Tips for Better Documents

Projects generate a lot of documentation. Even if you use online project management software or collaboration tools, you will still end up creating documents for your project. That’s not a bad thing – documents have a huge part to play in how organized we are and also how you communicate status, problems and requirements to other people. Documents also enable us to get everyone on ‘the same page’ (literally!) about the project scope, which can be invaluable. Writing things down makes them more real somehow, and documents can serve that purpose.

Documentation can also be used to gain commitment. If people sign off or accept a document, whether they do it via email, a collaboration tool or the old fashioned way by actually signing the document with a pen, it shows that they have read it and are committed to it.

Here are 7 tips for better project documents.

1. Use Version Control

There is nothing worse than spending a lot of time reading a document only to find out that another version has been issued since you got your hands on that one. Everything you have read, and all the comments you made, are potentially out of date.

Don’t let your project team members be frustrated in this way. Add a version control number to the document so that they will always know what the latest version is. They can compare the number of the document that they have with the latest version and instantly check that they are working on the latest copy.

Many online project management and document repository tools will add version control to a document for you, some even showing you what has changed since the last version. If your project management software has this feature, use it! If not, include a small table on the front page of the document that shows the latest version number.

2. Add Page Numbers

It’s better to encourage people to look at your project documents online. It saves paper, which is better for the environment and for your budget! But there will always be someone who prefers to print out a document, especially if it is long. Page numbers can be a great help to them if they accidentally drop the document and it isn’t stapled together, or someone messes up the order of the pages as they come out of the printer.

Page numbers also make it easier for you to talk to your team about specific parts of the document. You can say: “As you can see from the scope section on page 12,” instead of having to ask them to find the scope section, which is after the risk section but before the part on milestones, no not that part about scope, the other bit…

3. Add a Footer

The page number is just one element of the document footer. Think about what else you could include in the footer, which is the bar that appears at the bottom of every page. Adding in the document name and file path is a good idea so that you and others reading it can instantly see where it is stored. This can help if they need to find the latest version. You can also include your name in the footer (or the name of the primary document author). Finally, consider adding in the document version number.

4. Add a Header

A header is the text that appears at the top of every page. You can change what is featured in the header so that on the front page of a document your header can include different information to that on the other pages. For example, you might want to include a logo on the front page, but not on any of the other pages.

You can include anything in the header. Some suggestions would be the project name, the section of the document or the date. Make use of this space – it can help orientate people in the document so that if they walk away from it and then come back to it they know what it is that is open on their screen.

5. Use Headings and Sub-Headings

Break up the text with headings and sub-headings. Typically a heading is used for a major division in the document, like a new section, and sub-headings are used to break up the text that appears after that. Many software tools have built in heading styles so you can use these. They also act as signposts within the document so that readers know where they have got to and what they are reading about.

Headings and sub-headings break up large expanses of text so they can make documents look less daunting. No one likes to be faced with page after page of dense black squiggles. Headings allow you to structure your document so that it looks better and includes some white space on every page.

6. Include a Date

When was your document written? It might not matter for some documents, but for many, knowing how old it is can be the difference between acting on the content and ignoring it. People are far more likely to take action when the document is new, or at least new-ish. If they know that they are looking at a document that was written in 2007 they are unlikely to take it seriously, and that is a prompt to you to review your paperwork!

Most project documents are written specifically for the project (even if you do use a template – see point 7 below), but you may need to refer to standards or guidelines at a corporate level and you can include the version or date of those as well.

7. Use Templates

Set up document templates for types of document that you produce regularly, such as the project schedule, the project charter, change request forms, communications and quality plans – in fact, any type of document for project management can start life as a template. Templates prevent you from having to write the document from scratch every time so they can save you a lot of work.

Templates include things like the cover page, table of contents, all the relevant headings and sub-headings for each section, a structure for version control and all the headers and footers already populated. All you have to do is delete anything irrelevant and add in new text.

You can’t get away from producing documents on projects, but following these steps will help you produce better project documentation more easily.