I sat down to write a blog series, a deep dive into configuration of our product at a previous job, and I was amazed at how quickly it exposed the parts of our software that I thought I understood but clearly didn't.

As soon as I switched to passive tense, or my brain started to hand wave over something, I knew I'd hit a weak point.

And perhaps unsurprisingly, when I'd check with the engineers, as often as not I'd get the same response: "Huh, I'm not sure either."

I've never found an equivalent tool for identifying my weaknesses. In a conversation I can bluff my way through something and rationalize it to myself or others as "I don't have all the details at hand but I'm sure I understand it"; when writing, I don't have that same luxury.