Applying the Elements of Style to spam email messages.

“The bottom line is that you should let your expert writers write, and choose from the full array of presentations that English grammar allows, rather than chasing around trying to eradicate putative errors that actually not errors at all, and never have been.”

“‘User-Guide-Driven Development’, or UGDD for short. The mechanics of UGDD is similar to that of Test-Driven Development (TDD), but before I write the test for a feature, I write a snippet of the user guide describing the feature I am about to implement. Whereas TDD focuses on the functionality, UGDD focuses on both the functionality and the usability”

Interesting thoughts, we are all under business pressures, how often does ROI figure in your thinking?

How do YOU conduct an interview?

My thoughts on a common request

Some excellent advice and ideas to make your reviews go smoother.

Prescriptive grammar is useful for teaching English as a second language, but it has little value for the practicing writer. Clinging to it may provide emotional security, but only at the expense of making writing harder than it needs to be. The culture-wide devotion to it will not be changed in a moment. But conscientious writers can at least change their own habits, and make life easier for themselves.

“NO. You can’t just explain it in the manual.”

A tentative attempt at understanding all the things we, as technical writers, have to consider. A framework for how we work?? Who knows.

One to pass onto the development guys and gals but there are plenty of reminders of why technical writers should be acting as user advocates at all times.