Many companies discover the great resource of customer facing documentation. Quickly they run into the conundrum of how their preexisting docs can be scaled to account for larger doc sets and more writers. Tools like Zendesk enable customer facing documentation and are great for single source operations. They might build on commit, lack versioning, and … Continue reading How to scale your documentation
Easily create SnagIt screenshots that use brand colors and are interesting
Technical documentation can reinforce a company's brand. In addition to conveying the intended technical knowledge, it can showcase additional quality that could very well tip the adoption of a product. While the intended audience is technical and looking for answers, value is added to key stakeholders as well that are using the documentation to learn … Continue reading Easily create SnagIt screenshots that use brand colors and are interesting
How to be an asset to a PM as a technical writer
The relationship between a technical writer and a product manager (PM) is often misunderstood. A technical writer may feel inferior to a PM. In reverse, a PM may lack confidence in a writer. This can result in an ineffective relationship where the writer doesn't receive what they need, or aren't free to engage in their … Continue reading How to be an asset to a PM as a technical writer
How your business can leverage technical writing
Technical writing is underutilized. There's no doubt about it. Whether it's due to expense or lack of exposure to possibilities, many businesses miss a valuable tool to boost adoptions, upgrades, and retention. Technical writing is typically thought of as user guides, reports, and manuals. Those are for operational and legal purposes. It's a lot more … Continue reading How your business can leverage technical writing
Thinking 5 Moves Ahead as a Technical Writer
Chess grandmasters can see 15 moves ahead. Seeing ahead is common talk in the chess world. It's also an idea that can be incorporated in general strategic thinking. Patrick Bet-David explained the concept of thinking multiple moves ahead as each step being a specific lens to view the move you want to make. The following … Continue reading Thinking 5 Moves Ahead as a Technical Writer
How far can you go into your craft?
We concluded our Experience Organization (EO) Craft Summit on Thursday at ServiceNow. I was struck by a couple of things. The first was seeing work as a craft and not a job. The second was the connection made to my craft by listening to craftspeople across industries talk about their crafts. The atmosphere suggested there … Continue reading How far can you go into your craft?
Transitioning to technical writing – resume building
I'm grateful to have had several opportunities to apply my technical writing experiences to help others getting into it. There are fewer things professionally as satisfying to me as connecting like this. It's exciting to strategize approaches and see successes. I want to detail some of the things that have come up here. Why would … Continue reading Transitioning to technical writing – resume building
A Tale of Two UXs – The Social Contract of UX
Thanks to technology, a multitude of interactions that were previously done physically are performed digitally. These interactions are reflected in interfaces that seek to remove effort and provide the warmth of human contact. Interfaces can both enable people to satisfactorily perform the tasks they want, or they can be a source of significant discontent. Let … Continue reading A Tale of Two UXs – The Social Contract of UX
Surfing isn’t just recreational, it enables the best me
I took my six year old daughter to whale watch. Strong wind pushed through the jetties in Mission Bay, San Diego, creating a lot of swell and green faced passengers. My daughter was more impressed with the people losing their lunches than the humpback whales breaching. I get car sick, but I was trying to … Continue reading Surfing isn’t just recreational, it enables the best me
Five things you probably didn’t know you could do with ServiceNow Workspace
ServiceNow workspaces automate various types of workflows with a single pane UI. This single pane UI is designed to for minimal user effort so that users can efficiently resolve workflows. Workspaces perform the same function as classic lists and forms, but with functionality that is more intuitive. They incorporate familiar UI elements and maximize design … Continue reading Five things you probably didn’t know you could do with ServiceNow Workspace
Double Yew! 