In this solo episode, Kate shares an update on her content update progress. She also reflects on Nick Graziade’s interview (S3:E12) and Liz Argall’s interview (S3:E13) and the ways these interviews highlight some elements of “good” docs experiences. I’ve continued my work to update the KnowledgeOwl Support Knowledge Base to align with major navigation and UI changes that were rolled out in December. I updated an additional 43 articles since my last episode, taking my total to 550. 🎉 I’m in the ...
Jul 24, 2025•24 min•Season 3Ep. 15
In this episode, I'm talking with Manny Silva, a technical writer who created the " Docs as Tests " concept name and the open-source tool Doc Detective . We discuss how to automatically test your documentation for accuracy, why customer reports of broken docs are actually failed tests, and practical ways to implement automated documentation testing regardless of your tech stack. Manny and I discuss his background as someone who intentionally chose technical writing as a career path, starting wit...
Jul 10, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 3Ep. 14
In this episode, I’m talking with Liz Argall, a writer I connected with at Write the Docs Portland 2025. We talk about working on open source projects, developing good qualitative metrics, her work with a permaculture nonprofit in Uganda, and the ways that being interviewed by a technical writer can make hidden expertise shine. Liz and I presented in the same Lightning Talk session at Write the Docs Portland 2025 and subsequently discovered a shared love for spreadsheet tools, qualitative metric...
Jun 26, 2025•46 min•Season 3Ep. 13
In this episode, I'm talking with Nick Graziade, a technical writer and musician who approaches documentation as a creative endeavor. We explore how his early fascination with Lego instructions and synthesizer manuals shaped his philosophy that technical writing doesn't have to be dry or boring, but can be passionate and innovative work that adapts to different audiences and embraces impermanence. Nick shares his two-part "villain origin story" that led him to technical writing. The first part i...
Jun 12, 2025•50 min•Season 3Ep. 12
In this solo episode, Kate shares an update on her content update progress. She also reflects on Sue Brandt’s interview (S3:E10) and on the Write the Docs Portland 2025 conference. I’ve continued my work to update the KnowledgeOwl Support Knowledge Base to align with major navigation and UI changes that were rolled out in December. I updated an additional 50 articles since my last episode, taking my total to 507. 🎉Most of the updates this month were in our payment and plan -related documents, w...
May 29, 2025•27 min•Season 3Ep. 11
In this episode, I’m talking with Sue Brandt, a former Director of Documentation who’d hired around 60 people when we recorded the episode. We discuss practical strategies for technical writing job applications, what hiring managers are really looking for in resumes and interviews, and how to stand out in today’s competitive job market. Sue and I discuss various aspects of the tech writing job application process, including resumes, cover letters, and interviews. Sue, who has hired around 60 peo...
May 15, 2025•41 min•Season 3Ep. 10
In this solo episode, Kate shares an update on her content update progress. She also reflects on Marcia Riefer Johnston’s interview (S3:E8) and on the idea of docs stewardship as opposed to docs ownership . I’ve continued my work to update the KnowledgeOwl Support Knowledge Base to align with major navigation and UI changes that were rolled out in December. I updated an additional 91 articles since my last episode, taking my total to 457. 🎉 I also reorganized another three Features subcategorie...
May 01, 2025•16 min•Season 3Ep. 9
In this episode, I’m talking with Marcia Riefer Johnston, a technical writer who’s worked in our industry for 40 years. We talk about how the profession has evolved since she first started in it, the grammar patterns that have helped her tighten up her writing, and how “creative” writing and “technical” writing are just different expressions of the craft of writing. Marcia and I discuss how tech writing has evolved in the last 40 years as the tooling and field have evolved—from literally cutting...
Apr 17, 2025•53 min•Season 3Ep. 8
In this solo episode, Kate shares an update on her content update progress, muses about the similarities between mice infestations and docs projects, and reflects more on Kenzie Woodbridge’s interview (S3:E6 ) and how we choose what we work on. Since Episode 5 , I’ve continued my work to update the KnowledgeOwl Support Knowledge Base to align with major navigation and UI changes from December. I’ve now updated roughly 400 pages and reorganized a total of five Features subcategories (one more sin...
Apr 03, 2025•17 min•Season 3Ep. 7
In this episode, I’m talking with Kenzie Woodbridge, a documentarian and self-taught accessibility advocate. We talk about how feeling “not expert enough” is no reason to skip content accessibility, four ways you can make your content more accessible right now, and ways you can serve as an accessibility advocate as you review content and work with contributors. — Kenzie and I discuss why content accessibility is something we all need to think about as we create content. You don’t have to be an e...
Mar 20, 2025•45 min•Season 3Ep. 6
In this solo episode, Kate shares an update on working with content types, muses about the idea of a Documentation Hierarchy of Needs, and reflects more on Janine Chan’s interview ( S3:E4 ) and how we talk to ourselves about being tech writers. — I may have overcommitted myself in Episode 3. I have been incorporating content type work into my massive content audit, but after working on four of the nineteen Features subcategories, I realized it was taking too much time and I had to refocus on my ...
Mar 06, 2025•17 min•Season 3Ep. 5
In this episode, I’m talking with Janine Chan, a technical writer and Write the Docs community moderator. We talk about how feeling “not technical enough” is as much about attitude and approach as it is about knowledge and ways you can bridge the gap to a more technical future. Janine and I discuss the fact that there’s no defined/established set of skills or training to become a technical writer. This lovely flexibility can also lead to a lot of imposter syndrome or feeling like you’re “not tec...
Feb 20, 2025•56 min•Season 3Ep. 4
My current in-flight projects include updating nearly all of our documentation to reflect major changes to our user interface, which includes changes to screenshots, navigation options, and section/subsection labels. I’m also working on my long slog to convert all our screenshots from .png to .webp format. As I make all of those updates, I’m bringing our content into line with our current style guide (the first time I’ve used an explicit style guide in the KnowledgeOwl Support Knowledge Base ). ...
Feb 06, 2025•16 min•Season 3Ep. 3
In this episode, I’m talking with Lorna Mitchell, a technology leader, published author, tech blogger, and developer experience expert who is passionate about APIs and developer tools. We talk about why developers writing docs is good for both your devs and your docs, the best ways to build successful collaboration with developers, and more! Lorna and I discuss her background as a developer who started doing documentation for her own resources and gradually moved into developer relations, develo...
Jan 23, 2025•44 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Meet our new host Kate Mueller and get the inside scoop on how The Not-Boring Tech Writer (TNBTW) will work moving forward. Kate Mueller is the Documentation Goddess of KnowledgeOwl, a seasoned technical writer and owner of knowledgewithsass, a knowledge management coaching service. She’s written and maintained documentation for companies in broadcasting, financial services, IT, and software for 15+ years. She’ll be hosting TNBTW moving forward. In this episode, Kate discusses her vision for TNB...
Jan 09, 2025•13 min•Season 3Ep. 1
In this episode I’m talking to Swapnil Ogale, a Technical Writer Advocate for Redocly based in Melbourne, Australia, who is also a Community and Conference Manager for Write the Docs. He gives us the inside scoop on arranging Write the Docs events conferences both in-person and online, and talks to us about the importance of advocacy for technical writers. The Not-Boring Tech Writer - feedback survey Twitter - Swapnil Ogale LinkedIn - Swapnil Ogale Write the Docs...
Jun 14, 2021•38 min•Season 2Ep. 4
We’re back after a short and unexpected break! Sorry to keep you waiting! This episode you’ll hear Kat Stoica Ostenfeld, an accomplished tech writer living in Copenhagen in Denmark. A linguist by credential, she says diplomacy is the key to being an effective documentarian, and shares how her translation and applied linguistics background helped her find common understanding and success in the world of technical writing. Additional topics: Beautiful limestone buildings; puppy chat; spouse sacrif...
May 07, 2021•51 min•Season 2Ep. 3
In this episode, I’m excited to be speaking to Caity Cronkhite, Seattle-based founder and CEO of Good Words LLC. We talk about her experience of starting up as a tech writer both in-house and freelancing, before starting and growing her own successful business in the technical writing industry, and the successes and struggles of operating Good Words LLC in these strange and unpredictable pandemic times. Additional topics: U-Haul montage; Something Big and Impactful; (not) going the way of the st...
Mar 19, 2021•36 min•Season 2Ep. 2
In such a complex and fast-moving industry as tech writing, it can be interesting to see how burgeoning tech writers get started - and become successful. Enter Philip Kiely, author of Writing for Software Developers and owner of PK&C , the world's smallest conglomerate. He graduated from Grinnell College in May 2020 with a degree in computer science, and has only gone onwards and upwards from there! This week I speak to Philip about being a new(-ish) entrant to the tech writing game, becomin...
Feb 16, 2021•46 min•Season 2Ep. 1
After four exciting years hosting The Not-Boring Tech Writer—the podcast that gives listeners the skills to break the stereotype that technical writing is a boring career—I’ve passed the podcast along to longtime sponsor KnowledgeOwl , a knowledge base software company. This sobers me, admittedly: What began as a medium to connect with colleagues whom I’ve admired since university gradually become a resource for new and seasoned technical writers alike to learn the skills they need to break the ...
Jan 03, 2021•1 hr 22 min
Technical writers must ensure their help resources, such as documentation and video tutorials, are useful for their users. Therefore, they study language, design, and Support tickets—gathering all the context they need to ensure users can accomplish their task. But get this: Through feedback loops such as quizzes and interviews with subject matter experts, you can create usability tests that transform the way in which you measure the effectiveness of your documentation. That’s why in this episod...
Nov 03, 2020•47 min•Season 1Ep. 36
Technical communicators wield the power of plain language to ensure their readers find and understand the information they need to complete a task—no matter how complex. Basic design principles, such as alignment, contrast, and other principles you’ll learn in this episode, give your documentation that extra lift it needs to engage readers throughout your documentation. That’s why in this episode, we have Laci Kettavong on the podcast: Marketing and Member Coordinator at Stoke, a coworking space...
Sep 30, 2020•41 min•Season 1Ep. 35
Folk working in technical communication—whether they’re academics or practitioners—through their own unique skill sets, perspectives, and experiences, often discover best practices to excel at their job. These hard-earned insights would likely benefit others facing similar challenges; however, silos often keep folk in technical communication from quickly disseminating what they’ve learned. That’s why Dr. Chris Lam—technical communication professor at the University of North Texas—created Crowdso...
Feb 27, 2020•37 min•Season 1Ep. 34
For the civically-mind technical writer, there’s a growing movement in cities across the world where technical writers can use their skills to better their community. It’s called Open Data Day : an annual celebration of open data groups around the world partnering with local governments to use open data to achieve a shared goal in the community. From analyzing environment data to tracking public money flows, open data day gives citizens—from data folk to advocates—an opportunity to get the data ...
Feb 10, 2020•43 min•Season 1Ep. 33
As products and services reach markets outside of their geographic origins, organizations must consider how to translate and localize their existing documentation. It’s a must, as these new users will need to refer to a knowledge base. But how exactly do organizations translate their documentation? Do they copy and paste all of their content into Google Translate? Do they hire technical writers who speak and write the language of the new market? As you’ll learn in this episode, successful organi...
Jan 26, 2020•31 min•Season 1Ep. 32
No matter your industry—tech, nonprofit, marketing—your organization likely needs a knowledge base software, a dedicated place to capture essential knowledge. However, choosing the right knowledge base software can be challenging—and takes much more work then a quick Google search. You need to understand the core knowledge problems within your organization; compare softwares that, on the surface, may look a lot alike; and get buy in from key players who’d actually use the knowledge base. That’s ...
Jan 20, 2020•50 min•Season 1Ep. 31
As prospective tech writers look for ways to get into the tech writing field, many pursue internships. And understandably so: internships give prospective tech writers hands-on experience in tech writing, giving them an opportunity to boost their skills and get a feel for the industry. However, finding that tech writing internship can be challenging, especially if you aren’t pursuing a tech writing related degree in university. That’s why, in this episode, we have German tech writer Joachim on t...
Nov 30, 2019•35 min•Season 1Ep. 30
One of the most important skills tech writers can have is the ability to analyze their audience—researching who’s using the product their documentation, understanding how they it, and most important, ensuring their goals are reflected in the documentation. But as tech writers research their audience, digging deep into insights such as demographic and preferred device, tech writers can, admittedly, get caught up in the technical side of audience analysis and dismiss opportunities to understand th...
Nov 18, 2019•35 min•Season 1Ep. 29
All of the help resources tech writers create, such software documentation, video tutorials, or blog posts, require research. Imagine creating a document to explain a new feature before, say, even understanding how customers actually use the feature. Tech writers use several different resources to research the information they need, including conversations with developers and support and reviewing support tickets. But, if you’re like many writers, we’ll often seek too much information and face i...
Oct 31, 2019•28 min•Season 1Ep. 28
As tech writers consider how to stay relevant in the field, many look to GitHub —the git repository service where people host their open-source projects, allowing others to contribute as well. And understandably so: as the demand for tech writers specialized in developer documentation grows, GitHub gives tech writers low-lift opportunities to ramp up their skills. That’s why, in this episode, we have Tad Dieken on the podcast: two-time guest on the not-boring tech writer podcast and tech writer ...
Oct 24, 2019•26 min•Season 1Ep. 27
