I'm (primarily) a coder and I've started writing a short weekly newsletter for the users of the application I'm supporting and extending. The basic format is "what happened this week" and "what may happen next week" as well as a "please communicate with us if you have concerns or ideas". I'm now 14 weeks into this experiment, and I've found a things worth sharing.
1. Explaining to your entire user base what you're up to helps you focus your efforts on meaningful demonstrable progress instead of gold-plating.
2. It has been said a hundred times before, but the way to get better at writing is to write.
3. People prefer incremental changes over disruptive redesigns, especially if they are given a heads-up before the incremental changes happen.
4. People care about the quality of writing. I've gotten a bunch of comments about how they actually enjoy reading the newsletter. That was totally unexpected.
5. Tone matters. I've found a good conversational tone that incorporates just a touch of humor and self-deprecation without being too casual. My userbase is non-technical, so I can't leak jargon on them. Metaphors help.
6. Cadence matters. Writing a weekly update is much easier than writing an update "just whenever".
7. Having an editor helps. I generally write the entire message, but pass it along to comrade to send it out to see if anything is confusing, I've made any typos, or forgot to finish one of my sentenc
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I'm (primarily) a coder and I've started writing a short weekly newsletter for the users of the application I'm supporting and extending. The basic format is "what happened this week" and "what may happen next week" as well as a "please communicate with us if you have concerns or ideas". I'm now 14 weeks into this experiment, and I've found a things worth sharing.
1. Explaining to your entire user base what you're up to helps you focus your efforts on meaningful demonstrable progress instead of gold-plating.
2. It has been said a hundred times before, but the way to get better at writing is to write.
3. People prefer incremental changes over disruptive redesigns, especially if they are given a heads-up before the incremental changes happen.
4. People care about the quality of writing. I've gotten a bunch of comments about how they actually enjoy reading the newsletter. That was totally unexpected.
5. Tone matters. I've found a good conversational tone that incorporates just a touch of humor and self-deprecation without being too casual. My userbase is non-technical, so I can't leak jargon on them. Metaphors help.
6. Cadence matters. Writing a weekly update is much easier than writing an update "just whenever".
7. Having an editor helps. I generally write the entire message, but pass it along to comrade to send it out to see if anything is confusing, I've made any typos, or forgot to finish one of my sentenc
This advice sounds fantastic, and I've bookmarked it for reference. Thank you for sharing!
I'm glad you like it. I just remembered another thing I've learned from the experience and added it (#7 - have an editor)