How to be a lousy technical writer

Some tongue-in-cheek observations:

  • Wait for the information to come to you because it’s “supposed to”.
  • Take edits personally because “developers can’t write”.
  • Skip project meetings because they’re “too technical”.
  • Ignore learning a technology because you’re “not a programmer”.
  • Stay quiet on user interface suggestions (or bugs you find) because “nobody listens to the tech writer”.
  • Avoid planning document deliverable dates because “they’re going to change anyway”.
  • Don’t [insert task here] because “it’s not my job”.

Full disclosure: I’ve thought each of these things at least once in my career. We all have. Just don’t let them dictate your actions.