Pair writing: a technique for creating user-centred content

Author: Dawn Kofie; Reading Time: 8 minutes
We've made this resource open. You are free to copy and adapt it. Read the terms.

This resource is for:

digital, website or communication leads who are responsible for the websites of the charity they work for
managers, who have subject knowledge of, and are responsible for, services
frontline support workers, or other subject matter experts, who might be asked to help with website content

It covers:

what we mean by pair writing
its benefits
what to do before, during and after a pair writing session

What pair writing is

Pair writing’s a process where 2 people create a piece of content together, in real time (either in-person, or online). One of these people is a comms expert – such as a communications manager. And the other’s an expert in the topic – such as a support worker or a service manager.

The writing expert brings their skills, knowledge and experience of producing clear, concise and user-focused content. And the subject matter expert (SME) brings their in-depth knowledge and experience of the service and its users. Together they make sure what’s written is useful, accurate and easy to understand.

I don’t have time to pair write

I know what you’re thinking, ‘that sounds alright in theory, but 2 people writing together means double the time. And that’s time I don’t have.’

Yes? Well, no actually.

Your current writing process probably looks a bit like this:

Identify the need for a new piece of content
Collect some background information
Draft the content
Send it to the SME who knows the most about the service/campaign/process and ask them for comments
Wait for them to get back to you
Receive a document covered in tracked changes (and, if you’re really unlucky, masses of comments too)
Start working through the suggested edits
Realise that you’re not 100% clear what some of them mean
Ask the SME for clarification
Wait for them to get back to you
When they get back, realise that they’ve responded to most, but not all, of your initial comments, and added new feedback
Repeat steps 9 to 11 until you finally reach the point where you’re able to publish the content

This is a lengthy affair. Pair writing probably takes the same, or less, amount of time. And, if it’s done well, usually produces a better result.

The benefits of pair writing

Pair writing sounds laborious. But that’s because the time investment comes at the start and not the end.

The majority of the to-ing and fro-ing about purpose, structure, word choice and accuracy is done upfront, instead of when the first draft is finished. Having these conversations at an early stage saves you precious time later on.

As well as less document-based back and forth, because the content is fact checked ‘live’, pair writing means:

you’re sense checking the content as it’s being written
there’s less chance of your questions and feedback being missed, or misunderstood, because you can ask for clarification in real time
SMEs learn about creating effective, user-centred content. And comms experts learn more about the intricacies of their organisations’ work
a quicker sign-off process
better quality content because you’ve agreed its goals at the start

Before the pair writing session

Whether you’re writing a service description, or a page of advice content, the process is the same. And preparing for your pair writing session means it’ll be more likely to run smoothly once you’re in it.

Get in touch with the SME you’re going to work with, and:

explain what content needs to be produced, for who and why
describe what pair writing is and its benefits
answer any questions they have about it
tell them why they’re the best person to be involved
run through how the session will work and how long it’ll last
set a date and time
arrange a space where you won’t be disturbed

Then follow up with a short email summarising what you’ve both agreed.

At the start of the session

Agree the user needs

User needs are the needs that a user has of a service. Starting by talking about these needs helps you focus on what the content needs to do. It also means you both know, and agree, what you’re aiming for. The format is usually:

as a [who’s the person who needs to do a specific task?]
I need [what do they want to do?]
so that [what’s their end goal?]

For example:

as a young person who’s stressed out about their relationship with their parents
I need to find out who I can speak to at [name of charity]
so that I can talk to someone about how I’m feeling

Write the user acceptance criteria

User acceptance criteria is a technical term for what the content will look like, and do, if it meets your user need. This step’s optional. But it’s worth trying because it makes it easier to check whether your content is doing its job effectively.

This user acceptance criteria is for the user need in the previous section. The content is ‘done’ (meets the user need) when the young person knows:

what services the charity offers
who can use the services
where they can access the services
the times that the services are available
what the referral process is
how long they might have to wait to get the support they need

The pair writing process

If you’re doing an in-person session, put your user needs, and user acceptance criteria, on post-its and stick them where you can both see them
If you’re doing a remote session, you’ll be working on the same document and the comms expert will share their screen. You can put the user needs and user acceptance criteria in the chat
Your user needs should be your focus as you write
Make the text size of your content big enough for you both to read comfortably
You can write directly into the Hemingway app so you’re getting instant feedback on the readability of what you’re writing‍
One person types and the other asks questions. And then you swap roles. When it’s your turn to ask questions, it can be helpful to use phrases like these to keep things focused:

do we think our target audience understand [insert potentially difficult term]?
we might need to explain this word or spell out that acronym
is there an even clearer way we can say that?
let’s note that down and come back to it
how could we break this section up?
should we move this up/down the page?
let’s not concentrate on the detail. We can get it all down and edit it afterwards
shall we keep writing? We can sort out the grammar and punctuation later
do you think [insert suggestion] could work here?
are we sure that users definitely need to know that at this stage?

Both of you should think out loud, so the other person knows the reasons for what you’re suggesting
Notice, and correct, anything that’s unclear, or factually incorrect, as you go along
Swap roles at least every 15 minutes so both of you get a couple of goes at being questioner and typist. It also means that neither of you gets too settled doing either activity
Keep reminding yourselves that this isn’t about what you’d like to write. It’s about how well you’re meeting the user needs you’ve agreed for the piece of content

What to avoid

When you’re pair writing, don’t:

aim for a polished final draft. What you want is a draft that’s easily understandable, meets your user acceptance criteria and is factually accurate You can tidy up grammar and sentence structure afterwards
do it for more than an hour at a time. Pair writing can be surprisingly hard work
wait more than 15 minutes before swapping.

At the end of the session

Because what you’ve produced won’t be polished and publishable, you’ll need to agree what’s going to happen next. For example, what’s the timeframe for the next steps? Do you need to get more information? Will the SME finish the content and share it, or will the writing expert do this? Does anyone else need to see it?

After the session

If you need to get input from others, give them a tight deadline for amends – a couple of days at most. And don’t allow them to track changes, make sure their feedback is comment-only. This helps to keep the momentum going, and maintain the integrity of what you both drafted.

Once you have the feedback you’ve asked for, arrange another session with your SME to agree the edits. If you don’t, you’ll end up back in the Tracked Changes Spiral of Doom. And no-one wants that.

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Photo by MART PRODUCTION

Commissioned by Catalyst