Despite its name, technical writing isn’t just about writing. It’s about being a bridge between two worlds, the tech development world and the tech usage world. Tech writers become intimately familiar with how tech works in order to give people the information they need to get stuff done. Words are the most visible result of that process, but when we think about tech writing as primarily the writing of stuff, we’re thinking about ourselves.

To make useful technical content that truly helps people get stuff done, we need to think about our audience.

We need to change how we think about our work to focus on the people who need the information we have: Who are they? Why are they interested in the technology we’re writing about? What do they already know? And what do they need to know to get stuff done?

Who are we?

Together, Jeremy and Janine have accumulated 40 years 😲 working in the sci-tech world. Jeremy’s entry point to tech writing was the coding side of things, Janine’s was the science and words side. Together, we’ve built a framework for understanding how people interact with technology and using that understanding to provide them with technical content that helps them achieve their goals.

Is Not Just Writing just for tech writers?

No! The principles we talk about here are for anyone who needs to communicate technical information to a less technically-informed audience. So if you’re tech support, these principles will work for you. If you’re producing marketing content for technical products, these principles will work for you. If you’re trying to help your nana keep in touch with all the grandkids, these principles will work for you.

There are pictures, right?

Yes! Tech writing includes images, drawings, screen caps, animations, video… these are all tools that help us communicate with our audience so they can get stuff done. The principles taught in Not Just Writing courses help you find the right text/imagery balance for your audience.

How do I get started?

Try our freebie intro course, a series of brief lessons sent to your inbox that will help you think about communicating tech info in a different way.