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)
(sorry for question instead of tips)
"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.
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.
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.
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.
I encourage you to not criticize yourself too harshly.