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When teams work together in the same document at the same time, they engage in a more dynamic and productive process. This saves significant time while boosting content maturity.
Learn why team co-authoring is a new best practice, and how you and your team can edit documents more efficiently.
What is Team Co-authoring?
Team co-authoring is the process where multiple people work on the same document simultaneously, without overwriting. They see each other's work, share expertise, and build on each other’s experiences and perspectives.
While some might consider passing a document along to the next person via email "team co-authoring,” we disagree. People can co-author in a variety of ways. For example, by sharing ideas, resources and writing assignments to create a document or report. As long as they share a common goal, this could be considered co-authoring.
What makes co-authoring as a team unique is the manner in which co-authors communicate.
- Co-authors: Teams who exchange information independent of time, such as via email, are communicating asynchronously, not at the same time. This typically involves a serial, or, one step at a time, process that requires manual effort to keep going.
- Team Co-authoring: Teams who exchange information in real-time are communicating synchronously, at the same time. This involves a parallel, or, many tasks at once, approach which optimizes time and resources.
Why?
Because it’s faster, more efficient, and delivers a significantly higher quality of document than the traditional, sequential approach.
Imagine you’re writing a complex technical document. You receive your portion of the document, while others receive their portions. You work on your own, and pass your portion back.
Not only does this traditional approach constrain collaboration, it also causes process friction.
- Expert Silos: Experts work on their own, waiting for sections to be compiled so they can review for overlaps and transitions.
- Manual Coordination: Each task requires parsing the document into sections and distributing. Another task involves compiling sections back into the document for review.
- Version Control Issues: It’s far too easy to accidentally grab the wrong version from email and write. Someone must manually coordinate versions so no one wastes time.
- Process Delays: Experts and reviewers are waiting to work while documents are manually parsed and compiled.
- Siloed Feedback: Reviewers also work on their own. They can't see what the other reviewers are recommending, which can lead to feedback conflicts.
- Limited Expertise: Experts work in isolation. This reduces the opportunities for sharing expertise and viewpoints.
Approach
Imagine this: A team of experts from various departments, scattered across the globe, working simultaneously on a complex document. They access and edit the document in real-time, sharing ideas, providing feedback, and making changes on the fly. This approach eliminates the need for lengthy email chains, multiple versions, and writing pauses.
The result?
- Parallel Process: Everyone on the team works at the same time to advance the document. Instead of tackling a document or project one step or task at a time.
- Teamwork: Everyone works simultaneously, sharing expertise and building off each other’s experience and ideas.
- Version Control: No one worries about saving documents or document versions. This is done automatically.
- Dynamic Reviews: Reviewers work side-by-side with contributors, providing real-time feedback and clarification that keeps improving content.
- Detailed Conversations: Conversations are tracked in the document so no detail gets lost in email or edit slips through the cracks.
Benefits
There’s an old saying, "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." This concept sums up the power of working simultaneously as a team. When individuals with diverse expertise and perspectives work together real-time, they up their game and save time.
They engage in a dynamic exchange of ideas. They challenge each other to think strategically and creatively. This real-time dynamic expedites the writing process and elevates the outcome.
Here are some of the advantages:
- Faster Turnaround: Siloed communication and manual coordination are eliminated for greater efficiency.
- Reduced Errors: Multiple eyes on the overall work helps identify mistakes, overlaps, and inconsistencies early on, improving accuracy.
- Resource Optimization: Your team doesn't "wait to work." Resources are pooled to save time and reduce costs.
- More Productive Reviews: Eliminating “pens down” eliminates delays, while fostering real-time feedback that drives content maturity.
- Boost Productivity: Everyone working together on tasks simultaneously advances task completion more rapidly.
- Improve Quality: Bringing together diverse perspectives and skills real-time leads to a more well-rounded, comprehensive, and relevant final document.
- Scale Up: Reclaim significant time for more documents, proposals, and reports with your same staff.
Expert Tips: How to Maximize Document Editing as a Team
Co-authoring as a team has transformed the way enterprise organizations work together on large, complex documents like competitive proposals. To fully harness its power, it's essential to follow some best practices.
Schedule Weekly Reviews
Schedule a standard, weekly day for review. Add calendar events so they remain top of mind throughout the proposal lifecycle. On these days, let reviewers come and go, and review and provide feedback, when it’s convenient for them..
Finish and Move On
Prioritize sections based on size and complexity. For example, corporate overviews and project methodologies might rely on standard text with minimal editing. As you finish sections, review them, and mark them done. And focus more time on complex sections that require more prolonged reviews and edits.
Define Feedback
Prep your reviewers with instructions and guidelines. Ask for instructions, not opinions; comments should drive actionable edits. Show them what you’re looking for; a clear roadmap for revisions that increase readability, understanding, and evaluation scores.
Embrace the Feedback Loop
Encourage your team to communicate online, via the document, for a more immediate exchange of information. Identify issues promptly and tap the appropriate resources for input. Foster a culture of continuous learning as individuals question, clarify and improve content quality..
Annotation and Pre-writing
Share details to help your experts express your unique value proposition. Interpret ambiguous requirements. Highlight what it will take to secure evaluation points. Suggest a strong opening and closing that clearly articulates and reinforces your value.
Establish Shared Protocols
Establish guidelines for writing and communication. For writing, agree on tone, voice, and style, as well as educational and persuasive writing approaches. For communication, foster open and honest discussion, and establish regular check-ins to discuss and address questions or issues. Everyone should understand when it’s time to raise their hand for help.
Define Clear Roles
Clearly define the roles and responsibilities of each individual to avoid confusion and duplicate effort. Task by section and role, including section leads, writers, reviewers, and approvers. Discuss dependencies, especially when section content overlaps and must remain consistent. Or when writing one section depends on completing another section first.
Adopt a Parallel Process
Adopt a parallel process. While a serial, step-by-step process can be more straightforward to manage, it is also time-consuming. A parallel process involves developing multiple content items simultaneously. By completing multiple tasks concurrently, you reduce overall development timelines and more quickly improve content quality.
Passing documents back and forth via email might be suitable for smaller, less complex projects. When it comes to developing large, complex documents with a group, however, co-authoring as a team optimizes time and resources.
Modern document management tools like XaitPorter facilitate team co-authoring, regardless of location or time zone. Advanced features, including parallel processes, version control, and dynamic reviews make it perfect for high-stakes, team-based work.
