Barry Saiff has over 40 of years of technical documentation experience. His teams have developed documentation for companies including DocuSign, Hitachi, Kyocera, Netgear, Oracle, Symantec, IBM, and GE. He has hired, trained, and mentored over 100 writers. He started Saiff Solutions, a technical writing outsourcing company in the Philippines, which grew to employ 75 people. Barry is the author of Outsourcing Technical Writing: A Primer, published by XML Press in October 2018, and is currently a Senior Technical Writing Manager at DocuSign. He loves acronyms.

Managing Writers: The Impact of Hybrid

Co-presented with: Kat Reierson

The world has changed for technical writers and their managers. The principles of effective management, however, are more shuffled than changed. Emotional well-being is more important than ever, and a lack of trust can be more damaging. Through a series of interactive discussions and fun exercises, managers and those interested in management will learn from each other about what works in this new world. Bring your most difficult challenges and your most helpful learnings to share.

In this workshop, attendees will learn:

• What are the key principles that guide effective technical writing management?
• What are the most important things for a manager to learn?
• How do remote, scattered, and hybrid work arrangements, and the ongoing challenges of a pandemic, change the key success factors for managers?
• In the face of new challenges, what are my greatest strengths as a manager?
• What don’t I know that I wasn’t looking to learn that might help me be a better manager?
• How can I help my peers to be better managers?