Data states, writing illuminates

Featured

Writers block at work? Learn from tech authors’ struggles and successes.

In a recent survey, 69 tech writers said they often experience “blocked” periods of time when it’s difficult to write.

Featured

Could more words help your presentations? (video)

Slides often seem to collect undigested information. Could sentence headers help? Sentences require verbs, which force us to say something

2020-12-29 Effective writing tells a story / Oh, the productivity

For insights at work, hold your nerve and pay attention (long read)

By paying more attention to important signals, we can understand them better, and glimpse their unsaid meanings too. But we’ll have to slow down – to hold our nerve like a value investor, or patiently wait as if with a passive index.

2013-10-06 Effective writing tells a story

Does Your Writing Tool Leave Space to Build a Story?

Every piece of business writing should tell a story. But constructing an argument or plot takes focus. Helpful tools remove the distraction of presentation and allow direct manipulation of the logical structure.

2013-04-25 Effective writing tells a story

The Author is Alive: A Reading of Marcia Riefer Johnston’s “Word Up!”

“Word Up!” is a required read for anyone who’s interested in language, wants to improve their writing, or just needs a clickworthy headline about a weird Chinese goat.

2013-04-19 Aboutness first, format second

Referencing things in the real world — is structured content missing a trick?

Inline semantics connected to specific real-world entities have unrealized potential; they should be separated from specific applications where possible; and they are probably best kept in the source.