Abstract
This chapter extends the concept of writing stewardship—the work of ensuring that organizations as a whole write well—to the role of project management in organizations that create and distribute content. Content management makes it possible for more people in an organization to write, but it does not mean that “writers”—those with expertise and/or formal training as professional communicators—are displaced. Rather, the writers’ job becomes focused on writing stewardship. This chapter explains how teachers might prepare students to do the work of writing stewardship by teaching key project management skills.
This chapter explains the concept of writing stewardship—the work of ensuring that organizations as a whole write well—to the role of project management in organizations that create and distribute content. Content management makes it possible for more people in an organization to write, but it does not mean that “writers”—those with expertise and/or formal training as professional communicators—are displaced. Readers will understand writing stewardship as providing a new value structure for writing expertise. Particularly important to managing content across teams is also how workplaces are organized today. Many organizations that employ technical communicators use distributed teams, where individuals are connected through digital technologies resembling social media. The chapter focuses on help instructors teaching content management to prepare students for their new roles as writing stewards. An analysis of technical and professional writing strategies appropriate for the scenario, situated in the field’s literature.