Lone Warrior or Team Player—Organization Structure for Technical Writers

As a result of large-scale outsourcing of technical writing into India, the number of technical writers in organizations has reached significant proportions. This has led to some interesting questions regarding the ideal organization structure for technical writers. 

The questions we are asking our guests are the following:

1. Is it best for a technical writer to be primarily a part of a documentation department and be assigned provisionally to various product teams?

OR

2. Should a technical writer be an integral part of a product team and report to the respective product manager?

Here are the views of some people who are familiar with technical writing and the industry.

Varied views come from:

Akash Dubey
Jaya Parameswaran
Raju Sagi
Sachin Shimoga
Sunita Shelar
Surag Ramachandran

If you want to participate in any future debates, please contact the column editor, Avinash Akshay.