Writers have a problem product development teams don’t have: Imposter Syndrome. That’s when you think you’re a fraud. Even though you have experience and expertise. Fear drives Imposter Syndrome. Too often, writers let the fear win. You don’t have to succumb to that fear—you can fool that fear with writing. The more you write and […]
When we speak, we often use shortcuts, jargon, and cleverness to get our points across. If we confuse anyone in the audience, we can explain what we’re thinking in the moment. However, when we write, all that cleverness doesn’t always help our ideal reader understand. Sometimes, we alienate or confuse our ideal readers with our
If you’ve ever tried to write nonfiction, you probably encountered these problems: Your readers only understood what you wrote. Not what you meant to write. Only some readers got value from your pieces, not everyone. The writing you ended up with at the end might have looked very different from the piece you started with.
You have some terrific experience in your team, such as pairing, and you decide it’s time to write about it. And you have a problem. The developers and testers need one perspective, coaches need a different perspective, and managers need a third perspective. What do you do? Choose one ideal reader and write a piece
Do you ever encounter perfection rules when you write (or create in any way)? Maybe you’ve heard these statements—or you’ve said them to yourself: We must spend a lot of time “polishing” to create perfect writing. We must not publish until the work is perfect. We can create a perfect piece and it’s worth our
Most of us writers start with bad advice, to write “formally.” We’re not supposed to talk to the reader. Or, we’re supposed to avoid stories. Worse, we’re supposed to use passive voice. That leads us to write like this: <A person> will be missed. Your work is appreciated. This work needs to be undertaken. Here’s
Too many nonfiction writers still listen to advice from their long-ago English teachers. That advice was, “Edit as you go.” Editing as you go slows your writing and allows you to get stuck. Instead, wait until you’re done writing down before you edit. That’s because our brains work differently when we write down vs. when
Recently, several people have congratulated me on my “natural” writing. I thank them and try not to giggle. Why? Because I am not a “natural” writer. I have written and published enough that I found my writer’s voice. Instead of talent, I have persistence. I use that persistence in small, timeboxed chunks. That’s part of the
Every so often, someone asks me, “How do you write so much?” I don’t feel as if I write that much. I have meeting-filled days, just as you do. However, I suspect there’s something different about my days: I write for 15 minutes every day. Sometimes, I write longer, but I write for 15 minutes