A great article from Joe Shindelar which perfectly encapsulates the pain of every tech writer ever! We see you 🤗

Drupal CMS Docs: Should We Combine the CMS and User Guides?

And it’s a prime example of how #docs can be a powerful instrument for exposing and surfacing broader issues that need to be addressed in the product they’re trying to document.

This is similar to the broader question of how Drupal CMS and Drupal core relate to one another that a lot of people in the community and the starshot leadership team are trying to work through right now.

May the force be with you, Joe, in this challenging conundrum. 🔧

open-source tech-writing

Recommended 🎧: Eric Holscher on The Business of Open Source podcast. An articulate and engaging speaker, I enjoyed hearing such an honest take on the open source sustainability puzzle from someone who’s lived it.

The maker-taker tension he describes is familiar to many #opensource maintainers: the joy of providing value, mixed with the challenge of sustaining projects when users (often large companies) benefit without contributing back. A masterclass in letting value guide your path, Eric describes trying consulting, support, and donation drives, before Read the Docs found sustainability in advertising - a model they’d initially resisted because developers are stubborn 🙃 “We literally tried every other revenue source before we tried the very obvious and appropriate one of selling ads.”

Bonus: Hearing the accidental origin story of the Write the Docs community. How it very quickly morphed from a gathering of Read the Docs users into a global community of people who care about #documentation. Especially poignant given ASTC’s recent closure - a reminder that tech writers will always seek ways to connect and support each other. 💜

Getting-people-to-use-the-features-you-already-have-with-eric-holscher

ai

Excited to speak at DrupalSouth next month - my first Drupal event! I’m thrilled to represent Open Strategy Partners and share our #opensource approach to content strategy and writing for empathy, clarity, and trust.

Looking forward to connecting with the community and experiencing Drupal culture first-hand.

open-source speaking events

I really enjoyed reading Robin Sloan’s Is it okay, then Baldur Bjarnason’s response Subtly wrong is more dangerous, then Robin’s comment on his response, then Bjarnason’s response to Sloan’s response.

Not only are they good writers, it’s an interesting topic and I found it refreshing to see respectful disagreement.

ai

Have you heard about Mustafa Suleyman’s book, The Coming Wave? He’s the co-founder of DeepMind.

I’ve listened to a couple of podcasts with him talking about the book and it’s thought-provoking. There is an Armchair Experts episode with him, but I think a better one is Intelligence Squared - the AI revolution (Part 1).

He’s articulate and easy to listen to. I don’t necessarily agree with all his conclusions… but I can see a lot of what he’s talking about coming to pass.

ai