Ask HN: Good resources on effective writing? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Good resources on effective writing?

5 pointssoneca10 comments

Hi,

I am preparing a small workshop on effective writing to other developers in my company. The goal is to improve their written communication in a professional environment. The most relevant issue is in-company email communication with non-tech staff, but I believe it will also help with other mediums, like Slack, and even tech-only communication, like commit messages and code reviews.

I would appreciate good resources (or tips) that I can use or refer in the workshop.

We are a medium-sized startup, so no need to learn about that very formal corporate lexicon like "Dear Sir/Madam" or "Sincerely,".

Also, our native language is Portuguese, so I am looking for "language-agnostic" advice.

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Kudos to you for preparing the workshop. I think it's fantastic and not enough can be said about how important it is to have effective communication within an organization.

What challenges are you seeing? Are you hearing anything from non-tech side?

My successful transition from introverted developer to becoming a bridge between business and tech boils down to having an attitude of assuming positive intent. Not everyone is perfect and everyone is trying to do their best at their job. Not everyone knows the technical details of things and having strong communication skills to relate the issues to the other party is critical.

Avoid technical jargon and acronyms (business sides are also guilty of this) and always seek to understand.

Also, the medium is the message meaning the platform that you choose to deliver the message will effectively dictate the message itself. Urgent issues should be a face-to-face discussion, less urgent would be email, casual quick questions can be on Slack.

Thanks! There is no urgent challenge. Only that people started to compliment me for my emails explaining new features to the rest of the company and PR descriptions and commit messages. It is not that I am a great talented writer, only that I care about it. And it is not that the other devs are awful and are causing problems with bad writing. But they suggested I could help them with improving their writing.

"Medium is the message" and "generosity principle" are good topics I will definitely include. Thanks

>> It is not that I am a great talented writer, only that I care about it.

This is what's missing - we only need to care about what we say before saying it for communication to improve.

Two useful articles in general

Things to keep in mind when writing [1]

How can you start writing [2]

[1] https://medium.com/@writingtoday/how-to-become-a-better-writ...

[2] https://medium.com/@writingtoday/how-can-you-start-writing-e...

"Writers at Work". Unfortunately there's a few books with that name, this is the one by Linda Flowers. Full review here: https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/06/15/writing-book/

Style: Towards Clarity and Grace

It was both a pleasant read and the advice in it is not only actionable but memorable, even 4 months later.

https://www.amazon.com/Pyramid-Principle-Logic-Writing-Think...

wow that is pretty pricey for a book. I am surprised there is not a cheaper alternative

Oh wow, I didn't even notice that. When I bought my copy it was much cheaper. Not sure why the big jump. At least it appears that some used copies are available for a more reasonable price...

I noticed there is a 1995 version under a wiley series that you can get copies for half that price of the 2009 version

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