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Why does writing matter in remote work?

timcasasola.com

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Re: Why does writing matter in remote work?

#81

Post by greggyb »

soonix wrote: post #80
greggyb wrote: post #3

I have three replies, in no particular order. 1: > We document projects in Notion. We send meeting invites with a written description of the purpose. Hah! I can't remember the last time I saw well-maintained collaborative documentation at a client. And I am among a small handful of people I know who provide descriptions of meeting invites. 2: I looooove written communication with others who are competent. I have an u…

> In this meeting, I proceed to read them the contents of my email, sometimes literally and sometimes paraphrasing. Did you try sending them voice messages instead, possibly via some TTS service? (originally intended as joke, but now that I think about it... - especially since I sometimes use a STT service for voice messages I receive)

It's not a bad idea. I think, though, that the problem was that these people didn't really understand what we were doing, so needed hand holding.

Re: Why does writing matter in remote work?

#82

Post by cypecoda »

Vinnl wrote: post #34
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #31

In my new job I do a lot of writing; documentation, architecture (ADR's), and lots of details in the user stories themselves - although those are mainly for myself. But I have a fear. What if nobody bothers to read it? What if they start reading it but just glaze over because of the sheer volume of it? I mean the ADR's for example are a lot of 'internal' musings that I've considered. I am a solo developer on this pro…

I think the trick is to write in a way that gets other people to read it, and in a way that's cognisant of the fact that that reading will be more akin to skimming. Gratuitous use of bullet points and bolding two or three key takeaways are the main quick hacks I use to in support of that goal. Longer-form writing and proper prose are more useful for e.g. tutorials, but things like user stories or other reference mate…

Exactly. When I summarized a complex technical issue to a mixed audience, the TLDR version was in nested bulleted format, each line limited to ~5 words. Higher level bullet points were targeted at non technical readers and sub points aimed at the techie ones. Non technicals can opt not to dig further into sub points.

Re: Why does writing matter in remote work?

#83

Post by john4532452 »

ubermonkey wrote: post #56
helipad wrote: post #48

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.

My hypothesis is technical writing is different from non-technical writing and those who have mastered both the skills are in huge demand and have better career path than being a coach.

Re: Why does writing matter in remote work?

#85

Post by ubermonkey »

john4532452 wrote: post #83
ubermonkey wrote: post #56

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.

My hypothesis is technical writing is different from non-technical writing and those who have mastered both the skills are in huge demand and have better career path than being a coach.

Probably also true. I'm sure I make more in my current role than I would coaching people, unless I was able to either leverage that into some sort of weird social media/Youtube phenom, or scale it up by hiring other people (and then you just end up having the professional-services-firm problem).
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