Many Technical Writers like working behind the scenes to make clients happy. It isn't usually a job out in front like Sales or Support. But writers can have an immense impact on customer success through their writing. Their content is, however, out in front and accessible to many.
As a manager of content teams, I often find that team members feel a bit undervalued or their work is not being recognized. The Product Manager or Developer often gets the credit for documentation, but the writer put in so many hours to make the content top-tier.
How can Technical Writers show their value to those within their organization?
Overcommunicate with your stakeholders and SMEs
PMs and Devs sometimes are just trying to get their feature or product out the door. Sometimes documentation is an afterthought and to be honest, burdensome at times. If you communicate with your stakeholders regularly, ask them plenty of questions, and set proper expectations, your value and visibility will increase internally.
Track all of your content in one location for full internal visibility
Many teams haven't a clue what you do on a day-to-day basis. You can show the amount of content, the frequency of updates, and the pipeline of new content if you are tracking this in one location. We created Stratified for this purpose giving you and your stakeholders visibility of audits, new content, and tasks to be performed. Report to all stakeholders your content health and have a system in place.
Report all of your work with metrics throughout the year
With releases, it can be hard to track all new features and edits of old content. I would recommend tracking net new content, content edits, and audits. Make this part of your monthly, quarterly, and annual reporting. It should be a success metric for yourself and team.
What are your suggestions for adding value to your Tech Writing team?
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