Forem: chief3000

ARTICLE WRITING: Feedback and how we integrated it with a developer

chief3000 — Thu, 25 Aug 2022 15:12:00 +0000

Nice that you have found the way to the third part of my article series on the topic of writing. For me, this is an exciting subject because I can learn a lot about how to put my thoughts on paper. At the same time, it is fulfilling to motivate others to join me on this journey. The first part was primarily about the benefits I have experienced myself, that arise from writing articles. This was followed by part two, which focused on how to get a structured start to writing. Where I describe what steps you go through when writing and point out tools to keep your motivation high and improve your writing style.

The importance of feedback and its influence on your writing

This article is about feedback because I have noticed how it helps me to improve and how important it is to think about routines and processes to motivate yourself.
Make yourself available for feedback that you would like to have on your work. At the same time, it's essential to me to offer to write together and give each other feedback. Writing together is simply more fun.

Feedback

This is about the importance of feedback in the writing process and what influence it can have on one's own writing.

The main benefits I see in choosing to solicit feedback from others are:

Engagement
Collaboration
Inspiration
Learning

To get feedback, you need to have produced something, so you also need an initial commitment and the will to write something yourself. Feedback is beneficial when writing an article so that you don't just work isolated on your topic but open up to others and incorporate their perspective, ideas, and opinions. You can be inspired by your feedback givers, stimulate yourself with it, and integrate new thoughts and link them. You may even get a fresh look at a topic you are stuck on or having trouble putting into words. You can learn from the experiences of others who have been in similar situations or are more experienced in writing down their thoughts.

Types of feedback

Depending on what stage of the writing process you are at, feedback has different purposes.
Initially, when you are still in the research or outline phase, it can help you to sharpen the goal of your article and what you want to achieve with it. You can check if what you plan to write is technically correct.
During the writing process, you can get ideas on storytelling and feedback on whether you have expressed yourself clearly. You can exchange ideas on how to bind the reader to your text and keep it exciting.
Towards the end, it's more a matter of textual corrections and formulations or even a content-related approval.

Guidelines regarding Feedback

What is also essential to me, is to define in advance how to give feedback correctly. It isn't always that simple. Different personalities react differently, and with a generally accepted guideline, you define the common ground of understanding. In the best case, the guidelines are created and accepted together upfront. Then each participant feels understood and can include his or her expectations.

Giving feedback the right way

Giving feedback is not a one-way street, if you help each other with your articles there are also some things to consider from the perspective of the feedback provider. One of the main points is honesty. It doesn't help anyone if you only find euphemistic words and thus only confirm the writer in his work. Instead, it is more important to look deeper, to identify possible misunderstandings and structural problems.

General advice to improve the added value and readability of the article is relevant. An open approach to mistakes is crucial. Talk about the mistakes openly and honestly. Constructive feedback is essential. Not only noticing mistakes but also offering hints, advice and possible improvements are part of it.

It is necessary as a feedback provider that the work on the article is the subject of the feedback and not the criticism of the author. As said in the beginning, in the best case, you agree in advance with those giving feedback on this open behavior.

Prepare yourself for the feedback

On the other hand, as the person asking for feedback, you should also be mentally prepared for possible criticism and be open to it. It is also helpful if you develop the courage to express that you are dissatisfied with a certain passage of the article as a writer and communicate this to the feedback provider. It is needed to actively set the right mindset for learning from your mistakes. As a writer, you are often very emotionally attached to your written work. It can then feel harsher than intended when you are criticized for your work. Don't take it personally. The intention of the feedback is to improve the article, and you should always keep that in mind on both sides.

Receiving feedback and how to deal with it.

Stay calm and open to feedback about your article. Your feedback provider has the best intentions in mind. Think about who you are getting feedback from. What focus has the person in mind with his or her suggestions? Choose your feedback providers carefully. Differentiate between those who can help you with your content and those who can improve your writing. Make this clear when requesting feedback from them. Just pick the comments that make you reflect and improve your work from your perspective. Ask clarifying questions about the feedback to help you better understand what was said.

Articles are written language, therefore seek verbal exchange on crucial comments. Then uncertainties will be clarified most easily. Don't be caught off guard by the amount of feedback you get, it's normal. Embrace the rich feedback because it gives you many opportunities to reflect on your work and see it from a different angle. Writing is an art form and everyone interprets it differently. It's normal for opinions to drift apart during the feedback process and you don't always have to agree.

The Mercedes-Benz.io way for feedback and collective writing

GIT our Feedback tool

We think it's helpful to get feedback not just from one person, but from different people with different backgrounds and experiences. It is supportive to have a process you know very well and that you can easily follow. As developers, we are very familiar with the principle of pull requests. Which we use to get feedback on the code we write before we put it back into the main code. Even as a non-developer this process is easy to use. You can do the same with your articles.

We have a Git repository at Mercedes-Benz.io where any writing enthusiast can create a feature branch for their article. When ready for feedback, the author then simply submits a pull request to gather feedback from the writing group. If you want to get extra early feedback on your not-quite-finished article, you can also mark it as a draft. The reviewers will then give timely suggestions on the article, following the pull request etiquette. Then it is only a few small steps to the publication on our company blog. This process has proven to be better than sending documents back and forth.

Mob writing

You probably know the principle of pair programming. If you want to know anything else about it, read this article by Hannes, where he goes into detail. In a nutshell, two developers work on code together to support each other in finding the best technical solution. If you want to push the collaboration level even further, you can do it in a group in so-called mob programming. We do something similar at Mercedes-Benz.io only with writing articles.

We do this to motivate each other, get early feedback and inspiration and support each other. Another plus point is that you have another moment where you can network with other writers. We are all in the same boat because we are not full-time writers. That's why the group is quite homogeneous and everyone is ready to take in the feedback of the others. This was born out of the will to deal with writing articles regularly. Spending at least 30 minutes a week writing your article will help develop routines.

Therefore, those who are currently working on an article meet on Friday for about 45 minutes in a joint meeting.

The first minutes are used to briefly introduce what everyone wants to work on in the following part of the session.
Then everyone writes for 30 minutes without disruption while listening to relaxing music that promotes creativity.
After that, there is an optional chance to read out your result and get some feedback.

I always find it amazing how much can be created in a few minutes and how great the pride is when you have once again created a successful paragraph. Feedback from these sessions is more of a spontaneous reaction but works quite well as an additional stimulus. After the meeting, I often have so much energy that I want to continue immediately.

TLDR

You see, feedback and collaboration in writing are vital to us. We like to experiment with new methods and tools to improve our writing activities together. Feedback is not always easy to give or accept, still it creates enormous advantages to writing when we share our writing activities.

Those of you who are MB.ioneers and now feel like writing, please contact me.
To the readers who don't work at Mercedes-Benz.io yet. What do you think about the Mob Writing approach and how do you handle the feedback process when writing your articles?

Everyone can write. And even better when doing it together!

P.S.: Incorporating feedback into this article about feedback was particularly exciting. Caught in the endless loop of reflecting on feedback.

Photo by Joanna Kosinska and Tamanna Rumee on Unsplash

ARTICLE WRITING: HOW YOU LEARN MORE FROM YOURSELF THAN FROM READING A BOOK PART 2/2

chief3000 — Fri, 12 Aug 2022 12:52:00 +0000

This is the second of my series of articles to motivate you to write.
The first part was about the benefits you can experience while writing like:

Opinion forming
Building skills in writing
Structuring and summarizing topics
Positive feelings during and after finishing an article
Reactions to your written thoughts

Feel free to read again and let yourself be convinced.

Furthermore, we dealt with the different phases of writing, which we will continue today. Therefore, this article is about how to start writing. How to get a structured and regular way of working from idea generation, research, brief, outline, the writing itself, reviewing the article, and much more.

In addition, you will find a writing template that will help you ask the right questions when researching your article. Also some helpful tips on how to get better and stay on top of the writing process.

HOW TO START WRITING

You have now set yourself the goal of writing an article. But the blank page may intimidate you. So how do you start? Everyone ticks differently and finds their own way. But, I can give you some guidance here that has helped me. You don’t need any basic requirements. To get a first feeling for how and what you want to write, start by reading other people’s articles. Discover what you like and what you want to include in your article.

Illustration by Cezar Berje

COLLECT IDEAS AND LEARNING GOALS

First, you need inspiration for what you want to write about. Is there a topic that you are currently working on or a problem you are having? Start with a rough collection of ideas. Sift through them to find subjects that matter to you or that you can learn something from. It’s easier to write down and motivating. It will help you stay on the ball later. Also, get feedback from others on your initial ideas for relevance and potential.

A STRUCTURED APPROACH TO WRITING

The best way to write an article is to take a step-by-step approach. After you discover your topic, explore it. For instance, I am using a simple writing template to help me with this, which I would like to share with you:

Write a Brief
Define Outline
Writing
Editing

BRIEF

In the first phase, you approach the theme roughly. You do research and ask yourself questions about your topic. The answers will help you in many ways:

You explore your motivation.
You find references to other articles to get closer to the subject.
You find out what questions are asked in the community about the topic.
You make the thoughts into your key ideas. You come up with a catchy title.
Think about who your target audience is. Set a goal what do you want your readers to have learned after reading. Determine how many words you want to use and which ones are most important. If the article is more technical, describe which tech stack you will use. You explore what kind of example project you can use to illustrate your explanations to the reader.

WRITING TEMPLATE

Topic
What is the topic you want to deal with in your article?

Motivation
What is your reason for writing about it? Why should your readers want to know about it? Why is it important, why is it relevant?

Documentation / References
What documentation already exists on this topic? What are other people writing about it and what do they think about it? Gather links to formal and informal documentation. Add inspirational links to articles/tutorials others have written on this topic. What do you like or dislike about these?

Questions
What questions are people asking about this topic? On Stack Overflow or other developer platforms? On forums related to your topic? What questions are coming up under competitor articles? What is trending about it on Twitter, Reddit, Slack? How is the topic being talked about in your own organization? What questions did you have before you finally understood it…?
Key Ideas and Concepts What are the main ideas? What concepts will you include? What techniques will you cover?

Title
Come up with a catchy and informative title. What would you search for to look for your article? What would appeal to you if you saw your title?

Audience Level
What assumptions do you make about your audience before they read this? Who is the article aimed at and for what reasons?
Learning Goal What is the unique learning objective of your article? What will the audience learn while reading the article? How will you improve their lives?

Target word count
Think about the length of your article in advance and set a target.

Keywords/Tags
What are the important keywords in your article? What search terms would you use to find answers to your topic.

Techstack
If it is a technical article, what technology do you use?

Sample Project
What kind of example project can you create to better illustrate your point? Readers will engage better with your concept if they apply what they learn themselves.

At the end of the brief when you have answered the questions for yourself, you will have a solid foundation to move on to the next phase.

DEFINE OUTLINE

Now it’s time to give your article a structure. It is important to pay attention to the three main sections of your article: beginning, middle, and end.

In the beginning section, think about how you want to introduce the topic. For example, you can challenge the reader, give him a summary, or explain what he will learn from reading your article.
The middle section is designed variably. You can describe your theory on a higher level, illustrate your theory or even go deeper into the topic. You can also work with references that support your story to back it up. Or give examples in your reference that illustrate options or that you don’t want to go into. Another part can be instructions. Where you explore clear step-by-step instructions for the reader. Illustrate them with clear examples or add code samples.
In the end section, which is at least as important, you have the chance to provide the reader with material. You give a summary of the entire topic, offer sources for further reading, or even encourage clear action.

At the end of this step, you have divided your article into small sections. You’ve put them together logically and thought about how you’re going to make the reader understand each part.

WRITING

Now it becomes more concrete. You now give depth to your structure elements. I found the bullet point technique very helpful. In this technique, you first write down bullet points for the individual parts of your article. Once you have structured this for the entire article, you go one level deeper. You add another level of bullet points in which you describe the parent elements in more detail. You can do this in different depths depending on your needs. In the end, the individual sections will be clearer for you. You will have captured the important information for the respective section.

Major Point 1
** Minor Point 1
*** Supporting Point 1
*** Supporting Point 2
*** Supporting Point 3
** Minor Point 2
*** Supporting Point 1

Now it’s time to formulate your key points. You can assemble the individual building blocks into sentences and paragraphs. Do this bit by bit. Let your thoughts run free and concentrate only on writing. Don’t mix editing and writing because it will interfere with your creative process.

Illustration by Cezar Berje

EDITING

Now that you have written your complete article once, the work is not yet completely done. You should now deal with it again and revise the individual sections. The point is to put the finishing touches on your article. Make sure your sentences are short and your language clear. Correct paragraphs that do not belong together.

Use headlines and sub-headlines
Highlight the important parts of the text
Define illustrations
Create lists to keep your article interesting You generally check the tone of your article and whether it has achieved the goal you set for it.

When you’re happy with your article, you’re done, but don’t miss the chance to get feedback from others who may be more experienced in writing or can give you tips on your topic. After that, you are ready to publish.

USEFUL TIPS

I have some useful tips that can help you. In writing itself, in motivation, or in building knowledge in the field of writing or revision.

FIXED TIME SLOT PER WEEK

To keep your goal in mind, it is helpful to develop a routine for your writing behavior. I, for example, always have a blocker of 25 minutes on Friday mornings. In which I take time to write my current article. That’s enough to keep the topic in my head again and again. And yes, it’s not always easy for me to motivate myself, sometimes I’m not in the mood. But if I sit down, I always get into it well and manage to develop my article further. Even if it’s just a few text corrections.

WRITING BUDDY

Like so many things, writing is more fun together. I recommend you to find someone who shares your passion, whether in a company or among friends. With him or her, you can check your progress together and motivate each other for the next steps. Of course, the person is also someone who can support you in your work. The writing buddy can give you feedback or share new thoughts with you.

Illustration by Cezar Berje

TOOLS FOR SELF CONTROL

No writer has ever fallen from the sky, so don’t expect your first article to be an instant masterpiece. To improve your text and develop your writing style, tools can help you. For example, Grammarly is a great way to identify alternative words and phrases. Hemingway helps you to identify complicated sentences. Try these tools when you have finished writing a part of your article and improve yourself.

LEARNING TOGETHER

A good starting point for your writing activities can also be a workshop. In which you take your first steps in a group. There you will find people with the same goal. You will also find an experienced teacher who can give you important tips for writing. I enjoyed such an experience very much. It encouraged me to express myself with the tools I was given and to dare to write in a structured way.

SUMMARY

With a step-by-step and structured approach, you can make your article a reality. Keep motivating yourself and get good results.
So get to work, begin brainstorming on the topics you’re passionate about, and start writing your article. Use the writing template for the preliminary work and use the individual phases of writing.
Anyone can write. Says the guy who also tries it out. 😉

LINKS

Grammarly and Hemingway are great tools to improve writing style.
An awesome workshop instructor Lea Marolt Sonnenschein.
Illustration by Cezar Berje
Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

ARTICLE WRITING: HOW YOU LEARN MORE FROM YOURSELF THAN FROM READING A BOOK PART 1/2

chief3000 — Fri, 18 Mar 2022 08:10:06 +0000

In my current role as Communication Lead in our Tech Practice, I work on communication topics inside and outside of our company. One way to present ourselves to the outside world is to write about what moves us. At the same time, I have discovered in myself, and also others reflected me, that writing itself has several other benefits. It can be used to educate yourself in a much more active way by approaching, exploring, and formulating a topic. And yes we can read books to get inspired by topics or acquire knowledge. But nothing beats hands-on learning by doing. That’s why I want to motivate you to write yourself and enjoy the benefits of writing about something new just like I do.

Writing an article about a new programming language or learning about a new tool can involuntarily teach you to summarize its use and benefits. But, I will also describe in detail which of these benefits I value the most. It’s an exciting experiment that anyone can try. It does not matter what area of the industry you work in. We can all better express our thoughts by this.

IN WHICH PHASES OF WRITING DO YOU BENEFIT?

Before we dive into the benefits, I want to tell you about the different phases of writing.

Inspiration: Everything starts with the idea to write something. Because you are dealing with the topic, it occupies you or you want to dedicate yourself to it. Use this inspiring moment, take the pen and formulate your first idea.
Brainstorm: The first ideas for an article come from this impulse. Think about possible topics and brainstorm with others interested in the subject. The first thing is to develop a rough idea. The important thing is that it interests you and has relevance to others.
Research: Once you have found a topic. The point is to learn from as many influential and enriching sources as possible. The Key is that you build up more knowledge about it. Ask yourself several questions about your topic. Then compile them as a source of inspiration for your article.
Outline: The next step is to create structure. Find a first form in which you want to lead the reader through your article. What story do you want to tell? What reaction do you want to achieve?
Draft: Then specify, deepen and plan the individual sections step by step. Now the actual writing process begins, where you should let your thoughts run free.
Refine: Once you’ve written your article, it’s time to refine and optimize it. Get feedback from colleagues, friends, or other experienced writers. With these new impressions, you give it the final touch.
Publish: It’s time to publish your article on your chosen forum.
Reactions: After the release begins a very exciting part. You may now receive feedback on your formulated thoughts and enjoy them. Or even enter into a discussion with readers.
This is a rough overview of the writing process and you can enjoy the benefits of writing at all these stages. In the next section, we’ll take a closer look at the benefits

MAIN BENEFITS OF WRITING

UNDERSTAND YOUR ENVIRONMENT AND THE SUBJECT

Writing will help you engage with the topic you have mastered or want to learn about. As you research, you discover new influences and information. You gain valuable new knowledge about the subject. By reading articles written by others, you discover exciting people. They deal with the same topic and you learn their perspective on it. Furthermore, you detect exciting sources that support or refute your thesis. This broadens your horizons and supports your thesis with facts.

MORE STRUCTURED REPORT

After you have studied a topic in depth. By putting your thoughts in writing, you can express them in a better and more structured way. You build deep knowledge about your topic, because you think it through, not read or hear about it. This way you can express your acquired knowledge fluently and freely.

FORM AN OPINION

Dealing with a subject that is new to you, your opinion about it is probably not yet clear and well-formed. While working on your article and researching, you discover new perspectives on the topic. In the process, you form a sharper opinion. Even your original opinion on the subject can change.

IT MAKES YOU HAPPY

Writing fills the mind with new knowledge and impressions. This is a very satisfying process. This success releases feelings of happiness. When you have published your article, you have achieved something special. A moment that everyone can enjoy.

WRITING DOWN IS BETTER THAN RETHINKING IT AGAIN AND AGAIN

Writing things down helps me in any case. While you write things down, you let your thoughts run free and start sorting them. In the written word you can sort and reorganize them afterward. Furthermore, you can retrieve them at a later time. Without having to struggle to remember them.

OTHERS CAN TAKE PART AND BENEFIT FROM IT

By writing down your thoughts, you are not only helping yourself. This is of course the basis for sharing your thoughts. Your finished article will be read by others. Readers are immersed in your thoughts and moved by your perspective. They learn from your work.

STIMULATES DISCUSSION

As others read your article, they form opinions about your topic. This may trigger discussions on the subject, whether with you or others. Through the reaction of your readers, you can discover new perspectives. Develop your thoughts further or come to completely new conclusions. Stimulating something together is a thousand times more pleasant than hatching something alone.

REACTIONS TRIGGER APPRECIATION

Praise and perception of your article trigger positive feelings. What you have accomplished will feel even better. You will gain visibility and recognition. Even constructive feedback can expand you and help you learn from your mistakes.

REMOVE CONCERNS ON MISSING WRITING SKILLS

Uncertainty when doing something for the first time is a normal feeling. But once you have taken the first steps or even finished your article, you feel much more confident. With a little practice, routine sets in. You don’t have to write your article alone. Getting feedback during the writing process is quite normal. Even the professionals do it. So take the opportunity to exchange ideas with others on your writing journey. You can only grow from their feedback.

MORE ADVANTAGES

If you are not convinced yet, there are also other advantages of writing articles and I would like to at least mention them.

You can give back to the community.
You get out of your comfort zone by starting something new.
You will experience a relaxing and calming pastime.
Writing is good for your health.
In remote times, writing is even more important. Because you can exchange with others in an asynchronous way.
It helps you in writing documentation.
You learn to request feedback and handle it.

SUMMARY

Which of the listed benefits are most important to you? Are there any others or do you even disagree with some of them? Feel free to share your thoughts with me. In any case, you see there is a lot to get back when you actively share your thoughts in writing. So set yourself a goal for your upcoming article. Think about a few topics that are close to your heart and that you are already researching or encountering in your daily work.

PART 2 PREVIEW

I still want to give you a preview of the next article in this series on the topic of writing. There you’ll find a starter kit to fill the first white pages with life. Together with a step-by-step explanation of how you can approach writing.

Anyone can write – give it a try.