61–70 of 86 posts
Can anyone recommend a writing coach I could work with? It's important to my role. I'd happily pay someone to set me (and hold me accountable to) relevant assignments and give feedback on my work. I understand there are writing courses, it's the 1:1 timely feedback I'm seeking.
1. Non-native English speakers for whom writing in English is more cumbersome than talking -- so sync meetings are preferred
2. Native English speakers who aren't written word/visual people and who vastly prefer a phone call (e.g. extroverts, sales folks, folks who reply to emails with "why don't we jump on call?")
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That’s funny, but it has me wondering what recipes typically look like for mass produced food.
Having spent some time working fast food many years ago, it’s not far from that. Temperatures, cooking times, sizes. All precise. Much of the food comes from suppliers in a ready to use state — onions, pickles, fries, etc. I would bet that the specifications given to those suppliers are written in similar language.
Can anyone recommend a writing coach I could work with? It's important to my role. I'd happily pay someone to set me (and hold me accountable to) relevant assignments and give feedback on my work. I understand there are writing courses, it's the 1:1 timely feedback I'm seeking.
I am not offering to do this for you, but I have absolutely wondered MANY times over the years if this -- coaching highly technical people on writing better -- was a business model.
I work with many people who are against writing; they never write anything and they only want to do sync meetings (phone/in person); I am on the tech team usually which makes that even more painful as 'talking through tech' is a horrible thing. Nothing sticks as everyone needs time to think about things. Inevitably, after a while, you get people losing track of things that were actually said, that were actually agree…
Writing minutes is useful but has its limitations. A few years ago I worked with two technically brilliant but somewhat unpleasant guys. After a while I realized it was a good idea to write down everything so I made sure I coukd always point to a mail or something. Turned out even that had its limitations. At one point we discussed something and I ponted the older one of them to a mail where I had described it. His a…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am not offering to do this for you, but I have absolutely wondered MANY times over the years if this -- coaching highly technical people on writing better -- was a business model.
I don't know what you mean by "business model." Certainly there are lots of people who do music lessons, presentation skills, tutoring, etc. as either a part-time thing or as a full-time business. If it's 1:1 instruction, it's not all that scalable although the seemingly more successful examples I've seen do things like classes for companies and individual sessions for executives. For individuals though, I think it's…
For my part, I'm not exec level yet am in a position to use either disposable income or company money on coaching for skills such as writing.
My first thought too was looking for journalists/editors/local university lecturers who may be looking for some extra work. I'd guess that'd require trial and error for both parties.
I love writing, but I regularly work with people who don't. Just wondering if folks here have any tips for dealing with: 1. Non-native English speakers for whom writing in English is more cumbersome than talking -- so sync meetings are preferred 2. Native English speakers who aren't written word/visual people and who vastly prefer a phone call (e.g. extroverts, sales folks, folks who reply to emails with "why don't w…
The only solution I have found is to carefully evaluate every situation.
If it’s important that you get a timely answer, sometimes it’s worth jumping on a call, even if you think a quick Slack message or email would be the best for both parties. For group 1 that may be because they’ll lock up and pause trying to figure out how to respond (in many cases because they’re trying to make sure everything is perfect and 100% - you’d be self conscious about your Russian, wouldn’t you?) and for group 2 that may be because their only break is in the car on the way from one client to another. This is the same “do I want to die on this hill?” part you have with any interpersonal disagreement.
Second, it’s helpful to carve out specific times when this kind of “jump on a call” can happen. Particularly with remote workers on different time zones, it may not always be practical for everyone to jump on a call - for instance I’m at dinner with the wife and can spend 30 seconds answering a Slack message while she’s in the restroom, but I’m not getting out my headset and getting on a call. I discourage setting up a recurring call, because then you run into the issue of people holding things until the meeting that could and should have been dealt with in a different manner, but specifying that “between two and four every day” are available for calls can help with the sense of urgency for the other party. If it’s 5 already and they know you can’t get on a call, perhaps they’ll decide a textual message is worth the effort.
Establishing the time periods also helps with “quiet hours” where you can turn off message notifications and really focus. The key is that everyone needs to coordinate to establish those periods and they need to be known, otherwise it’s just frustrating to never be able to get ahold of anyone.
Whenever you compose an email, put your ask in the first sentence. Do you want information from them? Do you want them to do something for you? Put it in the first sentence. Then put the explanation and details in the rest of the email.
This. Even if you are emailing an old friend for a favor, put your request up front then put the cordial stuff after, its much more sincere that way. > Joe, we are looking for advisors to sit on our board. This is a non-paying position so I'm emailing all my old friends and asking for favors. Hey, how are you? How is your wife and son? Either way lets get together soon! --Aaron
I was struggling with this dilemma recently, when wrting an email. Knowing what you just said, that your request should be in the first paragraph, and at the same time wanting to show humman connection, I don't think that I did very good job. Still haven't found a smooth way to express both things in the first sentance/paragraph.
I guess, it depends on the person you are writing to.
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I don't know what you mean by "business model." Certainly there are lots of people who do music lessons, presentation skills, tutoring, etc. as either a part-time thing or as a full-time business. If it's 1:1 instruction, it's not all that scalable although the seemingly more successful examples I've seen do things like classes for companies and individual sessions for executives. For individuals though, I think it's…
While no doubt I'm uninformed, my sense is professional development at the one-to-one or one-to-few level is geared towards exec levels, such as exec coaching and management training. For my part, I'm not exec level yet am in a position to use either disposable income or company money on coaching for skills such as writing. My first thought too was looking for journalists/editors/local university lecturers who may be…
My first choice would probably be to try to find an editor who does or would do this sort of thing as a side-gig. Maybe you have co-workers who have worked with one of the tech publishers like O'Reilly or Apress in the past who could do an introduction?