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We held a doc sprint and it was awesome

Mar 6, 2010 8:07pm

We’ve just held a “doc sprint”. We put twenty developers in a room for three days with some computers. And some chocolate. We didn’t know whether to expect some shiny new tutorials or the complete works of Shakespeare. Or perhaps a new motif for a chocolate wrapper. So, what did happen?...

Students requesting participants in survey of authoring tools

Mar 5, 2010 10:02pm

A student has posted a comment on my blog, asking for any technical writers who are willing to fill out a survey on authoring tools. The survey takes about 15 minutes to complete. I’ve filled it in and it seems harmless so I’m letting you know, in case...

Sharing responsibilities in agile technical writing

Feb 19, 2010 8:18pm

Recently we shuffled responsibilities in our technical writing team. Andrew Lui and I now share responsibility for a number of products and documentation sets, instead of each person “owning” separate products. I’m totally enjoying it, for a number of reasons. One of them is that Andrew is awesome! Another is...

Did you ever buy anything just because of the writing on the package?

Feb 6, 2010 12:03am

Have you ever bought something purely because of what’s written on the package? Today I saw this small, medical-looking box in a store’s confectionery section: It’s a bar of chocolate! It was expensive and I already had a couple of bars in my basket. Even so, I bought it. Why? Because I...

How to write a blog post

Feb 5, 2010 7:46pm

Last week I wrote about getting started as a blogger. Now I’d like to tell you how I go about writing a blog post, in the hope that this will give you some tips on getting those blog posts written. While I was writing these two posts, the DMN guys published...

What do technical writers do?

Feb 3, 2010 1:05pm

It’s a question often asked of us: “What does a technical writer do?” We tell people how to do technically complex things, mostly by writing instructions but also by drawing pictures and making movies. Want to know more? I’m impressed by the write-up in the Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition, from...

Getting started as a blogger

Jan 29, 2010 7:32pm

A while ago I gave a lunch-time talk to some colleagues on blogging. I’ve brushed up and expanded on some of the ideas I put together for the talk, in case they’re useful to other people too: How do you start out as a blogger and how do you go...

Collective noun for a group of technical writers

Jan 22, 2010 6:29pm

This week a colleague, Tom, came up to me with a big grin and asked, “What’s the collective noun for a group of technical writers?” He had another developer in tow, a new starter at that, and the grin made me wonder what mischief lay behind the question. But...

Another Atlassian FedEx Day and a Confluence gadget on the way

Jan 15, 2010 7:03pm

A few months ago I wrote about my first Atlassian FedEx day ever. Now I’ve survived another. Plenty of dust, sweat and tears, and plenty of laughs, later, I have a brand new Confluence gadget to boast about. Well, actually I have 3 halves of a Confluence gadget and lots...

The Slow Word movement for technical documentation?

Dec 31, 2009 9:32pm

Would a “Slow Word” movement be useful for technical writers? Hmm. Lots of argy-bargy potential here. I’m just going to write up some musings. You’re sure to have some thoughts too. Drop a comment. Slowly, take your time... Trevor Butterworth has written an article at Forbes.com entitled “Time For...