Content Management @ Ridecell

For UX Writers to work efficiently, product copy needs to be organized and structured.
This ensures consistency, improves quality and helps with localization and translation.

When I started at Ridecell, product copy was everywhere,
but not where it was supposed to be: in one central place. People had to work with oversized excel sheets, backend code and other documents; translations were done via a faulty internal tool that no one really knew how to navigate.
In short, it was a mess.

Challenge:
Organize and structure all product-related content, find a good solution to manage translations and improve the product copy processes company-wide.

Solution:
Introduce a translation management system (TMS) that also works as the single hub for all product copy and enables adding new copy as well as editing existing one. Run a UX Writing intro series for engineers to familiarize with new processes and software.

Approach:
> Did research on possible TMS and their features to find the best fitting candidate (Phrase).
> Advocated for the purchase of Phrase and convinced leadership of the investment.
> Worked with engineering to find and migrate all existing product copy to the TMS and connect it to the different products.
> Organized a Phrase workshop for the engineering teams, so they knew how to use it.
> Set up a UX Writing intro series for the different teams involved, so they learned to integrate me into their daily processes.
> Worked with Product managers to implement new flows for product copy creation and editing, for example in JIRA.
> Started a complete revision of all existing copy to ensure consistency and implement the new writing guidelines.
> Initiated a complete revision of all translations and set up processes for new languages to be added.
> Selected and trained translators for languages I could not take care of myself.

UX Writing Intro Series

As the company’s first UX Writer, I needed to make people aware of my role and why it was important. My goal was to integrate UX Writing into their daily work routines. Only when they saw a piece of copy and immediately thought: ‘Let’s talk to Eva’, my job would be done. This task required patience and persistence, but the results were highly rewarding :) I approached it in different stages:

• Made sure everyone knew me and forged bonds with all the different teams I would work with.

• Maintained good relationships especially with engineering, who were the ones most likely to come across copy.

• Organized a UX Writing intro series for the different engineering teams, so they would understand why it was important to include me in their processes.

These are the presentation slides.

Localization and Translation

When I started at Ridecell, their products were being used in English and Spanish. Over time, we added French, German and also Swedish. I took care of most translations myself; for Swedish I procured a translator via Upwork, trained him and acted as a liaison between him and the client. Translating our copy therefore involved a lot of different tasks:

• Actually translating copy and checking back with native speakers if in doubt.

• Revising the existing copy to improve quality and ensure consistency across the products.

• Adding new languages, finding, training and employing translators via Upwork.

• Being the direct person of contact for the client regarding new translations.

This blog post from Phrase talks about our globalization efforts at Ridecell.