Workflows and Processes

Challenge

I’m the first and only Technical Writer hired by GoGuardian, so the challenge was creating a new position while never having been a Technical Writer previously.

Goal

The goal was to form relationships with stakeholders, create cross-functional communication channels, close existing knowledge and documentation gaps, centralize the documentation as much as possible, and propose a companywide “Culture of Documentation.”

Constraints

GoGuardian didn’t have prior experience with Technical Writers, so workflows were not in place and documentation was non-existent or decentralized across multiple platforms.

Solution

  • Communication: A biweekly meeting and dedicated Slack channel with stakeholders for cross-functional product communications and engagements.
  • Style guide: A light style guide for creating consistency in writing.
  • Writing guidelines: General best practices in writing.
  • Go-To-Market (GTM) workflows: All stages of a proposed feature from design to release.
  • Daily Agile standup: A standup led by the engineers of The GoGuardian App, which I attended to close knowledge gaps and form relationships.
  • Confluence: The centralized hub for internal technical documentation.
  • Integrated platforms: Embedded content across Confluence, Highspot, and Google Drive to eliminate silos.
  • Templates: Standardized templates for documentation, such as installation guides.
  • Routine documentation: Forms of documentation that didn’t previously exist, such as release notes (see below examples).
  • Information architecture (IA): Organized folder structure for installation guides, which vary by operating system, app, integration, and more.
  • Writing standards: Standards and workflows created for the following parts of documentation:
    • Architecture
    • Maintenance
    • Outline
    • Editing
    • Friction log
    • Internal product communication
    • UX writing best practices
    • WCAG compliance checklist