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Articles by Jeffrey
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How do you write and edit clear and concise instructions and manuals?
I taught technical communication to college students for over a decade. This article is filled with advice for writing generic, boring, and therefore useless documents. If that's your goal: read on and follow the advice that the AI has distilled from lots of other generic, boring articles about technical communication. My advice boils down to three rules: 1. Know your audience 2. Tell the truth 3. Don't be boring As my students will attest, unpacking those rules takes an entire semester, and mastering them takes a lifetime. I'm still working on it. The most important is #1. Everything else depends on knowing your audience. There is no abstract good writing. And there are very few abstract rules that work, either.
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How do you write and edit clear and concise instructions and manuals?
"Clear" and "concise" are relative terms. Think about your audience and write for their needs. Some audiences need more colorful examples and flowery language, while others need things without the fluff. Neither is right or wrong in the abstract—it always (always? always!) depends on the audience. Active voice? Simple sentences? Imperative mood? Numbered steps? These are, generally speaking, reasonably good advice, but should not be considered rules. A clear and concise manual for 20-year veteran computer engineers will be wrong for and audience of non-native speakers with no experience. And vice versa. Lastly: don't use Strunk and White. For every 1 piece of good advice, they have at least 2 stinkers. It's out of date. You can do better.
Activity
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As I head out on maternity leave tomorrow, I have to give thanks to Nick Helfrich, Anshul Rathi and CertifyOS for providing me with the care and…
As I head out on maternity leave tomorrow, I have to give thanks to Nick Helfrich, Anshul Rathi and CertifyOS for providing me with the care and…
Liked by Jeffrey Windsor
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Want to know how I know my colleague and friend Curtis Rasmussen has an incredible talent for finding, hiring, and developing top talent? In the last…
Want to know how I know my colleague and friend Curtis Rasmussen has an incredible talent for finding, hiring, and developing top talent? In the last…
Liked by Jeffrey Windsor
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After 7 incredible years I said a bittersweet goodbye to 97th Floor! How do you properly thank a company that basically raised me in my digital…
After 7 incredible years I said a bittersweet goodbye to 97th Floor! How do you properly thank a company that basically raised me in my digital…
Liked by Jeffrey Windsor
Experience & Education
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Portuguese
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Spanish
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More activity by Jeffrey
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Celebrating Marco Diaz last night Northeast Business Group on Health Annual Awards Gala …. Brightline loves seeing our amazing clients in the…
Celebrating Marco Diaz last night Northeast Business Group on Health Annual Awards Gala …. Brightline loves seeing our amazing clients in the…
Liked by Jeffrey Windsor
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Fall 2023 was definitely a challenging quarter: four classes (two at 8 AM!), 353 students, and about 15 Zoom meetings a week. But everything is done,…
Fall 2023 was definitely a challenging quarter: four classes (two at 8 AM!), 353 students, and about 15 Zoom meetings a week. But everything is done,…
Liked by Jeffrey Windsor
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I’m excited to share that I started a new position as a Research Assistant at Seek Labs last month! I'm so happy to join the wonderful minds…
I’m excited to share that I started a new position as a Research Assistant at Seek Labs last month! I'm so happy to join the wonderful minds…
Liked by Jeffrey Windsor
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I'm grateful and excited to announce my work has been honored with the 2023 Chairs Award for Excellence in Research.
I'm grateful and excited to announce my work has been honored with the 2023 Chairs Award for Excellence in Research.
Liked by Jeffrey Windsor
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This has nothing to do with my work, but I think folks who know me professionally will appreciate this: I spent the past few weekends trying to…
This has nothing to do with my work, but I think folks who know me professionally will appreciate this: I spent the past few weekends trying to…
Liked by Jeffrey Windsor
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Last week the G2 team met in Chicago after many years of Zoom for MidYear MeetUp. We laughed and learned in equal measure and I've left brimming with…
Last week the G2 team met in Chicago after many years of Zoom for MidYear MeetUp. We laughed and learned in equal measure and I've left brimming with…
Liked by Jeffrey Windsor
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Christian is a friend of mine, and wrote perhaps the best thing I've read on LinkedIn ever. I encourage you to take a moment to read it.
Christian is a friend of mine, and wrote perhaps the best thing I've read on LinkedIn ever. I encourage you to take a moment to read it.
Shared by Jeffrey Windsor
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