one of the more essential resources you can share with an amateur writer. Help identify peers and mentors within your team to whom the newcomer can turn. Hopefully, you’ll put yourself in the role of mentor and make yourself available to answer questions, however silly they may seem.

I work with an editor on another team who also seemed unapproachable at first. When I finally reached out to her for guidance, she welcomed the opportunity. She not only shared her personal collection of resources, she also put me in touch with other writers on our team. And she made herself available for future questions. Her positive response to my inquiries made me view her less as a frightening grammar cop and more as an encouraging teacher. She made me feel like I had a supportive network to fall back on.

A network doesn’t need to be tangible. Large organizations may have internal distribution lists for editors and/or writers to share knowledge and voice questions. Employees at smaller organizations can turn to reputable online forums. Suggest a professional society like STC for your writers to join. Introduce them to your favorite language blogs. Share the source of your favorite informational podcasts. In today’s online world, there are numerous networking options available.

My company, for example, has a variety of internal distribution lists. I recently joined the lists for editors and writers. Although I’m not comfortable enough yet to participate in any of the conversation threads, it’s been educational to see the kinds of questions that are being asked and the range of responses that are provided.

Happy Writer, Happy Editor

Many of the frustrations editors feel when dealing with novice communicators can be avoided by simply understanding and addressing workplace challenges and sharing resources from the outset of their working relationship. It’s my hope that editors will start rethinking the way they interact with inexperienced writers. I hope they’ll begin to consider themselves as mentors and teachers and start providing the resources to cultivate technically sound writers. When writers are happy, editors are happy, and everybody wins.

Stephanie Chacharon (v-stchac@microsoft.com) is a contract marketing writer for the Microsoft Solution Accelerators team. She is currently enrolled in the technical writing master’s program at Utah State University. Prior to her current course of study, Stephanie earned undergraduate degrees in English and environmental studies from Ripon College in Wisconsin. A resident of Seattle, Washington, Stephanie enjoys running, kayaking, and exploring with her dog, Jasper, and her fiancé, Adam.