Chapter 1 · Practice 1 of 4
Decide who the reader is before you write a word
Why it matters
Google's Technical Writing One course puts the core idea as a formula:
You cannot fill a gap you have not measured. Before writing, answer:
- Role: engineers on your team, engineers on another team, product managers, support staff, new hires?
- Proximity: do they know this system, related systems, or nothing at all?
- Task: what will they do after reading: approve, use, operate, decide?
The course warns that roles are only a first approximation: two engineers on the same team can know very different things. When the audience is mixed, write for the less experienced reader and let experts skim.
Do
- Write one line at the top of your draft naming the reader
- Ask what the reader will do after reading
Avoid
- Writing for "everyone", which usually means writing for yourself