There are many reasons to write. My current motivations include:
Many times, ideas that sound great in my head are hard for me to verbally communicate with others.
Writing gives me a chance to process those thoughts and refine something that might be half baked. Is it worth sharing? When is the right time to share? Is it something that could surprise someone or catch them off guard?
Writing is like anything else. It gets better with practice.
I haven’t ever had a consistent habit of writing and hope to build one. I’ve tried blogging about technical hobby projects in the past and a lot of those projects were in a half-baked state. I learned a lot from the projects themselves, but when I read my writing a year later it didnt age well. That inspired me to start a new blogging website with a broad, generalized scope where I can write about anything.
These blog posts are written for an audience of one. Myself.
I have no expectations for others to read or like what I write about. There is freedom to explore and that gives me space to write without fear of judgement.
If my writing resonates with others, I’ll take that as a signal that my writing is coming from a place of authenticity. I tend to be a people pleaser and often seek validation from others. That hasn’t served me well, and usually isn’t authentic either. I hope to improve on that.
If I can write for myself, clearly articulate my thoughts, and come back a day later and understand my own writing, I will call that a success.
In a work setting, my writing can involve an audience of many different stakeholders:
It is difficult, maybe impossible, to write one document that serves all stakeholders with the right level of context. Within a single document, the context needs to start very high level so that all readers can understand the purpose of the document, the problem it describes, the business impact of resolving the problem, and the risks of doing nothing.
When framing the problem, avoid technical details and jargon. Write as if it’s the first time anyone is learning about the problem. A challenge I’ve burned myself with many times is forgetting that something that feels common sense to me came from days, weeks, or even months or years of context gathering. It’s usually safer to assume that the audience knows nothing about the problem and start from there.