Thirty-six lessons on technical writing practice: the craft, the tools, the process, and the career. Two lessons per week, published Monday and Thursday.
Each lesson is self-contained. I’ll publish two lessons and exercises each week starting on Monday 6 July 2026. Start anywhere, or work through in order.
Phase 1 — Foundation (Weeks 1–3)
Week 1 — What the Job Is
- 1A: What Technical Writers Actually Do 6 July 2026
- 1B: Mastering Audience Analysis 9 July 2026
Week 2 — Writing Craft
- 2A: Writing for the F-Pattern 13 July 2026
- 2B: Plain Language Is Not Dumbing Down 16 July 2026
Week 3 — Editing
- 3A: The Three Tiers of Editing 20 July 2026
- 3B: The Passive Voice Myth 23 July 2026
Phase 2 — Working with People & Structure (Weeks 4–5)
Week 4 — Working with People
- 4A: The Psychology of the SME 27 July 2026
- 4B: Review and Approval Workflows 30 July 2026
Week 5 — Content Structure
- 5A: Documentation Frameworks: A Field Guide 3 August 2026
- 5B: Stop the Sprawl: Information Architecture 6 August 2026
Phase 3 — The Modern Toolchain (Weeks 6–7)
Week 6 — Authoring Environments
- 6A: The Shift to Docs-as-Code 10 August 2026
- 6B: Choosing Your Authoring Environment 13 August 2026
Week 7 — Style & Automation
- 7A: Enforcing Style Guides Without Being a Cop 17 August 2026
- 7B: Automated Linting and Consistency Checking 20 August 2026
Phase 4 — Process (Weeks 8–9)
Week 8 — Agile & Task Management
- 8A: Surviving the Two-Week Sprint 24 August 2026
- 8B: Task Management and Ticket Systems 27 August 2026
Week 9 — Metrics & Maintenance
- 9A: Proving Your Worth: Documentation Metrics 31 August 2026
- 9B: The Art of Deleting: Content Audits 3 September 2026
Phase 5 — Specializations (Weeks 10–13)
Week 10 — API Documentation
- 10A: API Docs 101: Demystifying REST 7 September 2026
- 10B: Beyond REST: OpenAPI and Swagger 10 September 2026
Week 11 — Developer Documentation
- 11A: From Git Commits to Release Notes 14 September 2026
- 11B: Code Samples and Code Comments 17 September 2026
Week 12 — UX Writing & Accessibility
- 12A: Words in the Machine: Intro to UX Writing 21 September 2026
- 12B: Writing for Everyone: Accessibility 24 September 2026
Week 13 — Visual Communication
- 13A: Visuals That Work (and Don’t) 28 September 2026
- 13B: Diagrams as Code: Mermaid & Draw.io 1 October 2026
Phase 6 — AI (Weeks 14–15)
Week 14 — AI as a Tool
- 14A: The Writer as Context Owner 5 October 2026
- 14B: Prompt Engineering for Tech Writers 8 October 2026
Week 15 — AI as Subject Matter
- 15A: Documenting AI and Non-Deterministic Software 12 October 2026
- 15B: Metadata and Taxonomy 15 October 2026
Phase 7 — Scale & Strategy (Weeks 16–17)
Week 16 — Scalable Documentation
- 16A: Write Once, Publish Everywhere 19 October 2026
- 16B: Modular Docs and the Philosophy of DITA 22 October 2026
Week 17 — Global Strategy
- 17A: Writing for Translation and Localization 26 October 2026
- 17B: The Technical Writer as Strategist 29 October 2026
Phase 8 — Career (Week 18)
Week 18 — Career Development
- 18A: Building the NDA-Proof Portfolio 2 November 2026
- 18B: Contracting vs. Full-Time 5 November 2026