Re: Starting a documentation team

[k k <turnleftatnowhere -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

> As a result of a long-winding appraisal interview
> and discussions, I am now
> being given the opportunity to start (recruit,
> train, and manage) a team of
> 4-5 Technical Writers. I am being given the freedom
> to choose/decide on
> experience levels, numbers of people, recommend
> remuneration packages,
> training, etc.
> 


Congratulations.

My comments may be of limited use because I don't
really know how much experience you've had in doing
this kind of thing, and I don't know what kind of
business your company does. I can point out a few
things that seem obvious to me.

I think you need to get the proposal to create the new
group approved first. A plan on how to do it should
come later. The proposal would be an outline of how
the new group would be structured and what it would
do, and the plan needs to detail the step-by-step
operations of putting the group together. If your
superiors want to see both at the same time, you need
to make them understand the plan is only preliminary
until the proposal is approved.

Interviewing job candidates is the last step in
setting up such a group. First you must create the
environment the new writers will step into, and that's
all business planning.

You'll probably need to get help because there are
many things to be considered which are outside the
field of technical documentation. Start by contacting
the company's HR, legal, finance, and technical
support groups. Let them know what you're doing and
ask for help in collecting and presenting the
information you'll need.

Your proposal will probably need to present
justifications for the conclusions in it. To justify
the number of employees you plan for, you'll have to
show why the work load requires that many. Ditto for
anything you say about how large a budget the new
group will need. Doubtless the people who want to see
the proposal will be concerned about the costs, so
make sure your figures are correct and have plenty of
arguments to support them.

To begin structuring the new group you need to
identify your real situation. This point may require
some negotiation on your part. Get a statement from
your superiors that defines who in the organiztion
will give orders to you and your writers. Will you be
responsible to the engineering manager, or will you be
responsible to the customer support manager? That will
affect what you have to do, how you have to do it, and
the skill your subordinates will need. If you are to
be part of the customer support organization, you will
need writers who have skills in "softer" writing like
white papers and marketing collateral.

Get a mission statement that identifies your
deliverables - exactly what kinds of documentation
will you be expected to produce, and when? That will
affect how many writers you will need, and will also
give you indicators of what skills they will need.
This may be determined by the company's production
plans - how many product lines you will have to
support, and how often the company plans to turn out
new products or new versions that must be documented.
Will you be required to produce technical papers that
support bids for government work? Then you may need
people familiar with writing for government agencies.
Again, the question of exactly what you have to
produce may require some negotiation.

Once you have a clear idea of your situation and
mission, you can estimate the number of people you'll
need and the skills they need. Then you can estimate
the resources you'll need - number of PCs, type of
software you'll need and # of licences, amount of
office space and # of desks, etc. 

I won't say anything about budgeting. I know nothing
of such matters.

You should try to gain autonomy in procuring hardware,
software, and software support. Whether or not you get
it, before the group goes into operation you'll need
to make sure you understand the procedures you must
follow in order to buy or otherwise obtain resources. 

Find out or try to set what will be the group's future
expansion capabilities or requirements. Is the work
load likely to increase so that the group will have to
expand in a year? 

Find out (negotiate) what will be your priority in the
company's hiring hierarchy. Will you always have to
wait to hire new employees until the marketing group
has filled all its requirements, or will you be able
to hire in advance of other departments if you can
prove your work load is great enough? All companies
have conflicts between the different deparments on who
has priority on the money needed for new hires - find
out exactly how such disputes are settled in your
company. 

Will you be hiring permanent employees, or
contractors? You'll need to decide which would be most
advantageous to you and the company.  My suggestion
is, decide what are the most critical skills needed
and hire a couple of permanent employees to provide
them. Hire contrctors for the rest, and give them a
chance to convert to regular employees later.

If you believe your group will expand significantly in
the future, DON'T hire any regular employees who do
not have the ability to become a team leader or
supervisor later. Few things cause discontent among
regular employees like sending people who were hired
later being promoted over them. If you hire people who
will always be used strictly for production work and
they will always be left at the same level, hire
contractors for those slots and make sure they know
what their situation is. 

Will you bring in tech writers from the existing
organization, or will they all be new hires? If you
will be doing something new to your company, I
recommend going with all new hires. If you want to do
something new, it's best to start with people who do
not have to unlearn unwanted habits. 

That's all I can think of at this point. I hope
reading this hasn't been a waste.


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