Re: Peer Editing Among Corporate Tech Writing Teams

[David Renn <daverenn08 -at- gmail -dot- com>]

For what it's worth, our department does have a pretty extensive style
guide - and it is the expectation that everyone on the team understands and
follows our standards.

Sarah - I really like your idea of the peer review pool. Even more so
because our Tech Writing department---and company at large for many
purposes---uses JIRA and Confluence.

On Mon, Feb 27, 2017 at 6:39 PM, Bill Darnall <
billdarnall -at- writingandtraining -dot- com> wrote:

> First thoughts. Peer review and copyediting are not usually synonymous.
> But,
> you have to do what you have to do. Since there is no copyeditor, everyone
> should use the same style guide, the same dictionary, and the same acronyms
> list. It should be a two-pass process. Get the technical accuracy out of
> the
> way first-the peer review. Then, you can efficiently start on the
> copyediting. Someone will have to be responsible for resolving the
> inevitable differences of opinion about content and usability. Someone will
> have to be responsible for resolving differences of opinion about styles.
>
> -Bill Darnall
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+billdarnall=writingandtraining -dot- com -at- lists -dot- 
> techwr-l.com
> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+billdarnall=writingandtraining -dot- com -at- lists -dot- 
> techwr-l.c
> om] On Behalf Of David Renn
> Sent: Monday, February 27, 2017 1:49 PM
> To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: Peer Editing Among Corporate Tech Writing Teams
>
> I work in a Tech Writing Department of about 3 managers and 14 writers. Our
> team used to have a dedicated copyeditor for the whole team. We're now
> restructuring the department so that all authors are responsible for peer
> reviews in place of having a copyeditor.
>
> Have any of you ever had any experience where peer editing was implemented
> across a team of multiple tech writers---whether small or large teams?
>
> If so, would you be able to shed any light on the methodology your team
> implemented for the peer review process; that is, the team structure, how
> tasks were assigned/divvied up, what peer reviewers were required to review
> for, how team ensured the process was implemented appropriately, or
> anything else related?
>
> And also, do you have any thoughts as to:
>
>    - the pros and cons of implementing peer editing in multiple-author tech
>    departments;
>    - what it might take to create a well-oiled peer editing machine where
>    all authors know and understand their role/responsibilities and are
>    dedicated to their assignments;
>    - any success/failure stories in general.
>
> Thanks, and I look forward to hearing about your experiences!
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