Google style guide & writer trainings
How do you scale a fast-growing instructional design and content writing team while maintaining consistency, quality, and efficiency?
Organization
Grow with Google
Target audience
Grow with Google
Target audience
- Grow with Google staff
- Grow with Google contractors
- Google vendors and partners
Overview
Google Career Certificates are flexible online learning programs that help people without traditional degrees upskill and secure in-demand jobs. To deliver these courses quickly and at scale, the project required strong documentation as well as effective training for staff, vendors, and partners.
Google Career Certificates are flexible online learning programs that help people without traditional degrees upskill and secure in-demand jobs. To deliver these courses quickly and at scale, the project required strong documentation as well as effective training for staff, vendors, and partners.
Role
As a core contributor to the Google Career Certificates initiative, I championed projects to standardize content creation, train new writers, and establish editorial best practices to help align our quick production timeline with the need to deliver exemplary products.
As a core contributor to the Google Career Certificates initiative, I championed projects to standardize content creation, train new writers, and establish editorial best practices to help align our quick production timeline with the need to deliver exemplary products.
Background
In my early days on this Google project, I identified the need for strong documentation and team training.
As I defined my role with the support of Google managers, I focused my work on developing scalable documentation, leading training programs, and coaching writers to create consistent and high-quality learning content.
Using a knowledge management lens, I created a library of foundational resources—including training decks and style guides—and I led coaching sessions that empowered instructional designers and content developers to work autonomously and confidently while maintaining editorial alignment across multiple certificate programs.
In my early days on this Google project, I identified the need for strong documentation and team training.
As I defined my role with the support of Google managers, I focused my work on developing scalable documentation, leading training programs, and coaching writers to create consistent and high-quality learning content.
Using a knowledge management lens, I created a library of foundational resources—including training decks and style guides—and I led coaching sessions that empowered instructional designers and content developers to work autonomously and confidently while maintaining editorial alignment across multiple certificate programs.
Approach
A successful instructional content team requires more than great writing—it needs clear standards, efficient workflows, and a shared understanding of instructional best practices. To achieve this, I stewarded a three-pronged approach that combined technical documentation, writer support resources, and live training programs to ensure team success by:
1. Establishing editorial standards & style guide development
2. Developing hands-on writer guides & documentation
3. Leading training, onboarding & coaching
A successful instructional content team requires more than great writing—it needs clear standards, efficient workflows, and a shared understanding of instructional best practices. To achieve this, I stewarded a three-pronged approach that combined technical documentation, writer support resources, and live training programs to ensure team success by:
1. Establishing editorial standards & style guide development
2. Developing hands-on writer guides & documentation
3. Leading training, onboarding & coaching
Establishing editorial standards & style guide development
I spearheaded the development and ongoing enhancement of the Career Certificates Content Style Guide, transforming a rudimentary document into a comprehensive, easily navigable source of truth for writers, instructional designers, subject experts, and vendors. I created and solicited alignment on product-wide editorial standards, documented instructional best practices, and implemented a process for continuously updating the guide to reflect new content strategies and evolving program goals.
To ensure widespread adoption, I worked across product teams to communicate these evolving standards. This ensured that all learner-facing content remained pedagogically sound, consistent, and aligned with Google's brand voice.
I spearheaded the development and ongoing enhancement of the Career Certificates Content Style Guide, transforming a rudimentary document into a comprehensive, easily navigable source of truth for writers, instructional designers, subject experts, and vendors. I created and solicited alignment on product-wide editorial standards, documented instructional best practices, and implemented a process for continuously updating the guide to reflect new content strategies and evolving program goals.
To ensure widespread adoption, I worked across product teams to communicate these evolving standards. This ensured that all learner-facing content remained pedagogically sound, consistent, and aligned with Google's brand voice.
Developing hands-on writer guides & documentation
As Google Career Certificates scaled rapidly, new instructional designers and writers were continually onboarded. This created a challenge: We needed clear, self-serve documentation to reduce onboarding time and improve content development workflows.
I collaborated with cross-functional teams to create how-to guides, asset-specific best practices, and link libraries that functioned as a wiki-style knowledge base for content creators.
By applying information design and UX writing principles, I made these guides easily navigable, action-oriented, and modular, ensuring that team members could find what they needed without requiring direct oversight.
As Google Career Certificates scaled rapidly, new instructional designers and writers were continually onboarded. This created a challenge: We needed clear, self-serve documentation to reduce onboarding time and improve content development workflows.
I collaborated with cross-functional teams to create how-to guides, asset-specific best practices, and link libraries that functioned as a wiki-style knowledge base for content creators.
By applying information design and UX writing principles, I made these guides easily navigable, action-oriented, and modular, ensuring that team members could find what they needed without requiring direct oversight.
Leading training, onboarding & coaching
Beyond documentation, I developed and led interactive writer trainings to equip new team members with the skills they needed to create assessments, readings, and hands-on learning activities that met Google’s instructional standards.
Beyond documentation, I developed and led interactive writer trainings to equip new team members with the skills they needed to create assessments, readings, and hands-on learning activities that met Google’s instructional standards.
My approach included:
- Live, scenario-based training sessions mapped to clear learning objectives.
- Opportunities for hands-on practice and feedback loops to reinforce key takeaways
- Ongoing coaching, weekly workshops, and 1:1 sessions for continuous skill development.
By designing these trainings as structured yet flexible learning experiences, I enabled writers and IDs to develop expertise quickly, reducing the need for continual editorial intervention and significantly improving content quality from the first draft.
Impact
By combining knowledge management with instructional design leadership, I contributed to a shift in the Google Career Certificates initiative that allowed the program to become more scalable and efficient.
Through my work, I helped to empower the Career Certificates team to ideate and create while maintaining a high standard of instructional excellence.
By combining knowledge management with instructional design leadership, I contributed to a shift in the Google Career Certificates initiative that allowed the program to become more scalable and efficient.
Through my work, I helped to empower the Career Certificates team to ideate and create while maintaining a high standard of instructional excellence.
In my work, I:
- Streamlined content development workflows, reducing friction in cross-functional teams.
- Significantly improved content quality and consistency, leading to fewer revisions and a more seamless learner experience.
- Accelerated writer onboarding, enabling new team members to contribute more quickly and with less direct oversight.
- Reduced cognitive load on instructional designers and editors, allowing them to focus on higher-level content strategy and innovation.