Collaborative Writing at Work: A Playbook for Teams

Jason Tham, Joe Moses, and Meghalee Das Collaborative Writing Playbook Volume 3 Information and Pricing 978-1-64317-584-3 (paperback, $49.95); 978-1-64317-585-0 (PDF, $29.95) © 2026 by Parlor Press. 248 pages with case studies, references, and glossary. New! Free with purchase of the print or ebook: Free access to our custom AI agent: Team Writing Projects, created by author Joe Moses. Take advantage of the latest thinking about collaborative writing project design and student productivity. Get this powerful new tool for students across the curriculum! The one-page guide and link to the site will automatically be included with your book purchase. Bookstores: Order by fax, mail, or phone. See our "Sales and Ordering Page" for details. About This Book Collaborative writing is essential in today’s workplace—but it’s often inefficient, frustrating, and infrequently taught well. Collaborative Writing at Work offers instructors, trainers, and teams a practical framework for designing more effective writing processes and outcomes. Blending design thinking with Agile methodology, this playbook reframes collaborative writing as a design challenge—helping teams produce stronger documents while improving how they work together. Through a six-phase process—Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test, and Iterate—readers learn how to: identify user needs structure team workflows generate and refine ideas collaboratively integrate feedback and iteration into writing processes Grounded in research across psychology, communication, and design, the book addresses distributed teams, cross-functional collaboration, tight timelines, and AI-supported writing.  Collaborative Writing at Work is ideal for instructors in business and technical communication educators teaching collaborative writing workplace trainers and consultants teams seeking better writing processes What People Are Saying Design thinking's five stages—empathize, define, ideate, prototype, test—are now widely taught across disciplines. Yet most educators and practitioners struggle with design thinking's fundamental challenge: it's inherently collaborative work that demands effective team communication throughout every stage. Collaborative Writing at Work addresses this gap by positioning writing as the key to successful design thinking collaboration. Rather than treating writing as documentation that happens after thinking, this book reveals how purposeful writing practices can strengthen team alignment, clarify problem framing, and accelerate project development at each stage of the process. Drawing from both design thinking principles and Agile methodology, the book provides concrete and actionable writing strategies tailored to each phase. Whether leading student design challenges in the classroom or managing distributed innovation teams in corporate settings, readers and designers will discover how intentional writing practices transform design thinking from a series of discrete steps into collaborative and transformative problem-solving.—Seán McCarthy, Montclair State University Shifting variables makes collaborative writing within the workplace uniquely challenging; yet Tham, Moses, and Das expertly embody their design thinking suggestions through exploring why written communication is essential for organizational and shared success. Educators and practitioners alike will find aspects of the book, such as the case studies, discussion questions, and combination of frameworks, helpful to implement in their own practice. In particular, it is refreshing to read early inquiries into the ethical considerations that arise throughout human and non-human collaborations. Centering human needs is at the heart of collaborative writing, and this playbook exemplifies a thoughtfully designed collaboration.—Morgan Banville, Massachusetts Maritime Academy This invaluable guide offers a rare and practical synthesis of proven tools—Agile development, design thinking, UX processes, and teaming—to support both product development and sustained collaboration. It stands out among countless resources by showing how to manage writing projects and team dynamics using the same trusted frameworks for both. The authors offer step-by-step advice grounded in respected research and real-world experience. Particularly helpful are the focus on sustained performance, realistic case studies, and  integration of AI for enhanced productivity. Whether you are working in hybrid, virtual, or in-person settings, this book is a go-to resource for mapping product strategy, solving problems, and keeping teams aligned. I highly recommend it for classrooms and workplaces alike.—Pam Estes Brewer, author of International Virtual Teams: Engineering Global Success About the Authors Dr. Jason Tham is an Associate Professor of Technical Communication and Rhetoric at Texas Tech University, where he serves as Assistant Chair of the Department of English and directs the User Experience Research Lab. As chief editor of Computers and Composition, he stewards one of the premier journals in digital writing research, working to expand international participation and scholarly innovation in the field. His work has been published in Technical Communication Quarterly, Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, and IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication. Recent books include Designing for Social Justice (2025, Routledge), UX Writing (2023, Routledge), the open-access Keywords in Design Thinking (2022, WAC Clearinghouse), and Keywords in Making: A Rhetorical Primer (2024, Parlor).  Dr. Joe Moses is Senior Lecturer of Writing Studies at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. He is co-author with Jason Tham of Collaborative Writing Playbook: An Instructor’s Guide to Designing Writing Projects for Student Teams, and Writing to Learn in Teams: A Collaborative Writing Playbook for Students Across the Curriculum, published by Parlor Press. His scholarship has appeared in Rhetoric, Professional Communication and Globalization, The International Journal of Sociotechnology and Knowledge Development, Computers and Composition Online, and The Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy. Dr. Meghalee Das is an Assistant Professor at James Madison University in the School of Writing, Rhetoric and Technical Communication. She has authored chapters in key edited collections, and her articles have appeared in Technical Communication, Programmatic Perspectives, IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, and Intercom. Author Photos Jason Tham: © Texas Tech University College of Arts and Sciences Joe Moses © Joe Moses Meghalee Das © Meghalee Das