Before entering the software industry as a technical writer in 2020, I spent almost a decade as a freelance writer and editor for music, lifestyle, an

How to be a great technical writing leader

submited by
Style Pass
2024-12-27 19:30:04

Before entering the software industry as a technical writer in 2020, I spent almost a decade as a freelance writer and editor for music, lifestyle, and pop-science publications. Across my twelve-year career I’ve held roles as an individual contributor as well as a project manager and a people leader, and I’ve learned quite a bit about how to set a team of writers up for success.

What follows are some of my thoughts on how to be a great leader of writers and content creators, drawing on my editorial experiences both inside and outside of the software industry. This is mostly relevant to remote-first orgs but should be broadly applicable to anyone leading an editorial team.

Arguably the most important point I could make here is that you must establish clear, consistent, repeatable processes for publishing and project management.

All editorial work should revolve around the almighty final deadline. A good managing editor should be able to establish a steady cadence and maintain a publication calendar at least three to six months out so that all contributors have a consistent and predictable workload. This is often easier said than done, of course! But even a rough roadmap that’s subject to change is better than no roadmap at all.

Leave a Comment