Planning can mean anticipating, preparing, and being able to predict or forecast possible events. It’s being able to schedule ahead. Some people set up blocks of time for work and availability and move them around to be able to handle situations. But how do you plan ahead for documentation projects?
Here are some suggestions:
- If there are pre-written plans, use them as a starting guide.
- Create a check list to establish what information is needed up front for any document.
- Make sure that your gathered requirements are accurate and valid.
- To maintain control of a project, prepare ahead of time by asking a lot of questions, such as who the SME’s and stakeholders are, and who your target audience is. Identify the types of documents required up front and make sure resources are available for writing and gathering data.
- Set your milestones and make sure you have the right tools available and the budget.
- Make sure you understand the architecture of the system you are documenting; include procedures, methodology, events, actions, etc. This will also help you to build better test plans as well.
- Stay focused and monitor the workload and schedule. If your work load or information load is too heavy, break it down into charts, figures, or diagrams for easier understanding and analysis. If either of them are out of line, then be prepared for unforeseen events to occur.
- Research before a meeting and study previous project timelines in order to provide good estimates of the time needed for your documentation. Also, keep a separate project plan of your own in order to maintain control of the project. You may have items in there that are not mentioned in the overall project plan, such as editing.
- For setting up CMS tools for documentation, make sure that they are not only the right fit for you and the organization, but that they are also user friendly.
- Make sure you have a style guide to follow. This will make the documentation easier for maintaining uniformity in writing, formatting, and styling.
- For security issues, check with your managers and IT personnel and question them about confidentiality, maintenance, issues, protocols, archives, contingency plans, etc.
- Stay organized and begin your documents as soon as you can to stay ahead.
Plan with the future in mind:
- Maintain a directory or chart of all the documents, their content, and associated references. Changes to content that is reused elsewhere should occur across the board, so make sure you note any associated references within a directory.
- Give yourself plenty of extra time within the initial project plan for what-if scenarios, such as sudden client demands or budget and resource changes.
- Make sure that the document is reusable. This is especially important for organizations where modular content is repeatedly reused.
- To ensure the documentation schedule is working well, set up a tracking system and always get some feedback on its status.
- As a final statement, create contingency plans for any unexpected delays and bottlenecks.
How have you planned ahead for your documentation practices?
Gail Zack Anderson, President of Applause, Inc., has nearly 20 years experience in training and coaching. She
provides individual presentation coaching, and leads effective presentation workshops and effective trainer workshops.
Theresa Pojuner is a Documentation Specialist with over 20 years of writing experience and is skilled in many areas of documentation, for example, Style Guides, Training Manuals and Test Cases, wth a specialty n Technical Writing and Procedures.