Notes from 57th International STC Conference
Dallas, Texas, May 2-5, 2010

Developing Company Editorial Standards
Technical Editing SIG Progression, “Editing Challenges and Opportunities”

Kristine Haugseth

Experienced editor and project manager with Microsoft.

Session Description: This presentation explained why the development of company editorial standards is important and offered suggestions for developing them.

• In many companies and on many project teams, there are no editors. In that case, the SME writers must assume that function (albeit marginally), creating a need for editorial standards.
• The word “standards” is much more sellable to engineers and management than “style.” The former implies authoritative rules; the latter suggests guidelines.
• Involve the authors in the process; if they “buy in” to the editorial standards, they will be more likely to follow them.
• If there is no editorial standards guide, develop one. Three approaches to that are:
   
• One person does a strawman; then the team iterates it through several drafts as other team members review and revise it. (Don’t pick somebody with “thin skin” to do the strawman.)
• Work it collectively from the ground up, dividing tasks – but don’t tackle too many issues at once or you will never get the thing published.
• Work it organically; i.e., work one or two issues in real time and gradually expand the standards.
• Caution: Whatever approach you use, be prepared for it to take a long time (1 to 2 years), because this is hardly ever a priority task.
• Define the scope of the guide – make it realistic for the timeframe (or extend the timeframe).
• Make maximum use of existing company policies and procedures by reference; don’t reinvent any wheels.
• You may need to create different style guides customized for different audiences. That’s where a knowledge management approach like single sourcing could be a real asset.
• Establish a conflict resolution process with an authority figure to settle issues. Be sure the system has a built-in method for submitting issues and an audit trail to their resolution. Wikis or SharePoint sites are good for that.
• Developing an editorial standards guide is an excellent growth tool for editorial development.