What I’ve learned over the last few years
Words matter
I’ve always known this, having been an incurable bookworm, pun aficionado, lover of lyrics, and wannabe writer for as long as I can remember. But until fairly recently, there wasn’t a whole lot of evidence that the business world cared all that much about, well, words.
Thankfully, things have changed.
But, before I go on, let me briefly relay how I came to be a Content Designer. After completing an English degree, I spent the first 10 years of my career in a variety of traditional writing roles (writing training resources; writing…
Some of the things I’ve learned so far…
I recently turned 40, which seems like quite a milestone. I’ve been reflecting a little on my life thus far and so thought I’d share some of the key lessons that I’ve learned / am learning along the way.
Goals and productivity
Examining our attitude towards risk
Do you consider yourself to be a risk taker? Or are you very risk adverse? Does the image above of the man jumping across rocks fill you with excitement or with fear? Or perhaps a mixture of the two?
I’d probably place myself somewhere between those two extremes, though I’m possibly nearer the risk-adverse side of the scale. In many ways I’m a pretty sensible, law-abiding, mild-mannered Englishman. I drive sensibly, wear goggles when doing DIY, and I’ve certainly never been tempted to throw myself out of an airplane.
But regardless of where you or…
How might we foster environments where meaningful collaboration happens more often?
Note: This article loosely builds upon one I published previously about communication. If you want to read that one first, here’s a link:
Experiencing the wonders of radical collaboration
Growing up, my friends and I used to hang out at various live music venues in Brighton, one of which was an old jazz club. It was a smoky, dingy, dive of a place and you never really knew quite what to expect when you got there. Sometimes you’d find a jazz trio or quartet playing through a repertoire of jazz standards, but the magic really…
I’ve spent a lot of time recently discussing content with different people: the skill, the role, the need, the value, the how, and the why. I’ve researched, listened, debated, and presented. But today I thought I’d try something different: a poem.
On Content Design
When I’m out and about the question gets asked:
“What is it that you do for work, Tom?”
I smile and I pause, then I say with great pride:
“I’m a Content Designer. I’m on the user’s side!”
“A content what?” (their faces showing surprise)
“Wait, is that writing the docs?” they quickly surmise.
“Well, no. And yes. But…
A whistle-stop tour of the most common punctuation marks, with example quotes from some of my favorite writers.
Disclaimer: this article is not intended to be an exhaustive treatise covering every aspect of punctuation. That wouldn’t make for a fun Medium post. If you are interested in wading through more comprehensive details than I provide here, you’ll find many good resources available online, such as here.
Okay, let’s start with the three punctuation marks that can be used to close sentences.
The period (.)
The period (or full stop in British English) is placed at the end of sentences and shorter statements intended to be viewed as complete thoughts.
Moving beyond the “but I told them!” mentality.
“I don’t believe it!”
“What?”
“Those halfwits down in the IT department went and pushed out the product update last night! Now I’ve come in to a mass of angry emails from senior management.”
“But I thought you told them to publish the update yesterday?”
“Well, I did. But only if the user authentication team weren’t planning on changing their API this week — which, it turns out, they did. I clearly told the IT guys to check. In that third email I sent yesterday. Somewhere in the final paragraph…”
This is…
In defense of taking regular time out to immerse oneself in a given topic or narrative.
TL;DR¹
In short, I read books because I find that absorbing myself in one topic or narrative for a prolonged chunk of time helps me become a better thinker, writer, designer, and — maybe, just maybe — a better human being. Also because reading brings me joy. 😃
Many of us live incredibly busy lives. When we’re not working we often have family commitments, social engagements, DIY projects, exercise regimes, household chores, pets to look after, etc., etc. …
Some useful principles to help you succeed with any new endeavor.
The concepts covered in this article are ones I’ve learned through my work as a software designer at IBM. You can read plenty of articles about how these ideas apply directly to startups, but I believe they also apply to pretty much any area of life, so I thought I’d explore them here in more general terms.
Fail fast
This term is taken from the lean startup methodology; if you’re not already familiar with it, here’s a quick summary (source here):
Fail fast is a philosophy that values extensive testing and…
What works, what doesn’t, and why.
Okay, full disclosure: I read, write, and edit for a living. So, I guess I’m something of a writing geek. And this entire piece is all about one tiny aspect of writing: namely how best to use typography to show emphasis in a piece of text. If the thought of reading such a topic makes you want to run a mile, I suggest you, well, go run a mile. Or at least go read something else.
However, for anyone who is still reading, I will point out that my interest in this (as with…
Tom Waterton
Content Designer at IBM Design. Also husband, father, bookworm, brewer, thinker, and writer.
