Collaborative Writing: Four Documentation Strategies

Collaboration is a ‘soft skill’ that employers highly value in academic and technical settings. Sometimes projects require groups of contributors to generate coherently written products. This article recommends several documentation strategies that are helpful when collaborating on professional writing projects.

There has been some research in the field of co-authorship. Many effective collaboration strategies are not far from group work strategies learned in grade-school.

Basic teamwork strategies include:

· Setting Goals and Milestones

· Creating a Plan

· Clarifying Group Roles

· Introducing Standards of Conduct

· Shared Decision Making

· Project Transparency

· Incorporating Personal Growth Opportunities

The challenge faced by professional co-authors is the effective introduction of appropriate teamwork strategies. Below is a list of subtly embedded documentation strategies that support co-authorship.

Every team of collaborators needs to know how to contact each other. The existence of a contact sheet is a simple addition to a project plan that can clarify roles and include personal growth opportunities. This strategy is simple and respectful in a professional environment.

The sample Contact Sheet in Table 1 tracks: roles, responsibilities and personal project goals. At one level this information serves to introduce team members to each other’s strengths and responsibilities (Oliver, et.al., 2018). Tasks are more easily assigned when the team knows which members are best suited or qualified. Documenting individualized project goals is another avenue to understand the team. Informal learning opportunities and personal goals motivate individuals (Calvo, M., & Sclater, M. 2021). Personal goals are helpful to team members when remaining focused on what they personally gain from the collaboration. Furthermore, the team gains from understanding each other’s motivations (Cheruvelil et. Al. 2014). This practice personalizes the group members and constructively builds interpersonal relationships.

Transparency is important for successful collaboration. Teams function more effectively if there is space to safely and openly make project decisions. Co-writers might be reluctant to open collaboration because of differences in status, roles or personalities. A strategy to foster a collaborative environment is to keep meeting documentation. In addition to being a good organizational practice, documented agendas and minutes build a foundation of transparency and create an environment suitable for co-authorship. The research recommends that ideas, decisions and actions should be documented throughout a project’s lifecycle (Oliver, et.al., 2018). The drafting and approval of agendas and minutes are micro-scale collaborations that offer practice for the group as their efforts grow into the final product. Co-writing agenda’s and minutes offers infinite opportunity to share and discuss project decisions.

The sample meeting agenda/minutes in Table 2 above is a simplified example that can be used to foster transparency in any collaborative meeting. Making time for introductions and updates serves as a reminder to form interpersonal relationships among the team. Reviewing previous notes encourages clear communication and project continuity. Framing agenda items as “Discussion Topics” implies a collaborative task. Finally, keeping a list of actions items moves the project forward with documented accountability for team members (Robert, H. M., & Sarah Corbin Robert. 2020).

Written project goals and timelines are of great benefit to transparency and team building. Co-authorship of a documentation plan will help the team to anticipate processes, deadlines and milestones (Neveu, S. L. and C. 2019). Collaborator responsibilities are transparent when described in a documented plan. Moreover, individual efforts can be recognized and supported throughout the project.

The effort to agree upon a documentation plan is another opportunity to practice collaboration skills on a small scale. The act of finding consensus when setting goals, processes and timelines allows for team members to learn the group’s capacities and limitations. An agreed upon documentation plan is an informal contract between group members about the expectations for the project.

A timeline is a simple addition to a documentation plan that can support collaborative writing. The examples above include chronological and process timelines. The style of timeline can be adapted for the unique needs of any project. The important variables are deliverables and responsibilities. The key to successful collaboration is for the group to transparently and mutually agree to outcomes and individual follow up tasks. This information is most easily summarized in a simple timeline document. The group can return to the timeline at prescheduled intervals to review progress. This strategy aids collaboration because it clarifies, in a structured way, the interpersonal expectations on group members. Successes and barriers can be shared by the entire group. Every return to the timeline is an opportunity to refocus individual efforts on the shared project.

A final co-authorship strategy is the introduction of a group collaboration policy. A written document about group expectations would be a formal agreement between group members. A collaboration policy might include existing authorship policies such as brand and style guidelines. Similar to previous strategies, a group collaboration policy should have input from all team members. Groups must discuss, early and often, the co-authorship expectations and standards of behaviour (Cheruvelil et. Al. 2014). Any group policy should be treated as a ‘living document,’ that allows for revisiting when needed (Oliver, et.al., 2018).

The example group collaboration policy in Table 5 is a simple list of roles and responsibilities for group members. This strategy can be introduced at the beginning of co-authorship collaborations or at any time throughout the project life-cycle. For this strategy to be effective all group members must offer input or agreement with the policy. The drafting of a collaboration policy is an opportunity for groups to negotiate expectations. Topics of contention should be prioritized in a collaboration policy. The written policy becomes the record of the resolutions to any disagreements. This strategy is the most difficult to implement but if a group is able to agree to a written policy they will already have achieved co-authorship.

Calvo, M., & Sclater, M. (2021). Creating Spaces for Collaboration in Community Co‐design. International Journal of Art & Design Education. https://doi.org/10.1111/jade.12349

Cheruvelil, K. S., Soranno, P. A., Weathers, K. C., Hanson, P. C., Goring, S. J., Filstrup, C. T., & Read, E. K. (2014). Creating and maintaining high-performing collaborative research teams: the importance of diversity and interpersonal skills. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 12(1), 31–38. https://doi.org/10.1890/130001

How to Collaboratively Write a Business Report with Colleagues. (n.d.). Www.instructionalsolutions.com. https://www.instructionalsolutions.com/blog/report-writing-collaboration

Neveu, S. L. and C. (2019). 4.3 Collaborative Writing. Pressbooks.bccampus.ca. https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/technicalwriting/chapter/collaborativewriting/

Oliver, S. K., Fergus, C. E., Skaff, N. K., Wagner, T., Tan, P., Cheruvelil, K. S., & Soranno, P. A. (2018). Strategies for effective collaborative manuscript development in interdisciplinary science teams. Ecosphere, 9(4). https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2206

Robert, H. M., & Sarah Corbin Robert. (2020). Robert’s rules of order newly revised. Public Affairs.