18F/18f.gsa.gov

---
title: "6 ways a writing lab will help your organization"
date: 2016-06-30
authors:
- kate
tags:
- content design
- lessons learned
- how we work
excerpt: "Wondering if a writing lab might be right for your organization? Reviewing the benefits 18F has seen from our Writing Lab might help you figure out if starting your own is the way to go."
description: "Wondering if a writing lab might be right for your organization? Reviewing the benefits 18F has seen from our Writing Lab might help you figure out if starting your own is the way to go."
image: /assets/blog/content/writing-lab-issue.jpg
hero: false
---
Last month, we posted about [our Guide to the 18F Writing
Lab](https://18f.gsa.gov/2016/04/28/a-guide-to-the-18f-writing-lab/) to
shed some light on our internal processes. Since then, we’ve gotten a
good number of questions about our Lab, including some inquiries from
folks who are wondering if a lab is right for their organization.

Only you and your team can decide whether a lab is something you all
could (and should) use. As you’re making that decision, though, we at
18F encourage you to consider the benefits a lab can bring your company
or institution.

Labs increase content quality
-----------------------------

By and large, the biggest benefit a writing lab can offer your
organization is increased content quality. By providing *exactly* the
type of content help a piece or project needs most, Lab editors make
sure that no detail goes unattended to. And by taking on timeboxed,
ad-hoc projects, lab editors are able to give attention to projects that
might not have received it otherwise.

Along with improving across-the-board content quality, a lab can help
your organization get more content written, period. To give you a sense
of the scope of work your lab might be able to accomplish, consider
this: Since starting less than one year ago, 18F’s Writing Lab has
completed 154 discrete tasks — 154 tasks that might otherwise never have
gotten done.

Labs also increase awareness of the time it takes to produce and maintain content
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A writing lab can also provide folks insight into how much time and
effort go into creating and maintaining content.

Folks who aren’t on the content team (or who don’t serve in
content-focused roles) may have a shaky idea of how long writing,
editing, publishing, and governing content takes. This lack of knowledge
isn’t malicious, by any means — it’s fairly common to have a
semi-solidified idea of what goes into other folks’ jobs — but it can
have negative impacts. When people don’t recognize the time and effort
required to produce good content, they may under-resource the content
team or improperly scope projects.

By bringing visibility to the content team’s work, a lab can help people
form a more realistic view about what goes into content work which, in
turn, can lead to better resourcing and scoping decisions.

Labs serve as a diagnostic tool
-------------------------------

Related to the previous point, a writing lab can serve as a diagnostic
tool, drawing attention to projects that need dedicated content help.

Under the model 18F uses, anyone who approaches the Lab for help needs
to label their request with a time estimate. This serves two purposes:
It helps Lab editors budget their time and claim only those tasks they
can complete, and it also helps people more easily recognize how long
different sorts of writing and editing tasks take.

With some exceptions, our Lab doesn’t take on tasks that require more
than a few hours’ worth of work, as our model isn’t meant to address
these engagements. What we can do, though, is encourage the folks
requesting that level of help to have a conversation with our leadership
team about getting the dedicated resources they need.

One example of how this benefit has worked at 18F is the Every Kid in a
Park initiative. The product lead approached the Writing Lab for
“writing and editing help,” not knowing that what the project really
needed was a full-time content designer. After a conversation with the
Lab, the PM requested — and received — full-time content help. Thanks to
that initial conversation with the Lab, Every Kid in a Park has received
extensive praise for its thoughtful, well-researched content, which has
helped spread the word about this amazing program.

Labs promote better organization-wide use of time
-------------------------------------------------

18F’s Lab is partly inspired by Alan Lakein’s Swiss-cheese method of
time management. The method, if you’re not familiar with it, is pretty
straightforward. It posits that, to complete a large, complex task, all
you need to do is break it into smaller tasks related to the main goal,
and then knock those tasks out one by one. These smaller tasks are the
metaphorical holes in the Swiss cheese, and the completed project is the
slice of Swiss cheese itself.

18F doesn’t follow Lakein’s advice to a T, but our approach is similar.
Most notably, we encourage folks to submit smaller tasks rather than
larger ones. Similarly, if folks are thinking of submitting a really
time-intensive or complex ask, we encourage them to split it into
smaller, easier-to-complete ones.

This allows Lab editors to claim and complete tasks during the small,
“off moments” in their days — the bits of time between meetings or right
before lunch. These bits of time may not be ideal for starting a big
project, but they’re perfect for completing a short copy editing task.
By using these small, often-forgotten bits of time, Lab editors have
been able to improve 18F’s organizational efficiency.

Labs shed light on others’ work
-------------------------------

If you work at a medium-sized or large organization, you might have
trouble keeping up with what all of your colleagues are working on at a
given time. This is an issue that the 18F team is facing, and though the
Writing Lab doesn’t completely solve it, it does help ameliorate it a
bit.

Because people from all across the organization (and who work on vastly
different projects) can request help from the Writing Lab, Lab editors
gain exposure to a broader array of projects than they would otherwise.
This, in turn, helps editors identify projects that they might want to
work on in a more sustained way.

It also helps them serve as better stewards of our organization: If
folks can speak more eloquently to the work their company is doing, they
have a stronger likelihood of forming and maintaining positive
relationships with partners and clients. To cite just one example of
this benefit in action, members of our Outreach team use Lab editorship
as a way to stay on top of organizational communications needs and learn
more about projects before official launches.

Labs provide a professional palate cleanser
-------------------------------------------

We Lab editors are no strangers to fun. Whenever we have the chance, we
try to imbue our workdays with a bit of levity, and the Writing Lab
helps us in this regard.

Lab engagements offer editors the equivalent of professional palate
cleansers — small tasks that are already contextualized and quick to
complete. Because editors choose the tasks that appeal to them, they’re
(very) likely to select jobs that appeal to their personal interests,
creating a more enlivened workday experience.

And because editors often complete tasks in the odd bits of time between
longer engagements, Lab tasks can aid with context-shifting — they serve
as a contextual buffer between larger projects. To frame it differently,
if you’ve been working on technical documentation all day, taking a
break to work on a presentation deck can provide a nice breath of fresh
air.

Ready to learn more?
---------------------

If you’re keen to learn more about 18F’s Writing Lab, check out [our
post on how the Lab lends an editorial helping
hand](https://18f.gsa.gov/2016/01/22/18f-writing-lab/). Also, stay
tuned for our upcoming post on the steps you can take to start your own
lab from scratch!