Editor’s Note: For readers who want to enjoy Tech Writer This Week for June 27 via RSS without all the formatting issues, we’ve made it a bit easier by posting the introductory content here, and a link to the Storify curated content.
As a technical writer, I follow a style guide. I use the Microsoft Manual of Style, but I admit I’m not married to it. Robert Levy (savethesemicolon.com) seems to back me up when he asks if being slavishly consistent is also plain foolish. Is it possible to be too consistent? Elsewhere in Technical Communication, Tom Johnson (idratherbewriting.com) wonders if we need a new approach to help. Mark Baker (everypageispageone.com) argues that there is a limit to how helpful the help can be. And Willam van Weelden (wvanweelden.eu) proposes a convergence of help systems and knowledge bases … into intelligent user assistance.
In the realm of Content Strategy & Content Curation, Joe Pulizzi (contentmarketinginstitute.com) shares five ingredients for cooking up perfect content every time. Jason King (www.business2community.com) takes a contrarian view when he opines that content isn’t king. Pragati Bidkar (rightmixtech.com) gives us six not-so-obvious reasons to curate content, while Rachel Lovinger advocates for content strategy based on proactivity, advocacy, and bravery, in advance of the Content Strategy Forum in Helsinki in September.
Guesting on CNN Money/Fortune, Doreen Lorenzo (frogdesign.com) expands our thinking about User Experience to include business-to-business (B2B), where optimizing user experience for things like industrial equipment and processes takes center stage. Then Carnegie Mellon Professor Mark Baskinger (writing for uxmag.com) identifies trends that mean an expansion of user experience practice.
When it comes to Customer Experience Management, Deirdre Molloy (webmanagersgroup.com) answers the basic what and where of the profession. Annette Gleneicki (business2community.com) advises us that to master the components of CXM requires walking in the customers’ shoes, or frankenshoes. We close out with Christopher Horne (iqubemarketing.com) combining two of the hottest trends going, with his guidance on using Big Data to improve CXM.
In Career and Life, GreatResumesFast.com shares an infographic (courtesy of CouponAudit) of the top 100 career blogs to follow. Howard Tullman (www.inc.com) tells us why “good enough” is good enough, which includes why no one ever reads the manual you slaved over. Howard’s post is essential reading, because it will keep you grounded. We close with a humorous problem-solving flowchart from Rhonda Bracey (cybertext.wordpress.com). The original author is unknown. I saw an earlier version of this chart in 1994, when I started doing web programming. The earlier chart used considerably saltier language to lay blame.
Continue to Tech Writer This Week on Storify.
