How people in remote locations can work on the same document
By Jayne Cravens, Coyote Communications
Think that your organization needs special software in
order for people in different locations to work on the
same document? Or that everyone must have exactly the same
software to work on the same document?
Think again!!
The key to sharing documents isn't your computer
technology; it's how your humans save and share
information.
The vast majority of documents that need to be shared
during a production process, particularly for
mission-based (nonprofit) organizations, are
word-processing documents. Even text that will ultimately
be laid out using specialized software, such as Aldus
PageMaker, often begin life as a word-processing document.
Therefore, it's particularly easy to work together on
content early in a document's life.
Here are some tips for successfully sharing documents
among people in remote locations:
1) It is vital that everyone understands that there are deadlines to be met,
and that the deadlines are real. Provide a calendar to all document reviewers
and contributors that highlights all deadlines: for first edits, second edits,
phone conferences, final edits, etc. Reinforce these deadlines by sending
an email reminder to reviewers two working days before each deadline date.
2) For first drafts of documents, when the most important
task is agreeing on basic text, distribute the document in
a "low" version of the word processing software you are
using. For instance, if you are working in Microsoft Word,
save the document as MS 6.0. This will allow the document
to be read by just about any word-processing software.
3) If everyone does have the same word-processing
software, have them use the edit features that come with
most such products, which cause text changes to the
document to come in a different color than the original.
Otherwise, reviewers should put their changes in double
brackets [[edits]], to make the changes easy to find.
4) Designate a naming system for reviewers and
contributors to use when they return a document to you
with their edits. For instance, require that each person
add their initials at the end of the document's name
(of course, you need to make alternative suggestions for
people with the same initials).
5) Consider having at least one online chat or conference
call (or even both at the same time!) regarding the
document after first edits are submitted by reviewers, so
that everyone can highlight what they think is most
important about their own edits and additions.
6) One person will need to be ultimately responsible for
reviewing all of the comments and attempting to
incorporate the changes into the document. If you have
more than two people reviewing a document and submitting
changes, it will probably be impossible to incorporate all
of everyone's edits; the final editor must be empowered to
make decisions regarding which edits to accept and which
to leave out.
7) Let reviewers see a later version of the document, to
see how their edits were -- and weren't -- incorporated.
Encourage them to provide feedback and, if there is some
edit they feel strongly about that they don't see and
still want, to highlight and, if needed, resubmit such.
8) To allow reviewers to see a document in its designed
form, such as via Aldus Pagemaker, simply save the
document as a PDF file to submit to reviewers. However,
submitting edits to such a document is tricky for most
people, because most use the free version of the PDF
reader, which does not allow a document to be edited. If
you have allowed reviewers to edit text earlier in the
process, their feedback should be minimal by the time a
design is drafted, and their changes should be easy to
write out and fax back to you.
9) Of course, web designs are particularly easy to share
among reviewers, no matter what kind of software they
have, so long as the pages have been designed for the vast
majority of browsers, not just one kind. Reviewers can
insert their comments directly into files, in a different
color and font style than the rest of the text.
10) THANK REVIEWERS at EACH stage. Even if they are staff
and it's part of their job to review documents, you need to
make an extra effort to thank them for their remote
contributions; it will make it easier for future remote
collaborations, because they will see and feel the value
of the time they spent reviewing and editing. Thanking
contributors by name in an email to everyone who was
supposed to review a document also reminds those who did
not submit edits how important such submissions are, and
can prompt their participation next time.
This article first appeared in the February 2003 edition of TECH4IMPACT and is reprinted with permission from Jayne Cravens and Coyote Communications.
www.coyotecommunications.com
