A brief life interlude
I haven’t written in a while, having been pleasantly distracted by my best friend’s wedding (the real-life version, not the film) mixed with driving lessons and general life busyness. But I wanted to jot down a few thoughts and reflections from the past few weeks.
Version control
A few weeks ago, we were asked to focus on version control, and to explore the use of Git and GitHub as a way of keeping track of our creations. I haven’t yet looked into it, and if I’m being honest, it’s because the techy-sounding-ness of the whole thing has put me off. As a non-coder, I’m also not sure how Git will be all that useful for me. However, the past few weeks at work, I’ve been thinking more about how adopting some kind of version control system for my content might actually be really useful.
Normally, when I draft content, I start with a blank screen, type out the title of my project at the top, then start tapping away at the keys. I overwrite stuff, move stuff around, and of course, delete whole swathes of content I decide I’m not happy with. Fortunately, I’ve found this style of drafting and polishing to work well for me so far. But I can see the benefits of saving all these different iterations, in case they might actually be hiding a gem or two that would prove useful to me later down the line.
In Writing for Designers, Scott Kubie recommends using at least some form of version control to prevent the occurence of monstrosities such as ‘final draft_version 108_definitely final this one_definitely this one_LOOK AT ME ITS THIS ONE.doc’.
Talking to my programmer partner, it sounds like Git could actually be quite a useful tool for writers and content designers too. For example, you could look at two different versions of a draft error message at the same time and use highlighting tools to see exactly what’s different between each iteration.
Before the start of the next module, I’d like to spend a couple of proper hours on Git and see if it’s something I might be able to use within my content design work.
Communities of practice
When I very first started thinking about the concept of communities of practice, I didn’t think I was really part of any. In my mind, communities of practice were purely professional bodies, like the BCS, with proper membership structures and subscriptions. However, ‘communities of practice’ can in fact encompass a much broader spectrum of groupings.
According to Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner (the former of whom coined the term ‘community of practice'), “communities of practice are formed by people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain of human endeavor” (2015: 1). Members of the community share a domain of interest, “engage [as a community] in joint activities and discussions, help each other, and share information” (ibid: 2), and develop a shared practice by building a repertoire of resources.
Defined this way, such communities do not have to be professional bodies. In my work, we have a Slack workspace shared between members of the UX community across my organisation, including UI designers, researchers, and content designers. Across various channels, we ask each other questions, share resources, celebrate each other’s successes, and collaborate on projects. This work-based community of practice has been invaluable for me in gaining the essential knowledge I need to be able to do my job effectively, as well as for forming relationships with my immediate team and other colleagues across the business.
One community of practice I’d like to explore joining is the Content Design Club, run by Content Design London. Basic ‘Bronze’ membership includes access to a Slack workspace for building networks, asking questions, and sharing experiences, as well as social catch-ups and exclusive content. Upper membership levels include a content design book club (very appealing), regular content crits, and an annual coaching session.
I have already started connecting with others in my industry outside of my own workplace. For example, I recently attended a virtual panel hosted by Tech Circus on UX writing, where I made a number of connections with other new and aspiring content designers. I think the next step for me is actually fostering these relationships so they go beyond just an accepted connection request. I’ve wondered if it might be worth posting some short articles on my UX and content design experiences so far on LinkedIn, to spark conversations and understand a wider range of perspectives. This is something I’d like to reflect on further before we begin the next module, possibly by mapping out some content ideas and seeing where the ideas take me.
Agile
Our most recent weekly topic, Agile, piqued my interest more than expected. I’d heard of Agile before beginning the course, primarily through my own work, where we employ variants of Agile tools and methodologies. Reading more about Agile concepts – particularly story points as a way of estimating work within sprints – opened my eyes to the flexibility of these kinds of methodologies.
It was reassuring to learn that timescales in Agile do not have to be – indeed, shouldn’t be – seen as set in stone. They are, literally, estimations, a best guess based on prior experience and relative comparisons. I have struggled at times since starting my content design role a couple of months ago to predict how much time I will need to complete a particular project, or specific aspects of bigger projects. I now feel more confident, though, that estimation will become more accurate as I develop in my career and gain more experience across a range of project areas.
One aspect of the Agile manifesto that resonated with me in particular was the principle that “the sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.” While this first struck me as a somewhat worrying advocation of ‘go go go’, relentless development without breaks or recovery time, on further reflection, the principle in fact can be seen to advocate a healthy pace of delivery that is sustainable for the real humans (not robots) who are carrying it out.
It’s so important that we – as UXers and, above all else, as people – take proper care of our mental health. Burnout helps no-one and leads to nothing but misery. I’m still committed to finding the kindest path for my mind through my UX journey – hard as it may be to see sometimes through the nettles and thorns that are competing deadlines, overwhelming workloads, and conflicting priorities. Natalia Ilyin sums it up best for me in her book about how designers can become better writers.: “If you want to write, you must take responsibility for your mind’s care: No one else will.” I think we can all take a leaf out of whoever’s writing that book.
References
ILYIN, Natalia. 2019. Writing For the Design Mind. London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
KUBIE, Scott. 2018. Writing for Designers. New York: A Book Apart.
WENGER-TRAYNER, Etienne and Beverly. 2015. ‘Communities of practice a brief introduction’. Available online at: https://wenger-trayner.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/07-Brief-introduction-to-communities-of-practice.pdf [accessed on 5 August 2022].
'Principles Behind the Agile Manifesto'. Available online at: http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html [accessed on 6 August 2022].
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