Let's Tech Communicate!
Luke Pivac shares the latest trends in technical communication from around the world. In this issue Luke explores how the technical communicator’s brain can play tricks on them, how Markdown editors can save technical communicators time, and why we need a unified customer experience strategy. This and a whole lot more from around the Net!
Out of this world
First up, Andreas Guenter discovers how our brain can trap us into making mistakes and what this can mean in our work day. He highlights surprising insights into how technical communicators can learn from these mistakes. You can find out more in Mind the trap.
In another article called a look at two online Markdown editors for writers, Scott Nesbitt indicates some web-based Markdown editors that are simple to use and very accessible. Why use them, you may ask? They are really handy if you are not working on your own computer, and you need to get a draft of an article or blog done as quickly as possible.
Benefits of tech communication
In this section we feature the benefits of technical communication through a unified customer experience, which is an ongoing trend in 2014. Scot Abel explains why you need a unified customer experience strategy- the idea is to ensure that all departments, from technical communication to marketing to support, are getting together for the greater good of the customer, with an emphasis on "unified!"
In another article that emphasises this trend, called the role of technical communication in customer experience, Sarah O’Keefe discusses how merely getting content out the door is not good enough. Instead, technical communicators must provide quality content all the time, because bad technical communication leads to bad customer experience!
The newbie tech communicator's toolbox
This month we have a number of tips and tricks for the technical communicator. In Manners and etiquette in agile environments, Matt Williams traverses through some of the challenges that new technical communicators may come across in an agile environment on a scrum team.
Also in the agile world, technical writer Ksenya Mizinova highlights some tips on writing for agile in agile technical writing basics.
In this article called Plain Language! Simple techniques to make your content more accessible, Sarah Bastos talks about some simple but useful techniques that you can use to maximise your message and provide content that is easy for your audience to understand and navigate.
Book review
Finally, for something different, check out Rachel Houghton's review of Mark Baker's very popular and insightful book Every Page is Page One.
That is it for the year from me. I hope you have enjoyed these articles and wish you all the best of the holiday period.
See you in the New Year!
Luke Pivac, TechCommNZ Committee member