Why Improve Your Writing?

I’ve worked as a developer for 20 years, and I’ve always cared about clear writing. When I join a new team, the first thing I do is ask to update the onboarding documents. As I ramp up on the team, I document what I learn and encourage my teammates to do the same.

Sometimes, other developers ask me why I invest so much into writing. Programming is technical, so why spend time on a “soft skill” like writing? Isn’t that why we have technical writers and product managers?

Writing advances your career🔗

When you think of exceptionally talented programmers, you probably think of people like this:

• Dennis Ritchie, the creator of the C programming language and co-creator of Unix
• Grace Hopper, author of the first compiler
• Joel Spolsky, the co-founder of StackOverflow and Trello
• Jeff Dean, the co-creator of Google’s MapReduce and Bigtable technologies

Have you ever read any of their code? Probably not.

The reason you recognize any of the people above is that, in addition to being good programmers, they’re exceptional writers. They achieved impressive technical feats, but people noticed because they wrote books, papers, or blog posts that showcased their work.

You don’t have to be the next Dennis Ritchie to advance your career with strong writing. At most companies, the developers who rise to senior positions are the ones who communicate well–they write persuasive emails and clear design documents that get the attention of upper management.

I show techniques for improving your visibility within your company in “Write Emails with Less Noise and Better Results” and “Write Useful Commit Messages.”

Writing scales infinitely🔗

One of the best things about software is how beautifully it scales. In what other field could you build something and get it into customers’ hands within minutes?

Writing enjoys similar scaling benefits as software. If a teammate asks you a question, and you spend five minutes answering them, you’ll spend those same five minutes when the next person asks you. And the next person. And then again when that first person forgot what you said. If you instead write your answer in a playbook, you can deliver the answer to a million teammates with no additional effort.

I’ve run multiple small businesses, and I always invested heavily in documentation. When I hired new employees, I never needed to hold their hand through every task because we had process docs for all of our critical workflows.

When I sold my first business, thorough documentation was a major selling point for the buyer. The buyer didn’t have to worry that I’d walk out the door with all the company’s institutional knowledge. I showed them playbooks we updated regularly for all of our operations. After the deal closed, the new owner never had to chase me down for follow-up questions because the documentation captured everything they needed.

I explain how to write effective process guides in “Rules for Writing Software Tutorials.”

Writing deepens your understanding🔗

Writing is thinking.

That may sound counter-intuitive. You think first, then write to capture those thoughts. In reality, writing and thinking are both part of the same iterative process.

You’ve probably tried to explain a concept to a teammate, only to realize halfway through that you don’t understand it yourself. You’ll also find those gaps when you write, though the privacy of writing allows you to fill them in yourself. Every time I write about something, it improves my knowledge or skill in that domain.

Writing also exposes weak reasoning. Whenever I write playbooks or tutorials to explain one of my workflows, I recognize opportunities to simplify or improve. This happens even on processes I’ve used for years. Writing forces you to justify your decisions. When you find yourself explaining why a step of your tutorial requires a sequence of eight commands, you can’t help but recognize the opportunity for a simple convenience script.

Every month, I write public retrospectives about my business. And every time, I sit down expecting to explain a business decision or strategy, but the act of writing reveals a better idea I’d completely overlooked.

I talk about how to build your knowledge and reasoning through writing in “Write Blog Posts that Developers Read” and “Write Effective Design Documents.”

Writing finds you clients🔗

On an Internet filled with infinite noise, how can you stand out? I frequently talk to developers who created something cool, but they can’t find a way to get it in front of real users. Or they want to freelance but don’t know where to find clients.

I’ve always found users and clients by writing about my work. I launched TinyPilot, my most successful company, by writing about the process of building the first prototype device. The post went viral, and I sold my first batch of inventory in a few hours. You’re probably reading this book because you discovered one of my blog posts.

If you’re looking for a job, good writing can land you a position. If you’re a small business owner, writing blog posts can bring you customers. If you’re a consultant, writing can bring you inbound clients.

The best part about writing is that it’s free. You don’t have to buy ads or hire a specialist. If you write something valuable for your target customer, they’ll find you organically.

I talk more about writing to find clients and users in “Find Customers through Blogging” and “Write Compelling Software Release Announcements.”

AI can’t write for you🔗

In the past few years, AI has exploded in both capability and popularity. People are using AI to do everything from writing their code to diagnosing that odd rash on their foot. The bad news is that AI can’t write for you.

Okay, I take that back. Obviously, AI can write for you. I constantly receive AI-generated emails, so I won’t pretend it’s impossible.

What I mean is that AI can’t offer you the benefits I’ve described here. In a world where anyone can use AI to spit out text, an AI-generated document won’t help you stand out. You won’t understand a concept better or spot flaws in your thinking when you’ve outsourced your reasoning to AI.

That said, AI can serve as an effective editor and assist your writing in other ways, which I cover in “Improve Your Writing with AI.”

How this book will help you🔗

Hopefully, I’ve convinced you that writing is valuable, even if you’re a developer.

The good news is that the bar for being a developer who writes well is embarrassingly low. Most developers don’t try, so you can edge into the top 10% simply by trying.

In this book, I’ll teach you practical steps to improve your writing. Some lessons are “quick win” techniques that improve your writing immediately. Others are more fundamental and require long-term practice.

If you want to improve your writing but don’t know the concrete steps to get there, this book will show you that path.