Category: Video
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The Seven Righteous Fights (LISA 16)
Usually we think of compound interest as what adds magically to our retirement or makes our student loans last forever. But there is also a compound interest of technical debt, where a project is made harder and more expensive because of early “cost-saving” choices. I think it’s empowering for developers and other people involved in…
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Search-First Writing for Non-Writers (Open Source Bridge, 2013)
If people can’t use your software, you have already failed as a developer. This talk digs in to how optimizing for search and using the existing technical assistance forums can put your product ahead of the pack. Technical writing, in all its variations, is a type of interface with your product. It incorporates everything from…
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Search-First Documentation: Tags and Keywords for Frustrated Users (Write the Docs, 2013)
If people can’t use your software, you have already failed as a developer. This talk digs in to how optimizing for search and using the existing technical assistance forums can put your product ahead of the pack. Technical writing, in all its variations, is a type of interface with your product. It incorporates everything from…
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Success Is More Than Not-Failing (Write the Docs, 2015)
We talk a lot about minimum viable products, and building our products up from small features. We talk a lot about failure, and how to learn from it and not replicate failures over and over again. But what I haven’t heard a lot of discussion about is how we know we’ve succeeded. Is it market…
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Cassandra at the Keyboard: Whistleblowing at All Scales (Open Source Bridge, 2015)
Cassandra was a prophetess doomed to be accurate, but never believed. In my role as a technical writer, I often have the information needed to make useful observations about development processes, communication problems, and other organizational troubles. The problem is getting people in power to agree with and act on the information I present. This…
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Digital Sandwich Generation: Women’s Roles In Identity Management For Others (Alterconf Chicago, 2015)
I don’t know of any parenting books that tell you how to choose baby’s first handle. I don’t know of any self-help books that tell you how to help your parents create a digital estate plan. Both of these scenarios and many more are falling to the people who have always been responsible for maintaining…