#30100
Calm tension, communicate more easily, and run your projects more efficiently by applying the right relationship management techniques.
LaFerriere, Keith. List Apart, A (2007). Articles>Management>Collaboration
#29336
The Hidden Relationship Between Project Managers and Technical Writers 
Want to know the secret to better quality documentation and improved software design? Will Kelly outlines how the key is an effective relationship between project managers and technical writers.
Kelly, William T. TechRepublic (2003). Articles>Collaboration>Project Management>Technical Writing
#22099
How to Revive a Zombie Content Management System
Without care and attention, a CMS can slide into a state of living death. Such systems can be revived by implementing a number of practical (and non-technical) activities.
Robertson, James. Step Two (2002). Articles>Content Management>Collaboration
#31872
How to Succeed As a First-Time UX Manager
In my last column, I suggested that being a manager of UX is no better—and no worse—than being a great designer or user researcher, but the roles are very different. In fact, as the book The First 90 Days [1] points out, the skills that make you successful as an individual contributor are not the same skills you need as a leader.
Nieters, Jim. UXmatters (2008). Articles>User Experience>Management>Collaboration
#10431
This article reports on an online discussion of the Advisory Council for Information Development Management (CIDM), which is composed of directors, managers, and CEOs from corporations and a consulting firm. The conversation, conducted over 3 weeks in January 2000, covered several key themes: The expectation of greater productivity while budgets are flat or decreasing Meeting this expectation means a considerable rethinking, doing more with less, improving processes, and understanding total cost. The need for higher quality and improved usability This important need leads some organizations back to traditional editing, to embracing different development techniques (such as single sourcing, structured documents, and standard English), and to more robust interfaces. Innovative leadership and effective organization Strong leadership in a supportive and flexible organization is ultimately the cornerstone for success.
Rosenquist, Deborah J. Technical Communication Online (2001). Articles>Management>Collaboration
#18674
INTERACTIONARY: Sports for Design Training and Team Building
This is an experiment in design education. The idea is to explode the process of design by forcing insane time constraints, and asking teams of designers to work together in front of a live audience. From what we've seen, it forces the discussion of design process, teamwork, and organization, and asks important questions about how designers do what they do. Below are summaries of previous events, and information about how to organize your own Interactionary.
Berkun, Scott. UIWeb (2001). Articles>Management>Collaboration
#28125
Your staff may already be using one of the most productive collaboration tools ever built.
Dickerson, Chad. InfoWorld (2004). Articles>Collaboration>Content Management>Wikis
#22410
Knowledge Management: The Collaboration Thread
Knowledge management is a thick web of themes from a variety of professional disciplines. The field is populated with people who resonate with the ideas first articulated by Larry Prusak and Tom Davenport, Tom Stewart, Carla O'Dell and others. "Getting the right information to the right people at the right time." Isn't that what information architecture and the information sciences are all about? "Leveraging the intellectual capital of the organization." Isn't that HR turf? "Harvest and refine reusable intellectual artifacts." Hello? Are there any technical writers out there? "It's about connecting people with people and supporting them with technology." Does anybody know that research in computer-supported cooperative work began in 1984?
Anklam, Patti. ASIST (2002). Articles>Knowledge Management>Collaboration
#30355
Leadership Through Empowerment
Assigning responsibility without sharing authority is like making someone a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but leaving out the bread. They know what they're supposed to chew, but have absolutely no way to handle, no way to manage the project.
Juillet, Christopher. Boston Broadside (1990). Articles>Management>Collaboration
#22795
Long-Distance Teams: Facing the Challenges 
Offers advice for managers of long-distance teams on working across time zones, accommodating team members' cultural norms, easing the difficulties of language differences, and nurturing team spirit.
Legg, Kathy A. Intercom (2004). Articles>Project Management>Collaboration>Online
#31718
Conflict is characteristic in any situation that brings diverse groups together to manage tasks and obstacles. Nowhere is that more apparent than in business environments based on hierarchical structures where teams are inherited and divergent objectives create barriers to effective teamwork. Conflict resolution is among the many tasks delegated to managers, yet it is often the most difficult to master.
Harris, Kerri. Writing Assistance (2007). Articles>Management>Collaboration>Workplace
#29659
Managing Content: Version Control in a Collaborative Workplace
The increasingly collaborative nature of the workplace--including writing teams and documentation groups--heightens the need for sophisticated document management solutions. Written for managers of workgroups and writing/editorial leads, this paper examines some common issues, including version control, document lifecycle management, and support for collaborative authoring and review. This paper also presents a model for finding and implementing a technology solution that makes sense for your team, as well as a case study of a successful implementation.
Angier, Jenny and Paul Foy. STC Proceedings (2005). Articles>Content Management>Collaboration
#31720
Managing SMEs - Part 2: Selling the Concept to Management
Part 2 switches the focus to members of your management team and what you can do to sell your team’s professionalism. Also included are hints on how your writers can individually sell themselves to gain cooperation from SMEs.
Rastocny, Philip. Writing Assistance (2007). Articles>Management>Collaboration>SMEs
#28763
I talk with Katherine (Kit) Brown, Brenda Huettner, and Char James-Tanny about their latest book, Managing Virtual Teams: Getting the Most from Wikis, Blogs, and Other Collaborative Tools.
Brown, M. Katherine 'Kit', Brenda P. Huettner, Char James-Tanny and Tom H. Johnson. Tech Writer Voices (2007). Articles>Collaboration>Content Management>Podcasts
#19814
Moving to Single Sourcing: Managing the Effects of Organizational Changes 
Argues that the move to single sourcing often requires changes within teams as new skills are introduced and members' roles shift. Points out that while some changes may threaten the stability of the team, managers can anticipate and prevent problems.
Bottitta, Jeanette, Alexia Prendergast Idoura and Lisa Pappas. Technical Communication Online (2003). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing>Collaboration
#23946
Multilingual Knowledge Management Empowers Global eBusiness
With the penetration of Internet technologies into global business operations, employees at every level are collaborating across multiple geographies.
Sargent, Benjamin B. ZDNet (2001). Articles>Knowledge Management>Collaboration>Online
#13226
Nipping Client Silliness in the Bud
A significant number of ALA posts talk about unreasonable requests from clients. Either they want a Sony-level website on an AOL user's look at my kitties budget, or else they want so many features added to their sites that they will become as unusuable as the original boo.com.
Miller, Robin. List Apart, A (2000). Articles>Management>Collaboration
#25757
Give me the smallest, smartest team possible, with the right tools and infrastructure. Work like fiends for two or three months to get infrastructure and applications started right, then grow slowly to maintain and build additional applications on the core technology.
Boynton, J.R. Diamond Lane, The. Articles>Project Management>Collaboration
#21154
Users can improve information flow. They can create robust markets, and they can help fix the problems that a company faces. This can happen at an astonishing speed. If the gateway is open, and the company allows users access, those users will quickly tell the company what they are doing wrong. When users are invited to wallow in the information flow, they will crack the company into shape.
Rhodes, John S. WebWord (1999). Articles>Management>Collaboration
#26039
As the profession of technical communication develops and evolves, practitioners are forming formal and informal organizational structures that support collaborative communities. These organizational structures are emerging within commercial companies and professional societies such as the Society for Technical Communication. This article describes evolving methods and best practices that technical communicators can apply in the workplace to create an environment that supports effective communities of practice. We identify specific techniques and best practices, including methods of assessing the effectiveness and business impact of communities in the workplace, and interventions for improvement. We also reference a specific technical communication organization, Data Management (DM) User Technology at IBM Corporation, as a case study of ways to implement an organizational infrastructure that supports both skill-based communities of practice and multidisciplinary goal-based communities.
Fisher, Lori H. and Lindsay Bennion. Technical Communication Online (2005). Articles>Collaboration>Management
#27281
Heterogeneous research environments, interests and locations do not necessarily coincide, thus hitherto the primary method of communication amongst researchers has been email. In this article a novel unified polythematic, real-time, synergistic, data telecommunication system is proposed with peer-reviewed, bidirectional fuzzy feedback for research scientists, to facilitate scientific information exchange via the extensible markup language (XML) on multiple scientific topics, e.g. in mathematics, physics, biology and chemistry.
Petratos, Panagiotis. Data Science Journal (2003). Articles>Knowledge Management>Scientific Communication>Collaboration
#27874
Practical Tips for Working with Global Teams
Save team members time and conduct meetings and other steps in the project process effectively by integrating these tips for working with team members scattered in various locations.
Nesbitt, Pamela and Elizabeth Bagley-Woodward. Intercom (2006). Articles>Project Management>Collaboration>International
#24921
Preparing Your Staff for Content Management
Few changes are as potentially uncomfortable for technical communicators than implementing a content management system. Freeman explains why, and offers advice to managers on how to address writers' concerns.
Freeman, Bret. Intercom (2005). Articles>Content Management>Collaboration
#22412
Process of Knowledge Building in Educational Departments
In an educational department members are both drowning in information and craving knowledge. The department's information base is either scattered or unclassified. The business world understood this scenario and has brought a change to their knowledge infrastructure by including knowledge management (KM) systems. Educational departments, too, need to rethink their knowledge organization strategies. Therefore, a conversion from information to knowledge becomes imperative.
Rao, Abhijit. ASIST (2002). Articles>Knowledge Management>Collaboration
#15190
Describes how a team of employees with broad control over the direction and outcome of a project can work more efficiently than a single individual assigned the same tasks.
McNeill, Angie D. Intercom (2000). Articles>Management>Collaboration
