Technical document release process

Process

Step1:

There is a new feature or a new product ready to be released. We need a new document. A stakeholder created a task that is in the backlog for now.

Step2:

The technical writing team lead discusses the ticket's priority with the reporter, changes the status to "to do", and assigns it to a technical writer.

Step3:

Based on the priorities in the current sprint, the technical writer changes the status to in progress and starts addressing the ticket.

Step 4:

The technical writer reaches out to the subject matter expert to gather information. The SME can be either a developer, an engineer, or an engineering manager. The best way to do so is to have a short meeting.

Step5:

The technical writer starts to create a draft based on the gathered information.

Step 6:

When the draft is ready to be reviewed, the technical writer reaches out to other technical writers for peer review. The status of the task is now "peer review".

Step 7:

If another technical writer approves the initial draft, you can ask approvers for a review. Approvers can be developers, engineers, engineering managers, or product managers. The ticket is now in review state and assigned to the approver. The ticket status changes to "review".

If other technical writers do not approve the initial draft, you should start addressing their comments and suggestions and go back to step 6.

Step 8:

Once the approvers approve the draft, the ticket state changes to "approved", and the document is ready to be published.

If the ticket is not approved, the technical writer starts addressing all comments and suggestions and then goes back to step 6.