Many writers and editors I know spend much of their day working with \u201csubject matter experts.\u201d In tech, they\u2019re the designers, engineers and product managers.<\/p>\n
They may not be professional writers, but they\u2019re the exact right people to share their work. A blog post analyzing patterns in data is more meaningful coming from a data scientist with an intimate knowledge of the process. A post about an app is more interesting coming from the person who made it.<\/p>\n
The challenge is helping these practitioners write about their work in as clear a way as possible. Knowledge can give you the lens of a microscope and can lead you to some dangerous assumptions about what a reader does and doesn\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
This is what\u2019s called \u201cthe curse of knowledge,\u201d and it is of particular importance to writers. The more familiar you are with something, the harder it is to put yourself in the shoes of someone who\u2019s not familiar with that thing. It simply doesn’t occur to many writers that readers don’t know what they know \u2013 that they haven\u2019t mastered the subtleties of a topic learned over years of professional experience.<\/p>\n
Just ask Elon Musk, who banned all acronyms and technical jargon from communication inside Space X.<\/p>\n
\n.@elonmusk<\/a> on the spread of unnecessary acronyms inside SpaceX pic.twitter.com\/C9H7OdKVlb<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 John Collison (@collision) May 25, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n