Why Is It Right to Write?
Myriads of encouraging books and articles about writing have been published over millenia (or, rather, over the last 10–15 years *ironic*). Hardly anyone would question the many benefits gained from a simple act of sitting down, focusing, gathering your thoughts, and putting them on paper. Relatively little, however, has been said as to how writing — and, I don’t mean writing code, or user stories, or technical docs — is just as beneficial as a part of a tech company culture. My favourite question of all times is “why?” — as in “why the techies do not consider writing a worthy use of time?” — and I think I’ve uncovered… how agile manifesto has put a stigma on writing, and how this stigma stifles the culture of learning.
In one of my earlier articles I’ve explored the roots of the agile movement, and the mindset that must have guided the founding fathers of the agile manifesto. The manifesto has this as one of the principles: “The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.” This did make lots of sense~20 years ago (and still does, to an extent). The trend for teams ever since has been to ditch all kinds of unnecessary documentation. Some ardent agile followers, however, rushed to the other extreme; and any writing has eventually become regarded as waste. This is an oversimplification, but you get the idea. No doubt about it, face-to-face conversations are great within a development team, and this principle is very appropriate in this context. But I would caution anyone against pasting a rather-speak-than-write principle to all work situations.
The legacy stigma of bureaucracy and waste makes writing appear like an optional topping on an ice-cream. Why write, if everything can be discussed? I intend to tackle such attitudes by highlighting benefits that the culture of writing brings with it. I am not talking about group chats, or problem messages, or technical documentation. What I mean is writing to express a thought, or an opinion, or to share the thinking behind some technical or managerial decision with the rest of the team in a logically coherent piece.
Why is writing so uniquely rewarding?
Perceptual learning — and reading is one of the most obvious ways to balance technical competence with the other fields of knowledge — comes first, and writing goes next. Talks and discussions are only #3. Why is writing so uniquely rewarding? It comes across as a tool to hone logical thinking and express ideas with clarity. Speaking in a discussion as in a meeting is a spontaneous communication, an unprocessed feed of thoughts, that lacks the fine polish needed to make a point. Lawyers are trained to acquire an excellent command of spoken rhetoric — the art of building a logical discourse to convince others. It’s the essence of their profession. The tech people, in general, do not seem to be that sharp with the rhetoric skills, due to the technical focus of their education. Writing fills this gap; the more someone writes, the more fit they become for speaking. Somehow, most people believe that the reverse is true: first comes speaking (and they do talk a lot), and writing goes next. Not true. Being a good writer comes prior to being a good speaker, so if someone likes to talk but shies away from writing, might be that this person wastes everyone else’s time in meetings (unless they use the services of speech writers, which is unlikely). I’ll use the name of Jeff Bezos to back my point :) Amazon’s executives are required to write coherent 6-page narratives prior to their meetings, which they would then cross-read right at the meeting before discussing.
With thoughts carved in the written form, people get better at sharing what they have to say, and eventually become better speakers. We also become better thinkers, because we start writing with one mindset, and then shift to another one in the process. Writing helps turn on the lights that highlight a problem from many perspectives, which is more likely to result in an efficient solution. When thoughts exist only in someone’s head, they are ethereal and scattered. Once neatly stacked, either on screen or on paper, they acquire discipline.
Now, suppose someone is aware of all the treasures that writing brings with it, and wants to champion this culture in their company.
How can writing be practiced, in which form, does it have to be pushed on each and everyone? Of course, not. Some people in your team might not be ready to write just yet.
We need time to accumulate the critical mass of knowledge that will want to find an outlet; and here’s one tip as to how to find out who‘s ready:
Many use social sharing these days, and if someone in your team tweets links related to a problem at work, this person might be encouraged to plunge ahead and share their thoughts in writing. Throwing links will not take them far in expressing their own thoughts and ideas. There’s one other important thing. If writing is a part of company’s culture, then writers will need their peers as readers. Posting to an internal company blog may come first, then there can be a public blog. Posts can include logical discourse pieces that explain how this or that technical or strategic challenge was resolved or can be resolved; stories that software developers usually share on forums; essays and insights about company culture, what can be improved, what’s trending, etc. Sky is the limit. From the learning perspective, it doesn’t really matter what people write about. What matters is how they write and how their thoughts and ideas resonate with the readers.
This story has been re-written from one of my earlier articles.
