Comment by pricees | Hacker News Reader

Comment by pricees | Hacker News Reader

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This has been my experience, 100%.

All of the jobs I have ever interviewed for casually listed "great oral and written communication" as a skill in the job reqs. I have felt that I had a problem in this area.

I have worked as a remote contractor off and on for most of my life and have never run into an issue.

For the past year and a half I have been on a remote team.

It wasn't until my team lead, who did all of the oral and written communication, left, this past month, that I was placed in the position to pick where he left off.

It became immediately evident how poor my skills are in this area. I know that I am a poor communicator, but I didn't realize just how insufficient I was. Not only grammar and spelling, but conveying complex subject matter in a succinct way for folks lacking detailed domain knowledge. This is a problem!

Regardless, there is hope. How do you get better at writing? Write more. At least that is what I am told. I am now chomping at the bit for long-form writing opportunities to get experiencing it putting thoughts and plans on paper, as well as, using a new SaaS app to commit/tracking writing 5 minutes a day.

Any and all tips are welcome.

1) I don't believe you. You're a fine writer.

2) Writers write. So write more. The only actionable advice I ever got.

I used to devour howtos like Bugs In Writing. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/601222.Bugs_in_Writing

Once I felt confident that I'm saying what I meant to say, I think I stopped. I should probably revisit the classics for a refresher.

3) Simple is harder. Explaining complex stuff is a ninja power. Just keep at it.

4 bonus tip) Proofread, edit stuff you wrote 3, 6, 9 months ago. Consciously note how your writing skill and voice have changed.

This is great. Thank you.

Write more, but get feedback.

Unselected, ungoverned, training, can simply reinforce bad habits.

If your spelling is poor, make an effort to improve. But don't wait for that to happen. Start composing your email in Google Docs or the word processor of your choice with spellcheck turned on. It is worth the extra step of copy pasting your emails in order to get spelling and grammar right.

Spelling's one of the least problems with writing.

Structure, meaning, flow, logic, and engaging the reader the most difficult.

Logic and rhetoric over grammar.

I was never that good at writing but just putting some effort and caring about what you write down makes a huge difference. After you write an email or a document, read through the whole thing and edit. Is it obvious what I want to happen? Do I sound like a dick? The biggest improvement for me was to give more concrete answers. Like when someone asks you for a meeting, don't just say "yeah any time's fine", actually give a few dates and times that work for you. It also cuts down on the annoying back and forth of scheduling via email.

I'm mildly confused. Your post here seems fine and quit readable. How do you arrive at the conclusion, that you're lacking in written communication skills?

(sorry for question instead of tips)

May be evidence that the additional training/work s/he's put in is paying off. I agree that the post does not show a lack of written communication skills.

Maybe it took a long time to write that post. That's what I struggle with anyway.

"I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time." -- Blaise Pascal

I encourage you to not criticize yourself too harshly.

I reread it a few times. I reread it aloud. This is a new discipline.

In a sense, your confusion here -is- the problem:

"conveying complex subject matter in a succinct way for folks lacking detailed domain knowledge."

FWIW, I didn't have the same confusion about the post, so I don't know how lacking the author is in this specific setting.

But I have had the same general struggle.

I have an MA in English/rhetoric and am a software dev, and even with that nexus of training it has been a lot of work to get better at communicating... the struggle to communicate technical issues to non technical people is a lifelong journey with a complex path. It's just hard.

So here's my tip:

smaller sentences. More paragraphs. Simpler language.

And IME we do best when we develop a continual awareness that although communication is difficult, it is possible.

> So here's my tip: > > smaller sentences. More paragraphs. Simpler language.

I've also found thinking about sensual clues to be helpful, e.g. what would the user/customer/whatever see (or hear or feel) at this point? What (exact) text would they reasonably anchor on based on everything they might see? I also try to visually distinguish different types of info, e.g. exact text of some kind of UI element, code.

Another really helpful tip is to confirm that the user/customer/whatever sees/hears/feels some (exact) specific thing at a specific { step / point in space-time }. If they don't provide the (near) exact response I expect, I try to notice my confusion and debug right then and there until my confusion is resolved.

This is useful advice.

If you abstract it, the general form is something like "work with concepts that your audience is already familiar with", which is good advice for any communication. And, similarly, be on the look out for any data that says your communication has started to go awry.

Sample size is one, and they might've discussed this before. Someone with good written communication skills can write effectively, without too much details, quickly on the fly. The same holds true for verbal.

I believe there's two important key points: confidence (but not overconfidence) and empathy/sympathy. Putting yourself in the other person's shoe and figuring what they need to hear ie. not what you want to express. The latter is secondary!

Sure, you can practice it, but only so much. I have autism, and I'm utter shit at this (even in my native language). I've been practicing it pretty much all my life (I remember having issues with it at elementary school). I'm terrible with being to the point and keeping communication short. And if it is short, its usually too rude.

This helps a lot http://blog.dilbert.com/2015/08/22/the-day-you-became-a-bett...

One good to practice is to think of something that really bothers you: traffic, politics, your in-laws, whatever. Then write a blog post explaining why it makes you angry, and giving ways to fix it.

Don't just write more! Also read more! :)

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