Category Archives: business writing

Legitimate vs. Entitlement Complaints

The current hot meme out there is to poke at white women of a certain age with a certain haircut (randomly named “Karen”) who act in an entitled/pushy manner and ask to see the manager. I’ve dealt with my share … Continue reading →

Posted in audience, business writing, workplace | Tagged | Leave a comment

Communication Up and Down the Chain of Command

When I worked in a corporate environment, I emailed a weekly report to my immediate supervisors. It often seemed like a tiresome chore or waste of time. I would send my report to my supervisor, and my supervisors and the … Continue reading →

Posted in business writing, management, workplace | Tagged | Leave a comment

Are You Really Doing “Heroic” Technical Writing?

It occurs to me as I get older that I’ve made my career doing rather boring, out-of-the-way, bureaucratic work: answering complaint letters, developing internal training programs, developing spreadsheets, writing proposals, editing engineering reports, and so forth. None of those are … Continue reading →

Posted in business writing, careers, documentation, editing, freelancing, personal, philosophy | 2 Comments

Do You Have What It Takes to Be a Technical Writer?

This question has come up a couple times recently, in person and online, so I thought I’d take the time to address it. I’ve talked on this page about technical skills needed for the job, as well as soft skills and … Continue reading →

Posted in business writing, careers, editing, freelancing, journalism, marketing, research, science, technical writing, Technology | 1 Comment

Was That Covered by the User Agreement?

Have you ever read that very long user agreement that appears whenever you download a piece of software? I haven’t, but I’m tempted to do so in the future. I’m appealing to the lawyers and technical writers who put those … Continue reading →

Posted in book writing, business writing, technical writing, Technology | Leave a comment