118. Why Writing Matters for Engineers

In this episode, Ian, Laura, and Wesley talk about the importance of communication skills, specifically writing, for people in technical roles. Ian calls writing the single most important meta skill you can have. And the good news is that you can get better at it, with deliberate practice!

Ian and Wesley both come from engineering backgrounds but have moved into more writing-intensive roles as their careers have progressed. Laura is an instructional designer with experience across many industries. They all agree that writing plays several different important roles for people, whether it's to educate, persuade, or even mark a decision.

So if writing is such a critical part of what you're doing from an engineering perspective, how can you get better at it? Laura offers a handful of practices, including providing context, supplying the appropriate level of detail for the audience, using stories or analogies, incorporating repetition, and finding a good editor (even if it's yourself coming back to a piece with fresh eyes).

The guests close the episode by sharing some of their favorite resources for improving communication skills, which are listed below.

Links from this episode

• “Programming as Theory Building" by Peter Naur
• Example of an RFC process
• Illusion of Explanatory Depth
• The Sense of Style by Steven Pinker
• Write and Organize for Deeper Learning by Patti Shank
• Tech Writing course from Google

Episode source