Determine and agree to the roles, responsibilities, level of involvement, and schedules for each project team member during the writing process. The goal of this task is to help the team establish and meet timelines, avoid duplication of efforts, and establish accountability. There may also be a need for a project progress tracking system and interim work products may need to be assigned. It is also helpful to create a system for version control of the document, which will ensure the most current version has been updated by all assigned to it.
Lesson Learned: While establishing the roles and responsibilities during the writing phase, consider who will be the primary point of contact for the public and members of the state and local stakeholder groups. This point of contact should be able to focus on building networks and relationships and may be better suited to a reviewer role rather than one who is responsible for plan content development.