Strategy, Michael Porter wrote, is choosing what not to do. Now, the problem with knowledge work such as the one tech writers carry out is that it’s full of things that seem to require equally important, time-consuming decisions. While engaging in lengthy disquisitions might be alluring, endlessly combing the Zen garden of theory doesn’t solve the basic problem of the docs hierarchy of needs, which is writing the damn docs and making sure they’re accurate and useful.| passo.uno
We all want to do a good job. Some of us also want to get better at our craft for a number of reasons, either practical or slightly delusional. Those include getting a raise, strengthening our résume, or simply ending the day with a fragile feeling of satisfaction after surviving failure for the nth time. They’re all good goals, though the ways of achieving them are not always straightforward. Moreover, the path to career growth is riddled with self-doubt and impostor syndrome.| passo.uno
I’m a terrible user of documentation. I tend to consume docs in a hurry, reading diagonally, Control+Fing my way to things. I generally mistreat the interface of docs until I obtain something resembling an answer. I do this because I’ve little time and I need to fix issues fast. I love examples I can copy and paste. I’ve little patience for verbose documentation and even less for docs that look like they were written without care or skill. I’m not only bothered by inaccuracy, but also...| passo.uno
A reader asked me how they’d become a Documentation Engineer, because they saw I got hired as one and felt curious about what it takes to get there. This inevitably got me thinking about job titles and the evolution of tech writing, two topics that are quite central to this blog. Let me begin with the short answer: As a tech writer you’ll have to wear many hats, but you’ll always be a technical writer. Depending on your preferences, some hats will be more comfortable than others. Docs E...| passo.uno