Last year I started a series on organizing content that spanned nearly 30 posts. I want to return to this thread with a summary of why findability becomes an issue for technical writers, and what the information paradox is that we encounter. Then, in an usual ethical twist, I’ll explain why findability might not actually be an issue. The Documentation Scenario The help scenario starts … more »

One part I enjoyed about my Xtranormal videos was writing the script about the insane spreadsheet that the project manager foists on the technical writer in an effort to track, manage, and contain the writer with busy work. That’s how PM templates have always seemed to me, which explains my reaction when Derek, my colleague, told me he was creating a user education template for a … more »

Last week I attended an STC chapter event that consisted of educators and practitioners discussing educational programs and workplace realities. Most of the discussion focused on tools, which is a constant topic in these discussions. What tools should educators teach? How do they gain access to tools? Can you learn a tool enough during the trial period? Can you substitute open source tools for industry … more »

As a follow-up to my last post, When Help Content Is Forgotten, my colleague pointed out that having a set of agreed-upon best practices for technical writers is one of the first steps in establishing traction with project managers. Otherwise, project managers can resist or dismiss a technical writer’s recommendations as subjective opinion. In an effort to be concise, here’s my stab at the ten … more »

In recent posts on content strategy, I’ve written about how common it is for “user experience” designers to create websites without considering content. I made this point in my last post, Text Matters, and it’s what fuels the fervor behind content strategy. In the same way that user experience designers forget about web content, replacing empty spaces in their prototypes with lorem ipsum filler, project … more »

Errol Morris has a lengthy essay in The New York Times on something known as the Dunning-Kruger Effect. Essentially the effect is that even though something is obviously wrong, a person is incapable of recognizing it. Cornell profesor David Dunning stumbled onto the idea when he read about a bank robber who squirted lemon juice on his face, believing that the juice would mask his … more »

Even though I’m an advocate of blogging and think it’s critical to tech comm, I’ve always been assigned technical documentation projects for internally used, confidential, or classified software. Documenting products promoted on the web has never been an option for me. However, I’m convinced that even internal software, which never sees the light of WWW, still needs a blog as much or more than products … more »