I think that many people underestimate the importance of communication. Even the brightest or simplest idea will not be understood and appreciated if it is not explained properly.
One trick that I do to improve my writing at work (documentation pages, emails, etc) is to leave the text after I wrote it for 5-15 minutes, then come back to it and try read it from position of a target audience. If, for example, it is an internal documentation - I try to read from a position of a new hire who sees it for the first time and does not know all the concepts (then I try to explain or add links).
It makes it easy to identify pieces where my thoughts are not properly explained and understand if there are any gaps.
🇩🇴 I'm a Technical Program Manager and Content Strategist with an MSc in UXD. I help developers become better content creators and DevRel teams build robust content programs.
That's an excellent trick and one I practice myself. It's really helpful to step away to give ourselves time to remove ourselves from our initial responses (which may also be shaped by our emotional reactions). It's always, always helpful to ask ourselves questions from our target audience. In short, I agree with everything you've shared here. Thanks Igor! :)
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Great article, thanks!
I think that many people underestimate the importance of communication. Even the brightest or simplest idea will not be understood and appreciated if it is not explained properly.
One trick that I do to improve my writing at work (documentation pages, emails, etc) is to leave the text after I wrote it for 5-15 minutes, then come back to it and try read it from position of a target audience. If, for example, it is an internal documentation - I try to read from a position of a new hire who sees it for the first time and does not know all the concepts (then I try to explain or add links).
It makes it easy to identify pieces where my thoughts are not properly explained and understand if there are any gaps.
That's an excellent trick and one I practice myself. It's really helpful to step away to give ourselves time to remove ourselves from our initial responses (which may also be shaped by our emotional reactions). It's always, always helpful to ask ourselves questions from our target audience. In short, I agree with everything you've shared here. Thanks Igor! :)