Information Development: Managing Your Documentation Projects, Portfolio, and People

Chapter 20. Managing in a Collaborative Environment

	Time is the scarcest resource and unless it is managed nothing else can be managed.
	--Peter F. Drucker

In the discussions of project planning (Chapter 16) and project management (Chapter 18) activities, I alluded to the importance of information developers and others involved in the development of information working together as a team. Unfortunately, teamwork is not always the norm among information developers. Many writers are hired by product development, marketing and marketing communications, customer support, manufacturing operations, and others responsible for providing instructional and policy-oriented content to external and internal customers. These writers often work independently, responsible for the entire task from planning and design through development and final production. I refer to these developers as operating at Level 1: Ad hoc of process maturity in the IPMM. Even the personality types of many writers, who are more often introverts, support a predilection to work alone even when they become members of information-development departments. Typically, each writer works independently on a book, help system, or other final deliverable, only occasionally coordinating work with others responsible for related publications.

As long as an organization is not worried about consistency in its publications, an environment ...