Addressing one mistake in agile adoption

Posted on 21 November 2010 by David Farbey

The company I work for is very keen on introducing agile methods across its software development department, and this has inevitably caused much discussion. Due to staff shortages I have been working as the technical writer on multiple software projects simultaneously, which is far from ideal as it involves too much mental context-switching, but it has given me an opportunity to see the different ways different teams approach agile. (It’s also one of the reasons why I haven’t posted anything here for a while). It also makes me feel qualified to take part in discussions about agile software development. Continue reading →

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Content Strategy for Everyone

Posted on 24 September 2010 by David Farbey

The title of my presentation at TCUK this week was Content Strategy for Everyone. I wasn’t the only person mentioning content strategy – one other speaker pondered about whether it is just for the web, but that’s a question I am willing to give a very firm answer to: of course content strategy isn’t just for the web. Continue reading →

Posted in content strategy, information design, technical writing | 7 Comments

Mind the gap

Posted on 12 September 2010 by David Farbey

I commute to work every day on the London Underground, known familiarly to Londoners and visitors alike as “the tube”. The tube network doesn’t always work as well as it could, and recently there was a very disruptive strike (with more strikes threatened in the near future) but nevertheless, travelling on the tube does remind me of the importance of technical communication in a number of ways. Continue reading →

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The STC guide to quantum mechanics

Posted on 30 August 2010 by David Farbey

Although I’m no longer an STC member, I know that it does plenty of good things at both the local and Society level. I am pleased to count many active STC volunteers amongst my friends and professional colleagues, and I wouldn’t have met them if I hadn’t been a member. So I hope no-one will read this article as an attack on this important organisation. It’s just meant to be an amusing aside.

But what has the STC got to do with quantum mechanics? Let me explain. Continue reading →

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Asking the right questions

Posted on 8 August 2010 by David Farbey

When you’re a technical communicator you need to know what are the right questions to ask – and who to address those questions to.

This is the topic I’d been thinking about when my very good friends at Firehead Ltd. asked me to be their guest blogger and write something  for them, which I was delighted to do. I clearly wrote too much for one article so they have published it in three parts:

All three parts have now been published. Please follow this link to read the first part, follow this link to read the second part, and this link to read the third part. (Sharp-eyed readers will note that some of the text is identical in all the posts. This was a decision taken by Firehead’s editors.)

If you’re a technical writer in a hurry, you may be interested to know that the third part has had the most positive responses from other technical writers.

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On being “influential”

Posted on 31 July 2010 by David Farbey

I was surprised and flattered to find myself included this week on MindTouch’s list of the Top 25 Most Influential Technical Communications Bloggers (and I have added a badge to this blog to prove it!). It’s a great honour to be included in such illustrious company, especially as the rankings were computed from a number of different social media metrics. So my thanks must go not just to Mark Fidelman who compiled the list, but more importantly to people like you, who read my blog and follow me on Twitter.

The list is international, including tech comm bloggers from the UK, Australia, and India as well as the USA, and I’m pleased to say that I already knew almost every name on the list either as a personal contact or as a regular correspondent through professional mailing lists or on social networks. I was also very pleased to see that four of the people listed (Ellis Pratt, Gordon McLean, Colum McAndrew, and myself) are presenting at Technical Communication UK 2010. Continue reading →

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Doc tasks in the sprint – for the first time

Posted on 17 July 2010 by David Farbey

Although I’ve been part of an agile development team for the last few months, until recently my user documentation tasks have not been part of the sprint backlog. But this time, my tasks are on the board! (I realise that if you are not au fait with the arcane language and practices of agile, you may find this post a bit obscure.) Continue reading →

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Talking about Content Strategy at TCUK

Posted on 10 June 2010 by David Farbey

I’m pleased to report that my proposal to speak at Technical Communications UK 2010 (TCUK) has been accepted. I’m going to speaking on the theme of Content Strategy for Everyone. I won’t be alone in following Kristina Halvorson’s exhortation to “bang the big drum” for content strategy – Roger Hart will be speaking there about his experiences as well. Continue reading →

Posted in content strategy, technical writing | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments