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Presentations and talks

A collection of podcasts, lightning talks, and interviews where I discuss documentation strategy, community building, and the evolving roles (and potential) of technical writers.

Interviews​

Creating Strategic, Structured and User-centered Docs​

Video podcast: Docuwiz, hosted by Anurag Shukla

Some of the things we discussed were:

  • How can we move the perceptions of technical writing from a gate keeping polishers at the end of a process, to partners that actually help great products be created faster
  • How to use wayfinding and Diátaxis principles to prevent users from getting lost
  • How QA teams can be a technical writer's best information source.
  • Watch the video podcast

Connecting Permaculture and Documentation​

Podcast: The Not Boring Tech Writer, hosted by Kate Mueller

Some of the things we discussed were:

  • Working on complex technical writing project for multiple audience and shepherding a product through its first open source releases
  • Developing good qualitative metrics that capture more the value we provide, such as saving engineers' and SMEs' time.
  • My work founding a Ngombor Community Development Alliance permaculture nonprofit in Uganda.
  • Treating documentation as a living system rather than a "one-and-done" project.
  • A sustainable approach to documentation that focuses on building team capacity and "rested" systems that can scale.

One point I really want to focus on is how being interviewed by a technical writer can make hidden expertise shine and help the engineer see themselves more clearly. Sometimes folks are shy to document, because of hacks and workarounds. Yet written up they can then be seen as innovative approaches to challenging situations and create signal for where potential improvements can be made and pipelines formalized. The act of being interviewed well can have all sorts of ripples far beyond what goes on the page.

Embed YouTube here

Why Tech Writing is Really About Community​

Interview: Technical Writing Uncensored

  • Challenge: Navigating the cultural shift from Australia to the US corporate world as a neurodivergent writer.
  • Approach: A blunt discussion on the "performance" of masking, the Australian "no-frills" mindset, and why I view tech writers as the "knowledge custodians" of an organization.
  • Impact: Insights into building psychological safety within teams and creating documentation that respects every "flavor profile" of human user.
  • Watch on YouTube

Presentations​

Secret Google Magic: Finding the Lurkers​

Lightning Talk: Write the Docs Portland

  • Challenge: Identifying what users are actually struggling with when they don't leave feedback.
  • Approach: Using Google Autocomplete as a low-cost, high-speed research tool to reverse-engineer user pain points.
  • Impact: Meeting users in the search bar to surface high-priority docs—like getting Project Aria results above Fitbit and Ariana Grande.
  • Watch on YouTube (Starts at 17:38)

Ngombor: Project for Awesome 2026​

Pitch Video: Project for Awesome

  • Challenge: Proving that rural communities in Uganda shouldn't have to choose between their roots and a tech career.
  • Approach: A vision for a community-owned hub that treats puppies, Python, and permaculture as equal partners in sustainable development.
  • Impact: Creating a pathway for IT literacy and agricultural prosperity that doesn't depend on urban migration.
  • Watch on YouTube