A few months ago, in an interview, a candidate asked, “How do you define a bad, good, and great UX writer?”

Then I told them about the standardized competency mapping — a poor answer to a great question.

At the time, I didn’t have much time to think of a better answer.

Now I’ve had plenty of time to think, I decided to elaborate on the differences between good and great UX writers.

Here we go.

1. Good writers understand the brief; great writers challenge it

Every project starts with a brief, which usually covers the background, the problem, objective, requirement, and timeline.

Without struggle, good writers will quickly understand what needs to be done after receiving the brief. Project Managers (PM) don’t need to worry; the copy will be ready by the decided deadline, and it will be awesome.

PMs need to worry about great writers because they will challenge the brief. They will ask questions to make everything clear and might push back if they feel the brief is incomplete or the project is not valuable.

2. Good writers cut words; great writers negotiate

Space is premium for UX writers. Sometimes the design only allows the text to be less than 50 characters, and in extreme cases, the text should be no longer than six characters.

When facing this situation, good writers will turn on their Ernest Hemingway mode: throw away ornamental words and chunk the message to fit the available real estate. They will work hard on this and beat the challenge in no time.

On the other hand, great writers will switch to the diplomatic mode. Instead of cutting word count, they will reach out to the designers to negotiate the design, requesting for more space or tweaking the layout. Great writers will only cut words as a last resort.

3. Good writers double check; great writers test

After all the copy is done and fits beautifully in the user interface layout, there’s one more step to take before submitting the final work to the PM: checking.

Good writers, together with the UX copy editor, will double-check the punctuation, spelling, diction, grammar, and consistency, making sure it’s “calendar”, not “celendar”, or “cancellation” not “cancelation”.

But, being grammatically correct is not enough for great writers. They will test the copy making sure it clearly delivers the intended message. They will do either a simple test on peers or a proper comprehension test on sample users.

4. Good writers follow direction; great writers push back

There are times when a perfectly crafted and tested copy doesn’t make the stakeholders happy.

Good writers will pay attention to stakeholders’ feedback via the PM and agree to revise the copy immediately. No question asked, except “Is there any more details?” or “When is the deadline?”.

Project managers will think twice about sending a revision brief to great writers, because there’s a possibility great writers will ask them to challenge the feedback.

Great writers will not quickly agree to the revision request. They will look back at the project brief given by the PM and ask for a comprehensive explanation before revising.

It doesn’t mean great writers don’t do revision though; they do, and it’s OK. Several interations are still needed to improve the product and user experience. They just want to make sure the problem indeed can only be solved by changing the text because sometimes that’s not the case.

5. Good writers check the product; great writers experience it

The project is live! Project managers will send an invitation for a celebration.

After the product is shipped, good writer will scrutinize the text, ensuring everything is similar to the agreed upon design. When everything checks the box, it’s time to party and move to another project.

Great writers check the boxes, just like good writers.

But checking the box is just the beginning. Great writers will use the product to experience it from the user’s perspective. Trying out the product as a user is called dogfooding.

Great writers will assess the design, the copy, the flow, and the service. They will write down the issues they found and present them during the product retrospective to be fixed in the next iteration.

TL;DR what great UX writers do but good writers don’t

1. Challenging the brief
2. Negotiating everything
3. Testing the copy
4. Pushing back on the feedback
5. Experiencing the product as a user (dogfooding)

Everyone loves good writers and respects great writers. Great writers are more daring. They mostly push the envelope and makes more effort outside of crafting copy.

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Sincerely, a UX writer who is pursuing the managerial path.