Library
Home
A A A
Share »
Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Follow us on LinkedIn
Connect »

Blog: Business Communications

Menu

  • This Blog's Home
  • Guest Writer Submissions
  • Policies
  • To Subscribe to a Blog
  • About
  • Feedback

Communicating Change

By Theresa Pojuner on November 11, 2014

How do you communicate change to others? It can be done verbally or through writing. For lead technical writers, immediate changes require the creation of new or updated requirements and meetings to present changes and new documents. Prior to the meetings, the lead technical writers have to question and determine where, when, and why changes occurred.

Change involves a lot of research. For technical writers to communicate change, they will have to:

  • learn about any use case revisions and
  • gather any new information from developers, product managers, stakeholders, etc.

Once all the facts are compiled, the next step is to:

  • find all the documents that will be affected and revise and disseminate them, as well as
  • communicate all changes verbally to others via training or open sessions.

To make the job easier, technical writers should always keep abreast of new and upcoming changes and likewise, forewarn any affected users that processes may be changing. No one likes to hear about a change and then have to suddenly switch gears. What if you were working as a customer assistant responder and knew of one way to perform a task and then was immediately told that a feature was altered or deleted. How would you respond to users calling to complain? Letting others know ahead of time of forthcoming changes would prepare them to adapt more easily. If the customer assistant was notified of impending changes, then they too could have pre-warned others of upcoming changes. This would cause less of a shock and the customer assistant and users would have planned ahead for it.

Depending on the environment, changes can occur quite often. Changes affect schedules and delivery times. But to ease the burden of communicating sudden changes, the following processes should exist:

  • Meetings should be continuously held to keep others up-to-date such as for the cases mentioned above. The technical writers should be aware of and attend all meetings and have a set of prepared questions to get their questions answered in order to get their job done.
  • Standards of good communication should exist. Managers need to make sure good communication takes place between all team members. Miscommunication leads to confusion, uncertainty, and unpredictable outcomes. (Note: with today’s social media applications and devices, miscommunication should not be an issue as statements or announcements can be quickly verified.)
  • Processes for change management should exist that describe what steps have to be taken, who should attend meetings, what has to be evaluated, when, etc. As part of that process, which users, departments, etc. to notify should also be included after the change has been approved and documented. Note: technical writers should investigate and make sure that they are on the list of any relevant meetings to ensure that they are not lost or forgotten within the change management process.

How have you communicated changes within a development life cycle or within any organization? Please leave a comment. Thank you.

« Previous Next »

Search Our Site

Meet This Blog’s Host

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. [Read more ...]


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. [Read more ...]

Recent Blog Posts
Alternate Recent Posts Widget

  • Becoming A Technical Writer-Communicator Review
  • Creating A Knowledge Community
  • Tips for Handling Technical Writer Stress
  • Likeminded Communication
  • A Technical Writer Is Different From Other Writers
  • Involve and Engage Your Audience 20 Ways
  • Tips On Documenting Processes
  • Communicating Technical Writing Review
  • Communicating Via Visual Designs
  • Special Tips for Laptop Presentations

Related Library Topics

  • Body Language
  • Netiquette

Categories of Posts

  • Basics and Overviews
  • Body Language
  • Communicating Change
  • Communication Best Practices
  • Feedback (Sharing)
  • Humor in speaking
  • images
  • Listening
  • Netiquette
  • Presenting
  • slide shows
  • Speaking Skills
  • Team Presentations
  • technical writing
  • Telephone Skills
  • Uncategorized
  • Visual Aids
  • Voice and Vocal Habits
  • Writing

Library's Blogs

  • Boards of Directors
  • Building a Business
  • Business Communications
  • Business Ethics, Culture and Performance
  • Business Planning
  • Career Management
  • Coaching and Action Learning
  • Consulting and Organizational Development
  • Crisis Management
  • Customer Service
  • Facilitation
  • Free Management Library Blogs
  • Fundraising for Nonprofits
  • Human Resources
  • Leadership
  • Marketing and Social Media
  • Nonprofit Capacity Building
  • Project Management
  • Quality Management
  • Social Enterprise
  • Spirituality
  • Strategic Planning
  • Supervision
  • Team Building and Performance
  • Training and Development

Free Management Library, © Copyright Authenticity Consulting, LLC; All rights reserved
Wordpress supported by Caitlin Cahill

Provided by

Authenticity Consulting, LLC
  • Contact Info
  • Legal
  • Privacy