The Tech Comm Manifesto
My life in technical communication would be much easier if we all subscribed to these rules:
- Go beyond the obvious.
- Ignorance is not an asset.
- People do judge a book by its cover. Don’t give them the opportunity to assume you’re a blithering idiot.
- Your content may be special, but it does not need special formatting. Follow the style guide.
- Act like a professional, not like the lead character in Semicolons and Subservience.
- Editors improve your writing and not your ego. Deal with it.
- The tools you learned five years ago are obsolete. Learn the new tools. Repeat every five years.
- Clear, concise writing never goes out of style.
About the author
Gina Evans
Hear, hear! Great list, all true.
Walter Hanig
9. Your reader is more important than you are.
Bill Swallow
Edit to #7: strike last sentence and replace with “Continuously.”
Simon Bate
10. Use the appropriate tool for the job, then use it appropriately.
Lori Meyer
A lot of common sense in these rules; thanks for posting.
Wade Courtney
Why is list a numbered list?
Wade Courtney
That shoule be: Why is the list a numbered list? tee hee
Sarah O'Keefe
@Wade I’m going with “For easy reference” because it sounds better than “because the number button was a few pixels closer than the bullet button”.