Posted in: technical writing

Experts make complex tasks look easy, approaching them with a grace and style that is admirable, even enviable. So, what does it take to become an expert? When you practice something repeatedly, over time you activate areas of your brain that allow those actions to become automatic. This development occurs with athletes, video gamers — and writers. Your brain on writing The brain’s ability to develop...
Read Post »

The ability to write well is a powerful tool. It’s a skill that captures people’s attention, persuades, solves problems, and leaves an emotional impression. A well-written document can easily sway a powerful audience, be they clients or co-workers. Not convinced? Keep reading! This infographic , “Amazing Facts on Writing and How it Affects our Brain,” reveals some fascinating details about...
Read Post »

Covered California, a marketplace where customers can search for health insurance plans, has failed to communicate effectively with many of its non-English-speaking customers. To the agency’s credit, the past year has seen an improvement in the number of Spanish-language enrollment materials being distributed, but the language barrier remains high when it comes to important notices sent after enrollment. For...
Read Post »

What kind of response did you get after writing your last technical document? Did you get an avalanche of phone calls asking for information, even though the information was in the report? Or worse, did you get no response at all? Writing technical documents such as engineering reports are meant to provide answers. Organizations face serious problems when these reports fail to provide necessary information or obscure...
Read Post »

From the early days of the space program, we understood that space exploration was a challenge to how well we could work together. As John F. Kennedy famously put it in his speech at Rice University, "[space exploration] will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills." And as anyone who organizes others knows, organizing requires communicating well. But we have had tragedies in...
Read Post »