I'm trying out a new writing productivity tip that seems to be working fairly well for me: focus sessions. A writing focus session is a one-hour session focused on a writing task. I made a goal last week of doing four writing focus sessions (at work) each day. I figured I should at least be able to devote half of my work day as a professional technical writer doing writing. This technique has boosted my writing productivity recently.
Several takeaways to fix the low-value / layoff issue with tech comm is to focus on strategic projects, limit your scope, and be more visible with the documentation you're creating. (Note: This post is divided up into six parts — see the navigation in the left sidebar or use the embedded menus.)
Darnell Clarke explains several reasons why employees find themselves on a layoff list. Some of the reasons include not being strategic, not being interpersonal (staying in the shadows), and not having a sponsor. (Note: This post is divided up into six parts — see the navigation in the left sidebar or use the embedded menus.)
Jonathon Colman presents an interesting solution to the over-allocation problem for content designers by reducing their project load to just 1-2 projects so that content designers can immerse more deeply and play a hybrid content/product designer role on teams. (Note: This post is divided up into six parts — see the navigation in the left sidebar or use the embedded menus.)
A prominent factor in the low-value equation for tech comm in many companies might be the company's organization model — whether the tech comm group is centralized, decentralized, or distributed. (Note: This post is divided up into six parts — see the navigation in the left sidebar or use the embedded menus.)
Even though we were all laid off at the same time, each of my colleague's has a unique story about their layoff, the reasons for it, and how they steered their career in different directions afterwards. (Note: This post is divided up into six parts — see the navigation in the left sidebar or use the embedded menus.)
As a follow-up to a previous guest post about why tech writers are treated as unimportant in a company, I decided to interview former colleagues from a team I was on at a company in Utah seven years ago. Back in 2013, our whole team had been unexpectedly laid off from this company. Some of the reasons for the layoff include a misalignment with the department’s priorities and lack of a sponsor or documentation champion. After reviewing their stories, I think the core of the tech comm value problem is the way technical writers are diluted across many projects and departments, which limits their ability to engage deeply and provide greater, more visible value. (Note: This post is divided up into six parts — see the navigation in the left sidebar or use the embedded menus.)
Recently I chatted with Kristof van Tomme, CEO and co-founder of Pronovix, about a topic that's become increasingly relevant in the past several months: how to deal with complex, rapidly evolving landscapes. Specifically, we focus on developer portal strategies that involve finding a balance between constraints and flexibility. Too many constraints reduces your ability to adapt to uncertain changes that might require innovative, unknown solutions. Too much flexibility might not lead to any coherent, overarching story about how to use your APIs in an integrated way toward a business goal.
Have you noticed lately that there are a million new signs everywhere providing instruction about how to act due to Covid19? The different approaches in these signs makes them interesting to analyze. I took a few pictures the other day of signs I saw on my hike near Rancho San Antonio, a stop at Trader Joe's, and then a trip to my local park. I thought it would be fun to write a post critiquing the different approaches and to arrive at a conclusion about what makes a good Covid sign. Do the same principles behind a good sign also apply to UI text?
Some recent experiences have prompted me to rethink the value of treating docs like code in some respects. I want to return to focusing more on content rather than technical workflows, especially when creating new content. Some of the docs-like-code processes exclude too many people in non-engineer roles who would otherwise contribute to the review and development of the content.
In this conversational Q&A post, I chat with John Paz, a senior content designer for Atlassian, about diversity in tech comm. It's well known that the tech industry, particularly in Silicon Valley, struggles to live up to its ideals about diversity. The employee demographics at most tech companies don't reflect the same demographics of their surrounding communities. Even when minorities are hired, promotions and leadership positions within the company are another roadblock. John gives us his unique insight into the diversity issue, specifically focusing on tech comm and his experiences both in the Bay area and elsewhere.
Lately, I've been researching different options for doc search. I've lived for years with poor search in my docs, and I haven't paid a lot of attention to it. Search is one of those elements that's easy to ignore. Despite how easy it is to ignore search, search is one of the most common user behaviors, and one that most tech writers would consider to be important. So let's examine that paradox a bit more — how can search be so important and unimportant at the same?
We recently moved about a mile away to a larger house (still renting, not owning), and this house has an office. I was initially excited about working in the office, and I still am, but I've come to realize some challenges in getting a comfortable office environment. It's harder than it looks. When I would go to work each day at my corporate office space, I now see that I took many details provided by facilities for granted. Here are some challenges that I have had to overcome to make my home office comfortable.
I recently presented a session at the API the Docs virtual series on Wednesday, May 27, 2020, as part of the 5th edition. My session covered dev doc trends, and another session covered API design. A recording of my presentation is available below.
I recently co-presented in a WTD Australia event titled Techcomm in the times of pandemic on May 28, 2020. The other presenter was professor Kirk St. Amant. A recording is available below.
