Link Roundup: July 15, 2024

This week, I’ve included a new article and a much older one. The first focuses on ways that organizations can set up technical writers to be successful in their work. The second offers a waterfall of advice for reflective self-management over a career.

As always, I generate summaries using AI and edit those summaries for accuracy and usefulness. Then, I offer some thoughts of my own.

Fabrizio Ferri Benedetti, “How to set up your tech writer for success”

Link to Article

Generated Summary (ChatGPT)

Ferri Bendetti argues that to set a technical writer up for success, ensure they have adequate access to information, a robust documentation toolchain, and integrate them into the development process. Encourage a documentation-first approach, involve them in AI development, and help them break down content silos. Providing these resources and fostering collaboration will enable your technical writer to significantly enhance product usability and communication.

My Thoughts:

This is a great article for audiences that are unfamiliar with the value of writers and what they need in technical environments. I especially appreciate Fabrizio Ferri Benedetti’s comments about the need to develop effective, collaborative toolchains for documentation and the importance of centering writers and humanities perspectives when creating and employing AI tools in the workplace (which I’ve noted across several of my own posts on AI. Ferri Bendetti’s pithy blog post really cuts to the core of how important writers are for organizations in a succinct and straightforward way.

Peter F. Drucker, “Managing Oneself”

Link to Article

Generated Summary (ChatGPT)

This article, published in the Harvard Business Review, emphasizes the importance of self-awareness and self-management in achieving success. Drucker argues that individuals must understand their strengths, how they perform best, their values, and where they can make the greatest contribution. By taking responsibility for their own development and managing their relationships effectively, individuals can navigate their careers more successfully. He also stresses the importance of knowing when to change course and the need for continuous learning and self-improvement.

My Thoughts

This article is a bit older, but I hadn’t read it before. Given my background in philosophy, I don’t throw the word “wisdom” around loosely. That said, though, this article comes extremely close. Drucker’s thoughts on self-management go well beyond the “business self-help” genre and offer life advice that can apply to seemingly any human activity. There’s too much to touch on in one link roundup, but I’ll highlight Drucker’s heuristic for activities that make a difference—difficult, meaningful, and measurable—as especially useful. I can see this heuristic, alone, as a start to a goal-setting session at multiple levels, regardless of whether those goals are counted in weeks or years and whether they are personal or organizational.