The Not-Boring Tech Writer

Kate Mueller
  • 0.0 (0)
  • Careers
  • Monthly

Some people hear the phrase "technical writing" and think it must be boring. We're here to show the full complexity and awesomeness of being a tech writer. This podcast is for anyone who writes technical documentation of any kind, including those who may not feel comfortable calling themselves tech writers. Whether you create product documentation, support documentation, READMEs, or any other technical content—and whether you deal with imposter syndrome, lack formal training, or find yourself somewhere in the gray area between technical communications and general writing—there's a place for you here. Each month, we publish two episodes: an interview with an amazing guest focusing on useful skills or tools that can help you improve your tech writing skills, and a behind-the-scenes solo episode with host Kate Mueller about what she’s working on, struggling with, or thinking about in her daily tech writing life. The Not-Boring Tech Writer is generously sponsored by KnowledgeOwl, knowledge base software built for people who care, by people who care.

  1. 6 Aug

    Writing more human content with Mat Patterson

    In this episode, I talk with Mat Patterson, a CX professional turned technical marketing writer who spent nearly a decade each at Campaign Monitor and Help Scout before going freelance and founding More Human Content. We talk about why content that keeps its personality connects better than content with all the edges sanded off, how he treats an email newsletter as an invitation into someone's inbox rather than a transaction, why small companies shouldn't voluntarily start sounding like big ones, and how years of putting his own name and face on his work shaped his move into freelancing. — Mat and I discuss his winding path into writing for a living, which started with tech support out of university and a stint as a web designer beginning in the late 1990s, when one HTML course was enough to qualify you. He shares the moment he noticed someone had copied his company website, not the design but the copy, which he took as a sign he should probably be doing more writing and less web design. He joined Campaign Monitor as a support person, a role that called for web design skills and that he came to as an existing customer, and we talk about how being a user first gives you a real feel for how a company thinks and treats people. Over nearly ten years there he handled email support while also writing content for the knowledge base, the blog, and eventually giving conference talks, and that combination led him to a customer evangelist role at Help Scout for another decade before he went freelance and founded More Human Content. The heart of our conversation is Mat's case for keeping personality in the content you write. He describes the frustration of finding a company whose voice you like, then opening their documentation and discovering every bit of life has been sucked out of it. We talk about the gravitational pull that draws growing companies toward a middle ground of corporate language that makes everyone sound the same, and why small companies and individuals shouldn't voluntarily give that up when they don't have to. Mat also reframes email newsletters as something closer to an invitation: when someone hands you their email address, they're letting you into their house, so the least you can do is be interesting. We discuss why a newsletter can feel like a conversation rather than a transaction, why the small risk of putting personality into your writing is worth the connection it builds with the people who do respond to it, and how putting his own name and face on a decade of content built a following that followed him when he left. We spend the second half on the practical side of going freelance, including the fact that Mat left Help Scout full time and immediately signed a contract to keep making their content, how he decided what other work to offer, the difference between the ideal client he'd love to find and the writing that pays the bills in the meantime, and why marketing yourself while you're already busy matters more than waiting until you need the work. We both land on the value of a "one-page menu" instead of trying to be a cafeteria, and Mat shares how Greg McKeown's Essentialism gave him permission to get better at the things he's genuinely good at rather than trying to learn everything. He also makes a case for reading broadly, including libraries and secondhand bookshops, where he turned up a 1952 book called How to Write Technical Books that worries about many of the same problems we still have. Mat closes with the advice he keeps coming back to even though he doesn't always manage it: stop talking and start listening. About Mat Patterson: A former SaaS customer support team leader, Mat spent years teaching people how to deliver better online support before founding More Human Content, creating customer-centric content for people-centric businesses. In this episode: [00:01:57]: Mat's origin story: why he calls himself a writer in tech rather than a tech writer[00:02:43]: Getting his website copy stolen, and taking it as a sign to write more[00:04:27]: From a Sydney zoo to Campaign Monitor, and joining a company whose product you already use[00:07:09]: Wearing every hat at a small company: email support, knowledge base, blog, and conference talks[00:10:47]: Marketing posts vs. problem-solving posts, and finding the answer in his own forgotten blog post[00:12:08]: Joining Help Scout as a customer evangelist by tweeting the CEO[00:16:37]: The newsletter rule: don't be boring[00:17:52]: An email inbox as permission to come into someone's house[00:20:19]: Why newsletter replies beat responses on social media[00:22:53]: Why documentation doesn't have to be desiccated[00:24:14]: The small risk of writing with personality and the connection it buys you[00:25:27]: Leaving Help Scout: company size, creative work, and avoiding spreadsheets[00:30:27]: More Human Content: not anti-AI, but anti-acting-like-a-big-company[00:33:58]: Sanding off the edges: the gravitational pull toward corporate language[00:37:42]: Building a company's voice and the risk of getting trapped in your own[00:38:49]: Leaving full time, contracting back, and picturing the ideal client[00:45:01]: Analogies as the secret to his whole career[00:49:46]: What you can say under your own name that a company wouldn't[00:53:21]: How a personal following follows you when you leave[00:55:16]: “Essentialism” and getting better at what you're already good at[00:59:05]: The one-page menu: offering fewer things and saying no[01:00:17]: Reading broadly: libraries, secondhand bookshops, and a 1952 book on technical writing[01:04:52]: Mat's best advice: stop talking and start listening[01:08:32]: How he generates weekly content from a running list of notes Resources discussed in this episode: More Human Content newsletter - Mat's weekly newsletterYour fridge is running - The fridge newsletter Mat mentions in the episodeThe Supportive Weekly - The Help Scout newsletter Mat writes each weekMuseum of Customer Support: The World's Oldest Complaint Letter - Mat's post about Ea-nāṣir, the copper traderThe complaint tablet to Ea-nasir (and his apology to Nanni) - The video version of that postThe Supportive - The Help Scout podcast Mat still works onDocumentarians in a self-service-first world - Mat's article for the KnowledgeOwl blogObsidian - Where Mat keeps the running list of notes and phrases he mines for newsletter ideasBooks:Essentialism by Greg McKeownThe Art of X-Ray Reading by Roy Peter ClarkHow to Write Technical Books by John Gloag - The 1952 book Mat found in a secondhand bookshopJoin the discussion by replying

  2. 23 Jul

    Kate sounds off on making things better

    In this solo episode, I share my latest content updates progress and reflect on my takeaways from Vladimir Izmalkov’s interview (S3:E40). I also share my definition of productive procrastination, a documentation jobs board maintained by Adam Pugh, and our new “Hire a tech writer” program here on the podcast. — I partnered with Sue, one of our developers, on an Okta SCIM integration project, doing some of the integration testing and creating the documentation so we could submit our integration to the Okta Integration Network. I made some article editor docs updates, but we released a number of new editor features and further interface changes, particularly to the versions functionality, so I’ll have a lot of new work and revisiting already-updated pages in my future. I’ve been battling burnout on the article editor docs, so I decided it was time for a little productive procrastination. This time, I decided to review our usage of Prism for code syntax highlighting and discovered it had new plugins we didn’t have, so I upgraded our installation, wrote docs on how to do that, and tested using a new plugin to load code blocks directly from files, which looks like it will streamline a lot of redundant work on my side! I reflect on my interview with Vladimir Izmalkov, both in the utility of his tech writer skill tree but also how we both want our documentation to make someone’s life better or, as Vladimir put it “making [complicated things] simpler for people to enjoy them with less effort and less time spent.” Vladimir and Heather’s episodes complement each other well, both discussing nonlinear ways that skills can be developed and/or matched to new job opportunities. And in the vein of job opportunities, I share two resources that may help you if you’re looking for work or looking to hire. The first is Adam Pugh’s good documentation jobs sheet, which is free and available to the public. He updates this periodically using tools that evaluate the content of a job, rather than just the title, and he gave me permission to share it on the show. The second is a new program we’re launching here on the podcast called Hire a tech writer, designed for those of you looking to hire awesome not-boring writers to share your open positions with our listener base in the hopes we can connect awesome listeners with each other. There’s a lot of uncertainty in our industries and roles right now, and we hope these resources help you navigate some of that uncertainty. In this episode: [00:00:54]: Progress update on the new Okta SCIM integration and article editor updates[00:04:23]: My definition of productive procrastination and updating Prism[00:11:31]: Reflecting on Vladimir Izmalkov’s user advocacy stance and experiences[00:14:33]: Adam Pugh’s good documentation jobs sheet[00:17:18]: Introducing our new Hire a tech writer program Resources discussed in this episode: Mapping your technical writing skill tree with Vladimir Izmalkov (S3:E40)The Technical Writer's Skill Tree - Vladimir's talk, delivered at an online meeting of the ISTC London Area Group on 21 January 2026 Knitting together a technical writing career with Heather Zoppetti (S3:E38)Adam Pugh’s good documentation jobs sheetWorking Notes, Adam Pugh’s Substack in which he shares more of the journey behind the good documentation jobs sheetHire a tech writer and advertise a job opportunity on The Not-Boring Tech Writer Join the discussion by replying on Bluesky — Contact The Not-Boring Tech Writer team: We love hearing your ideas for episode topics, guests, or general feedback: Email: tnbtw@knowledgeowl.comthenotboringtechwriter.comLinkedInBlueskyGuest suggestions form Contact Kate Mueller: knowledgewithsass.comLinkedInBluesky Contact KnowledgeOwl: knowledgeowl.comLinkedIn

  3. 9 Jul

    Mapping your technical writing skill tree with Vladimir Izmalkov

    In this episode, I talk with Vladimir Izmalkov, an experienced technical communicator who has built and managed documentation teams and worked across open source and enterprise software in both English and Russian. We talk about his RPG-inspired "skill tree" for technical writers, how mapping your skills into different "classes" can help you make sense of a nonlinear career, and how to build a personal grading system that lets you evaluate yourself against a job's requirements and pitch your adjacent skills with confidence. — Vladimir and I discuss his winding path into technical writing, which began at a Russian research institute where he worked on information and communication systems for emergency response, before he realized that his mix of technical breadth and a knack for working with documents pointed toward technical writing. We talk about his move to the UK to work at a London startup documenting an open source database, the tension he felt blending honest technical documentation with marketing, and his current role at Canonical, where the team calls themselves "technical authors" to reflect their authority over documentation and their collaborative, guidance-focused work with engineers. The heart of our conversation is Vladimir's RPG-inspired "skill tree" for technical writers, a model he developed to capture how nonlinear and multidimensional our careers really are. He explains how the many skills a tech writer can develop behave like independent dimensions, and how thinking in terms of "classes" (like a linguistics-focused writer, a tech-curious engineer, a "docs tool sage" who loves automation and tooling, a marketer, or a team leader) can help you make sense of your own experience. We discuss visualizing all of this on a radar chart, and why the real value isn't the picture itself but the deeper understanding it gives you of your strengths and gaps. We also dig into the practical grading system that makes the skill tree useful for job hunting. Vladimir walks through how to build a leveling scale from a job posting's requirements, grade yourself honestly against it, and then identify where adjacent skills can compensate for gaps, using the example of pitching Docs as Code experience when a role calls for DITA. We close on AI as its own branch of the skill tree, including why Vladimir is cautious about generating documentation from scratch and why his most reliable results come from using AI to build deterministic, testable scripts he can automate rather than automating the AI itself. About Vladimir Izmalkov: Vladimir Izmalkov is a technical writer with 15+ years of experience creating developer-oriented documentation in Russian and English. A docs-as-code advocate, he has documented NoSQL databases, cloud platforms, and distributed systems, and takes a thoughtful, cautious approach to AI in technical documentation. In this episode: [00:01:12]: Vladimir's origin story: from a Russian research institute and emergency response systems to discovering technical writing[00:05:34]: Realizing technical writing is a named profession, and how broad the field can be[00:08:26]: User advocacy and user-centric communication as the heart of the work[00:10:09]: From overcomplicated academic writing to simplifying complex products for users[00:13:41]: Relocating to the UK and documenting an open source database at a London startup[00:15:31]: The tension between honest technical documentation and marketing content[00:19:28]: Joining Canonical and why the team calls themselves "technical authors"[00:21:12]: Job titles: technical writer, technical author, or documentation engineer?[00:23:38]: Where the skill tree idea came from and viewing skills as independent dimensions[00:26:40]: Building the RPG-inspired technical writer skill tree[00:28:03]: Skill tree "classes": the writer, tech-curious engineer, docs tool sage, marketeer, and team leader[00:29:40]: Using a radar chart and building a grading system to level yourself[00:31:16]: Tooling as an example: mastering your own tools vs. what a role requires[00:32:37]: Projecting adjacent skills onto job requirements (Docs as Code vs. DITA)[00:37:37]: AI as a branch of the skill tree and why "competing" against it misses the point[00:41:16]: Using AI for automation rather than generating docs from scratch[00:43:10]: Why generating docs from scratch is the worst-case use of AI[00:50:34]: Vladimir's best piece of advice: ask whether you're doing the wrong thing Resources discussed in this episode: The Technical Writer's Skill Tree - Vladimir's talk, delivered at an online meeting of the ISTC London Area Group on 21 January 2026Communicator journal, Volume 1, 2026 - The issue containing Vladimir's articleDocumentation Engineering - Vladimir's YouTube channel, which includes a video on ways to use AI in technical documentationVladimir's ADPList mentor profile Join the discussion by replying on Bluesky — Contact The Not-Boring Tech Writer team: We love hearing your ideas for episode topics, guests, or general feedback: Email: tnbtw@knowledgeowl.comthenotboringtechwriter.comLinkedInBlueskyGuest suggestions form Contact Kate Mueller: knowledgewithsass.comLinkedInBluesky Contact Vladimir Izmalkov: izmalkov.netLinkedIn Contact KnowledgeOwl: knowledgeowl.comLinkedIn

  4. 25 Jun

    Kate sounds off on building confidence

    In this solo episode, I share my latest content updates progress and reflect on my takeaways from Heather Zoppetti’s interview (S3:E38). I also share some thoughts on shifting from focusing on reducing stress to building confidence and share an anecdote about how my podcast t-shirt helped me discover a local tech writer in the wild. — I wrote and hosted a series of five webinars on our Change Management Toolkit this month, which seemed to go well and which gave me a sense for where the gaps in the toolkit still are. I’m still hoping to create a publicly accessible version of the toolkit I can share with you. I’ve also been continuing to update docs as part of the article editor redesign, this month focusing on our synced articles, categories, and knowledge base documentation. This prompted a partial reorganization and the creation of 14 new articles as that reorganization identified content gaps. I reflect on my interview with Heather Zoppetti, a former software developer and knitwear business owner. I love how Heather combined her software developer tech chops with a decade of crafting knitwear patterns and content to get her first tech writing job. I reflect on the similarities in our approaches and outlooks around getting feedback from other writers and viewing varied or unusual experiences as beneficial for a technical communicator. I’m trying to embrace her idea of technical communication’s goal of building confidence in your end-user, reader, or watcher, which I think is a much more positive way of framing my whole “reduce stress” goal. I close by talking about all the different forms that technical communication can take, and therefore all the different paths and roles that technical communicators have. I share a story of a woman at a local natural foods store asking me questions about my podcast t-shirt, which culminated in me pointing out that if she writes SOPs, she’s a technical writer, too. In this episode: [00:00:29]: Progress updates on my change management toolkit webinar series and Support knowledge base content updates[00:04:48]: Reflecting on Heather Zoppetti’s career path, skills, and collaboration techniques[00:11:50]: Reframing the idea of docs as stress reduction to docs as confidence builders, thanks to Heather[00:14:28]: The variety of technical communication types and paths[00:19:10]: My podcast t-shirt in the wild: a story of discovering a tech writer in the wild Resources discussed in this episode: Support knowledge base: Shared & synced contentKnitting together a technical writing career with Heather Zoppetti (S3:E38)The craft of technical writing with Marcia Riefer Johnston (S3:E8) Join the discussion by replying on Bluesky — Contact The Not-Boring Tech Writer team: We love hearing your ideas for episode topics, guests, or general feedback: Email: tnbtw@knowledgeowl.comthenotboringtechwriter.comLinkedInBlueskyGuest suggestions form Contact Kate Mueller: knowledgewithsass.comLinkedInBluesky Contact KnowledgeOwl: knowledgeowl.comLinkedIn

  5. 11 Jun

    Knitting together a technical writing career with Heather Zoppetti

    In this episode, I talk with Heather Zoppetti, a senior technical writer who came to the field through software development and a decade spent running a hand-knitting pattern business. We talk about how technical communication shows up far beyond software documentation, how to recognize and reframe the transferable skills hiding in a nonlinear career, and why being willing to try something matters more than doing it perfectly. — Heather and I discuss her winding path into technical writing, which started with a career in software development, took a decade-long detour into running a hand-knitting pattern and yarn business, and eventually circled back to tech. When she returned to job hunting and realized she no longer recognized the skills developers were expected to have, she stumbled on a technical writing posting and recognized the work immediately: writing knitting patterns is technical communication. She applied using her knitting patterns as her writing portfolio, and we talk about why her tech writing instincts came more from designing knitwear than from her years as a developer. A central thread of our conversation is the idea that technical communication is far broader than software documentation. Heather pushed me to think beyond written text to formats like videos, live workshops, interactive lessons, and animated GIFs, and to recognize that different audiences and learning styles call for different approaches. We dig into her experiments with internal documentation at Vanguard, including running user research cohorts to learn the why behind how people use content, and why metrics alone can't tell you whether someone was genuinely absorbed or just stepped away from their desk. We also explore what happens when a docs team builds its own site using the design system it documents, and how "drinking your own champagne" surfaces bugs and builds trust with users. We spend much of the second half on transferable skills and how to reframe a nonlinear career for a tech writing role. Heather and I both believe more people have technical communication experience than they realize, whether it's a pet medication schedule, a tax prep sheet, a restaurant menu, or a cheat sheet you wrote so your family stops calling you for help. We talk about treating your resume and cover letter as their own forms of technical communication, mapping your experience to the language in a job description, and why good documentation ultimately leaves your reader feeling confident they can do the thing. Heather closes with a reminder that stuck with me: you don't have to go all in to try something, and the only real way to find out if something is for you is to give it a go. About Heather Zoppetti: Heather Zoppetti, from Philadelphia, has a rich background in computer science and technical writing. Her current professional journey has her spending her days programming, creating tooling for engineers, and writing documentation. When she’s not typing away at code or text, Heather’s knitting, painting, or performing some other needle witchcraft like cross-stitch. She loves coffee, cats, and the Oxford comma. In this episode: [00:01:20]: Heather's origin story: from software developer to hand-knitting business owner to technical writer[00:03:15]: Recognizing knitting patterns as technical writing and using them as a portfolio[00:05:59]: Heather's current UX writing role and the value of not being a lone writer[00:08:51]: How companies value documentation and where it sits in the org[00:12:42]: Why "technical communication" is broader than "technical writing"[00:13:51]: Meeting different learning styles with video, GIFs, workshops, and more[00:18:04]: Experimenting with internal docs, user research cohorts, and the limits of metrics[00:23:06]: How different roles (designers vs. developers) prefer to learn[00:28:13]: Job titles: technical writer, content writer, or documentation engineer?[00:29:52]: Tooling constraints and building a docs site with your own design system[00:31:03]: "Drinking your own champagne": how dogfooding surfaces bugs and builds trust[00:34:40]: The case for transferable skills and the tech comm you already do[00:39:37]: Technical communication everywhere: medicine labels, pet care, tax prep, and menus[00:47:48]: Reframing a nonlinear career in cover letters, resumes, and interviews[00:52:36]: Interviewing, imposter syndrome, and transferable skills[00:58:52]: How good documentation leaves your reader feeling confident[01:01:08]: Resource recommendation: the Write the Docs Slack and community[01:03:15]: Best advice: just try it, and treat new things as experiments Resources discussed in this episode: "Knitting Together a Technical Writing Career": Heather's Write the Docs Portland 2025 talkWrite the Docs Slack Join the discussion by replying on Bluesky — Contact The Not-Boring Tech Writer team: We love hearing your ideas for episode topics, guests, or general feedback: Email: tnbtw@knowledgeowl.comthenotboringtechwriter.comLinkedInBlueskyGuest suggestions form Contact Kate Mueller: knowledgewithsass.comLinkedInBluesky Contact Heather Zoppetti: heatherzoppetti.comLinkedInBluesky Contact KnowledgeOwl: knowledgeowl.comLinkedIn

  6. 28 May

    Kate sounds off on stress reduction

    In this solo episode, I share my latest content updates progress and reflect on my takeaways from Florian Lefebvre’s interview (S3:E36). I also share some thoughts on how documentation leads can reduce stress for contributors or reviewers. — I’ve been continuing to update docs as part of the article editor redesign, though somehow despite updating a lot, the total number hasn’t changed much. I've also helped with docs on a few new features, including small updates to our API endpoint documentation, writing some best practices for using URL redirect articles and categories, major changes to our URL checker, and writing some guidance on robots.txt customizations to prevent certain types of user agent traffic. I also reviewed docs someone else updated when we finally transitioned Advanced search to being a full find-and-replace feature. And, of course, I kept quite busy with Write the Docs Portland, serving as the Writing Day Coordinator! I reflect on my interview with Florian Lefebvre, co-maintainer of Astro. I love Florian’s story arc of going from someone who self-described as “lazy” and “not enthusiastic” about docs to becoming someone for whom docs are an essential part of building a feature. And I love how Astro Docs uses "talking and doc-ing" meetings to work through core concepts rather than turn them into grammar nitpick fests, lowering the barrier for non-native English speakers and folks who aren’t professional writers to produce clear, accurate documentation. I close by reflecting on the ways that the processes Sarah Rainsberger, docs lead at Astro Docs, has built processes that have reduced stress for her contributors, including the talking and doc-ing meetings but also the single page for experimental features, taking on the responsibility of content hierarchy, multiple pages, and cross-references for herself. I use a vaguely similar approach here at KnowledgeOwl but I haven’t tried the single page approach, and I may have to try this out with my team. In my own experience, decisions about naming pages and deciding where they live in the content hierarchy are some of the most stressful tasks for my team, and removing those as tasks has made them a lot more excited to contribute to documentation. In this episode: [00:00:44]: Progress updates[00:03:25]: Reflections on Florian’s story arc[00:05:06]: Reflections on Astro Docs’ talking and doc-ing meetings[00:07:59]: Reflections on how we can reduce stress for SMEs, contributors, or reviewers Resources discussed in this episode: Writing docs as an open source developer with Florian Lefebvre (S3:E36)Empathy advocacy: Designing docs for all emotional states with Ryan Macklin (S3:E16)Kate sounds off on cognitive capital and learning (S3:E17)Astro Docs Docs (AD2) Join the discussion by replying on Bluesky — Contact The Not-Boring Tech Writer team: We love hearing your ideas for episode topics, guests, or general feedback: Email: tnbtw@knowledgeowl.comthenotboringtechwriter.comLinkedInBlueskyGuest suggestions form Contact Kate Mueller: knowledgewithsass.comLinkedInBluesky Contact KnowledgeOwl: knowledgeowl.comLinkedIn

  7. 14 May

    Writing docs as an open source developer with Florian Lefebvre

    In this episode, I talk with Florian Lefebvre, a core maintainer of the open source Astro framework, about what it looks like to write and contribute to docs as a developer. We discuss his mindset shift from being reluctant about docs to seeing them as essential to shipping a feature, how he collaborates with a dedicated docs lead through "talking and doc-ing" calls, the importance of writing changesets from the user's perspective, and how reviewing community contributions doubles as a way to teach new contributors your project's docs conventions. — Florian and I discuss his path into the Astro core team, which started with answering questions on the project's Discord as a user and eventually led to being invited to join the core team. He shares how he was initially reluctant about writing docs, but his perspective shifted as he came to see docs as inseparable from shipping a feature. As Florian puts it, if you build something and nobody knows it exists or how to use it, your feature doesn't really exist. A central thread of our conversation is Florian's collaboration with Sarah Rainsberger, the Astro docs lead. We dig into their "talking and doc-ing" calls, where Sarah reads back her understanding of a feature and the two iterate together until the docs are technically accurate. Florian highlights how having a dedicated docs lead removes a lot of pressure, especially as a non-native English speaker. He can focus on getting the technical content right and trust Sarah to handle phrasing. We also discuss the value of asking "Is this what you meant?" as a confidence check, rather than making edits based on assumed understanding. Beyond the collaboration with Sarah, we also cover the practical side of contributing docs as a developer, including reviewing community PRs, writing user-focused changesets, and handling docs for experimental features. Florian explains his approach to coaching new contributors through review comments rather than pointing them to guidelines, why he writes changesets focused on what the user cares about rather than what the developer did to fix something, and how Astro keeps experimental feature docs as a single page until the feature stabilizes. Florian closes with a small but powerful philosophy from the Astro Docs team: every contribution just has to be "not worse than what we had before." About Florian Lefebvre: Fullstack developer. Freelancer. Astro core maintainer & TSC member. Open-Source lover. French. Two-time winner of the Astro Community Award. In this episode: [00:01:38]: Florian's origin story: from coding his high school orchestra's website to joining the Astro core team[00:03:22]: Astro's governance: maintainers, core maintainers, and how community involvement leads to those roles[00:05:19]: Astro features Florian has contributed: Astro Env and the Fonts API[00:11:01]: From reluctant docs contributor to seeing docs as essential to shipping a feature[00:13:50]: How Astro's docs work: a dedicated docs lead plus community contributions[00:14:58]: Community contributions and the "banner everywhere" problem[00:17:10]: Astro Docs Docs and coaching new contributors through review comments[00:22:44]: Writing changesets that focus on what the user cares about, not what the developer did[00:32:57]: Docs for experimental features: the single-page approach[00:40:44]: Using existing pages as templates for new docs[00:42:45]: Writing docs as a non-native English speaker[00:46:55]: The "talking and doc-ing" call process: drafts, iteration, and confidence checks[00:52:51]: Resource recommendations: Astro Docs Docs, Diátaxis, and Sarah's 50 docs tips[00:54:21]: Florian's best advice: every contribution should be "not worse than what we had before" Resources discussed in this episode: Astro DocsAstro Docs Docs - Astro's docs about contributing to and writing for their docsAstro Env - The environment variables feature Florian contributed to AstroAstro Fonts API - The fonts feature Florian worked onStarlight - A docs framework built on top of AstroThe Diátaxis framework50 docs tips in 50 days - Sarah Rainsberger's blog series Also recommended by Florian: Supporting the future of Astro Join the discussion by replying on Bluesky — Contact The Not-Boring Tech Writer team: We love hearing your ideas for episode topics, guests, or general feedback: Email: tnbtw@knowledgeowl.comthenotboringtechwriter.comLinkedInBlueskyGuest suggestions form Contact Kate Mueller: knowledgewithsass.comLinkedInBluesky Contact Florian Lefebvre: florian-lefebvre.devLinkedInBluesky Contact KnowledgeOwl: knowledgeowl.comLinkedIn

  8. 30 Apr

    Kate sounds off on community

    In this solo episode, I share my latest content updates progress and reflect on my takeaways from Eric Holscher’s interview (S3:E34). I also share some thoughts on supporting institutions we care about and how to keep “community” from being an unpleasant word. — KnowledgeOwl just released a major redesign of our article editor, so I’ve been spending a lot of time testing that redesign and preparing documentation updates for its release. Since the editor is initially opt-in for existing customers, I had to handle both the existing editor layout and the new editor layout in our documentation. I chose an introductory snippet to explain the difference and then manually built tabs for the instructions for each editor layout. I believe this gradual rollout before we move everyone over is a great experience for our authors, but it has definitely made the documentation process a lot more involved, since I know I’ll have to revisit these pages and update them again once we complete that forced rollout. I reflect on my interview with Eric Holscher, co-founder of the Write the Docs conference. The conference had very humble, minimal roots: the founders all wanted a space for people passionate about documentation to come together and share ideas and then just decided to launch a conference. It grew organically over time. I finally tracked down where I got the idea of “supporting the institutions you care about” from my interview with Eric. Turns out it came from Timothy Snyder’s book On Tyranny: 20 Lessons from the 20th Century, from his lesson titled “Defend Institutions.” Volunteering for something like Write the Docs is a form of defending an institution I care about, and I hope you can similarly find ways to defend the institutions you care about. I also dig into the idea of community, especially on the fact that community exists on a spectrum between value-adding and value-extracting, which Eric mentioned in his interview. I introduce some ideas from Ari Weinzweig’s newsletter that recast this dichotomy as making and taking, and I explore ways that building community is like building documentation, tying these ideas to a quote from Wendell Berry. In this episode: [00:00:44]: Progress updates[00:06:40]: Reflections on how Write the Docs first began[00:09:46]: Reflections on supporting the institutions we care about[00:12:42]: Reflections on the idea of community and building communities centered around making rather than taking Resources discussed in this episode: KnowledgeOwl Support KBBuilding a home for documentarians with Eric Holscher (S3:E34)How to Make Sense of Any Mess by Abby CovertThe Sensemakers ClubOn Tyranny: 20 Lessons from the 20th Century by Timothy SnyderLife Is a Miracle: An Essay Against Modern Superstition by Wendell Berry “What It Means to Make Democracy in the Day to Day: Why the power of making tops the power of taking” by Ari Weinzweig Join the discussion by replying on Bluesky — Contact The Not-Boring Tech Writer team: We love hearing your ideas for episode topics, guests, or general feedback: Email: tnbtw@knowledgeowl.comthenotboringtechwriter.comLinkedInBlueskyGuest suggestions form Contact Kate Mueller: knowledgewithsass.comLinkedInBluesky Contact KnowledgeOwl: knowledgeowl.comLinkedIn

See All (84)

About

Some people hear the phrase "technical writing" and think it must be boring. We're here to show the full complexity and awesomeness of being a tech writer. This podcast is for anyone who writes technical documentation of any kind, including those who may not feel comfortable calling themselves tech writers. Whether you create product documentation, support documentation, READMEs, or any other technical content—and whether you deal with imposter syndrome, lack formal training, or find yourself somewhere in the gray area between technical communications and general writing—there's a place for you here. Each month, we publish two episodes: an interview with an amazing guest focusing on useful skills or tools that can help you improve your tech writing skills, and a behind-the-scenes solo episode with host Kate Mueller about what she’s working on, struggling with, or thinking about in her daily tech writing life. The Not-Boring Tech Writer is generously sponsored by KnowledgeOwl, knowledge base software built for people who care, by people who care.

Information

  • Creator
    Kate Mueller
  • Years Active
    2016 - 2026
  • Episodes
    84
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2016-2026 KnowledgeOwl
  • Show Website
    The Not-Boring Tech Writer

You Might Also Like