Technical Writing is quite interesting!
I had a great conversation with Kate Mueller on the Not Boring Technical Writer podcast. The actual interview was a lot longer as we got quite carried away, so kudos to the editors for squeezing it down to size.
Connecting permaculture and documentation with Liz Argall
We cover a lot of ground in the episode, including how to help engineers overcome shame that can limit documentation, the glory of the right metrics used the right way and what can happen if you throw yourself into processes passionately. You'll see connections between what we spoke about and my recent Attend to the Work blog post.
One of the bits that didn't make it into the episode was Kate telling me the term "Get curious when you get furious." Wise words indeed, even when forces might want to shut your brain down. I know intimately through my Aikido practice how much more powerful I can be when I have play on my mind. We know boxers are getting ready to be dangerous when they get a little loose and light in their body. Play, joy and curiosity are not passive things!
Right now, one of the ways I'm bringing joy and curiosity into my life is cofounding a community development organization in Uganda! You can listen to its technical writing origin story in the podcast and find out more on our website, Ngombor Community Development Alliance.
Media I'm enjoying
- Fabrizio Ferri Benedetti, Things technical writers shouldn't care about... yet | Article
- I love this very practical guide around how to prioritize work. Great implementation of permaculture principles ;-).
- Technical Writing Uncensored (Diana Payton), He Built a Tool That Tests Your Docs — Meet Manny Silva
- Refined Draft (Kevin A. Cornelius and Gabriel Laskey), Catch the Failures that Roadmaps Miss (#6)| Article
- Very relateable, "Even though they don’t fix the product, technical writers can identify issues before the product is released and possible impact to customers."
- Neil Patel, The Great Google Reset webinar | YouTube
- While is focused on marketers, it's super relevant for technical writers.
- We are the masters of content that helps people learn things and tackle difficult topics. Done right that's content that really punches through in AI summaries.
- Little Language Models (Delfina Hoxha), What’s the format of information architecture work: diagrams, PowerPoint, Figma, Excel? | Article
- Not Boring Technical Writer (Kate Mueller):
- Ngazetungue Muheue, Ubuntu Summit 2024 | Open source software between Africa and the West | YouTube
- Ngombor Community Development Alliance
- I'm the co-founder of an amazing non profit in Uganda. Our website just went live. If you want a little sparkle for your day go check it out.
- We are very new, please subscribe to our mailing list
- In addition to getting news, more subscribers can help us look stronger when applying for grants etc.
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