Pair writing unblocks collaboration and feedback on complex content. The technique is stunningly simple: two people (often a comms expert and a subject matter expert) sit down to work together on a draft in real-time, with both alternating between writing and giving advice. The technique is taking off: it’s endorsed by government transformation agencies in the UK and Australia.
At True North, we’ve found it to be the best way to reach agreement on an approach to content, and to arrive at a result that’s both clear and accurate.
The idea of two people finding time to sit down together can feel like a big ask for busy organisations. Here’s why it’s worth it.
Efficiency
Let’s tackle efficiency head-on. The conventional approach is to send a draft back-and-forth with track changes, often with both sides getting increasingly frustrated: why doesn’t the other person just get it?
People assume that emailing feedback is quicker because each individual interaction is fast: you just type up some comments and send it off. But pair writing can be faster in the long run because it brings more of the issues out in the open up front. You save time on:
- lengthy back-and-forth as content is handed between subject matter expert and communication team
- trying to decode cryptic comments in tracked changes
- reorienting yourself to the content, because it’s been weeks since you last looked at the draft
- the duration of the process, because more decisions are made on the spot, rather than waiting for someone to respond to your email.
Pair writing is proactive, not reactive. You get to choose the time that you’re working on that content, rather than reacting to the email with the latest draft.
Outcomes
Quality content is both accurate and persuasive. Accuracy means getting the facts right. Subject matter experts are best-placed to speak to this. Effectiveness means presenting information in a way that people respond to, rather than burying it at the bottom of page 18. Communication experts are best-placed here.
Accuracy and effectiveness depend on insights from different skill sets. Those skill sets belong to people in different parts of the organisation. And collaboration is the best way to bring those perspectives together.
Pair writing seeks consensus — a result that both collaborators feel good about. In the conventional approach, sending drafts back and forth can easily get adversarial. One party’s draft ‘wins’ in that it gets approved and published, but that can be at the expense of the other party’s contribution. The end result is less clear, or compromises the message.
Pair writing removes the adversarial feel, which brings us to the final aspect: culture.
Cultural change
We often think that shifting complex problems, like culture, requires complex solutions. How could something as simple as pair writing work?
Relationships between communication and subject matter experts aren’t always as strong as they could be. Conventional feedback techniques reflect that culture. And they keep it in place.
I’ve seen subject matter experts roll their eyes at their in-house communication teams: ‘They’ve totally changed the meaning of the content.’ And I’ve seen communication experts roll their eyes at subject matter experts: ‘this content isn’t readable.’ When we hide behind email, we’re safe.
Pair writing shifts the focus from defending our position, to looking towards a shared outcome. It’s hard to judge someone when you’re sitting next to them, ploughing through content together.
And when both sides are collaborating, both learn. The communication experts learn about the business area’s requirements, so they can apply that in the next draft. The subject matter experts learn about how to write more clearly, so the overall quality of work increases. For the next piece of content, both sides start from further along.
Would you rather start the next piece of content building on what you’ve learned before — or start at square one, in the trenches, holding onto your version of the content like a grenade?
Get in touch
We’ve trained organisations in pair writing, and we often use it in our content projects. If you’d like to explore how pair writing can transform the way your team does content, get in touch.
