Me: [pushing long established process] Anything for this release?
*crickets*
Me: Anything at all? Nothing's flagged In Jira.
*crickets*
Me: OK. I'm cancelling tomorrow's global meeting.
Folks: [next morning] Wow, Phil. We missed all your emails & DMs. We've actually got a lot to talk about. Can you drop everything & work like mad to produce these release notes & run a meeting like your standing meeting but on a random day/time ASAP?
Me: …
#techWriterLife #technicalWriting

Docs as code: More like docs IN code. Learning about swagger.annotations while advocating for upgrade to support OpenAPI v3. It's been a while since I worked in Java. Weird to get nostalgia vibes on a current project. Also I feel like the teacher learning the subject the night before the class. Damn I love this job. #techWriterLife #technicalWriting #writeTheDocs #docsAsCode

@djwfyi Yesterday we were Cassandra. Today you can just call us Sisyphus. #techWriterLife #technicalWriting

@trike You can just call us Cassandra. #techWriterLife #technicalWriting

@apfelkraut @darktable RTFM reminds me of Erin Grace, a force for good in the docs/user-ed space and her helpful, empathetic, practical reimagining/redefinition of "RTFM": https://www.readthefriendlymanual.com/blog #techWriterLife #technicalWriting #writeTheDocs

Silver lining on a stupid cloud: I posted recently about my bad call when structuring doc sets. The good news: my years of work to maintain consistency across projects is really paying off as I chop & hack & reshuffle & extend (variable names, conditional tags, file organization, etc.) #techWriterLife #technicalWriting #writeTheDocs

The Brave Little Tech Writer #techWriterLife #technicalWriting

Humbling: making a well considered, strategic decision about the fundamental structure of several related doc sets that turns out just plain wrong. Not fatal, but deeply annoying. Not going to automate my way out of this one. Luckily, recent experience has already charted a new course. Oof. #techWriterLife #technicalWriting #writeTheDocs

Pet peeve: "pre" and "post" don't sort top-down ascending. Also "before" and "after". #techWriterLife #technicalWriting

Heck = open office full of folks on Zoom meetings at their desk. #firstWorldProblems #techWriterLife #technicalWriting

@dachary

"just": Oof. I feel this hard.

I know I need to manage up & laterally, advocate for docs & users, educate about doc process and value, etc.

But I'm also really busy creating that doc.

Joyful times: product owner comes to me with an incipient project to work out doc reqs.

Trying times: months pressing a PO for doc reqs for folks to ask why no docs for the new product.

During the trying times it's a good thing I absolutely love my job. #technicalWriting #techWriterLife

Another way documentation provides value: stick around long enough and your docs will be used for trademark renewal. #technicalWriting #techWriterLife #writeTheDocs

Overheard a gaggle of execs baffled by MS Word behavior. Couldn't keep myself from wandering over to contribute. Learnings and fixes effected. They also had the correction reaction: "That makes no sense!" #MSWord #techWriterLife #technicalWriting #writeTheDocs

Just in case anyone thinks my work is all sunshine & rainbows: Name change of a fundamental service. Oof. I tried my best to decouple my doc process from this freaking thing, keeping variables & structure product-name-agnostic while retaining semantic meaning for usability. Probably could limp along, but if I don't fix this now, I know the name change will bite me in the future and annoy me constantly. #techWriterLife #technicalWriting #writeTheDocs

30 minutes in a room reviewing doc with 2 extremely helpful senior devs. My buffers are overflowing. Such a good place to be. I have a lot of work to do. #techWriterLife #technicalWriting #writeTheDocs

I've inherited an internal website project with unrealistic expectations, poorly defined goals, & actively shrinking resources. The website has quite a few empty pages. Shocking, I know. I hate "under construction" pages. This is my "under construction" page. IDGAF in the most constructive, helpful way I can. #techWriterLife #technicalWriting #writeTheDocs

#technicalWriting #techWriterLife #writeTheDocs
https://wandering.shop/@scribblingfox/110282885155116655

I'm addicted to resolving days of questions and issues and anxieties with a 15 minute sit-down with an expert. #technicalWriting #techWriterLife #writeTheDocs

Cheeky seat thieves: a WFH hazard/benefit #wfh #techWriterLife

Senior dev just answered my question with an extensive walk-through at my desk. My coworkers rock. #technicalWriting #techWriterLife #writeTheDocs