An operations manual is a large document, hundreds of pages, usually. So it’s pretty common to spread the work around, multiple people are responsible for smaller sections which are later compiled into one.
You can probably imagine a number of challenges here, challenges that good content strategy and governance will minimize.
Tone and Voice
Not everyone has the same writing style. Some are descriptive, some are more technical in nature. Some write paragraphs, some prefer bullet points, and some people – it has to be said – just shouldn’t be doing the writing.
Authority
Who is responsible for the content in a manual? Is it the author of a section? The person charged with creating the manual itself? What happens when an operations person has information that conflicts with a store development person?
Related, whose responsibility is it to notice that the company paid leave policy has not been updated in several years?
Central vs. Distributed
This is a larger consideration for web publications than printed ones because, while print requires coordination with a printer and presumes a gatekeeper, anyone with access can hit “publish” and post a completely incorrect fact to the web.
The trade-off is usually speed to market vs. highly controlled information.
Not the Answer You Want
If the question is “how do I wrangle multiple authors, ensure brand consistency, prevent incorrect information from spreading, and still ensure speed to market?”, the answer is “it depends.”
Editorial calendars, style guides, governance practices, content management technology all play a part, but so do things like purpose of documents, audience, market pressures, and corporate expectations.
A good content strategist will help you balance those (sometimes competing) priorities. Content governance, the editorial process, and technology all help.
Tips for Content Governance
- Every topic needs an owner (easier said than done, but obviously necessary) – keep a spreadsheet.
- The topic owner is the final authority. No change gets made without that person’s approval (no going straight to the manual owner). Conflicting requests (eg: do customers get 1 free carry-on, or two?) get reconciled by the owner.
- Decide whether the topic owner is also the author. Best practice is to have a central editor that makes sure tone and voice and style guide are followed.
- Create and circulate a style guide, even if topic owners send the content to an editor. They’ll give you better material if they are at least familiar with the rules.
- Every topic should have a review date. Some content – eg: a promotional calendar – should be reviewed weekly or monthly; if you’re in a period of expansion, check your policies/procedures at least quarterly; and policies like paid time off can be reviewed annually.
- Write ‘evergreen’ copy. “…over 50 choices…” instead of “choose from 57 options”. sales@yourcompany.com, not bob.smith@yourcompany.com
- If you don’t have a content management system, centralize where you can. Instead of listing contact information on several pages, “Refer to the most recent contact list for details.”
Tips for the Editorial Process
- Every topic should have a review date. Some content – eg: a promotional calendar – should be reviewed weekly or monthly; if you’re in a period of expansion, check your policies/procedures at least quarterly; and policies like paid time off can be reviewed annually.
- Printed items need an editorial calendar. Have a cutoff for changes, allow time to make and QA the changes, then publish. Users will begin to know when to expect changes and govern their own printed copies.
- Corollary: PDFs count as ‘printed items’ – they get printed, saved to hard drives, and printed – treat them like a hard copy for governance purposes. The manager can make the changes at any time, but all changes get committed at a frequency that has been communicated to users. (eg: “Here’s this month’s version.”)
Tips for Using Technology
- An intranet is a good thing – users can self-help – but remember that an intranet (a place to download the latest manual) is a delivery mechanism, not a way to control versions. It does NOT keep your information up to date.
- PDFs and Word docs available for download do not decrease the odds of having outdated versions.
- Searchable, online knowledge bases can dramatically decrease your support costs.
- Having many smaller guides, manuals, and handbooks is preferable to having a couple of very large manuals. Large manuals (300+ pages) are harder to read, easier to lose topics within them.
- A content management system – write once, update everywhere – can reduce the risk of duplicated content. MadCap Flare and Adobe RoboHelp are two good examples, but there are others.
- Web publishing (not downloadable PDFs, but actual web pages) makes online searches simple. The right information to the right people at the right time.
At White Deer, we use a combination of technologies to speed development, manage versions, distribute updates, and track change history. Users can get exactly what they need, whenever they need it, and on any device they choose (phone, tablet, desktop, or print).
Bryan Garner
Bryan Garner is our Director of Content Strategy & Technology, charged with helping our clients create, distribute, and manage their content more easily and effectively. In an age where content management is a standalone science, Bryan brings his years of large-scale web content management experience to the worlds of franchising and emergency response documentation.
