Marc Paquette
@egopontem.com
Technical writing and other things
🌐 egopontem.com
<> github.com/marcpaq
🌐 egopontem.com
<> github.com/marcpaq
Did Sisyphus feel condemned? Or was he grateful to practice being the best damned rock pusher in the universe?
Just a thought that popped into my head while editing more legacy doc. Totally unrelated.
Just a thought that popped into my head while editing more legacy doc. Totally unrelated.
September 26, 2025 at 1:27 AM
Did Sisyphus feel condemned? Or was he grateful to practice being the best damned rock pusher in the universe?
Just a thought that popped into my head while editing more legacy doc. Totally unrelated.
Just a thought that popped into my head while editing more legacy doc. Totally unrelated.
“There are only two kinds of documentation: the one that people always bitch about and the one that nobody uses.” Thanks++, Bjarne Stroustrup.
August 6, 2025 at 10:03 PM
“There are only two kinds of documentation: the one that people always bitch about and the one that nobody uses.” Thanks++, Bjarne Stroustrup.
me: Me? I'm a tech writer.
civilian: So is a tech writer just a frustrated novelist?
me: No, but I've been asked many times to write fiction, and that's frustrating.
civilian: So is a tech writer just a frustrated novelist?
me: No, but I've been asked many times to write fiction, and that's frustrating.
July 28, 2025 at 5:46 PM
me: Me? I'm a tech writer.
civilian: So is a tech writer just a frustrated novelist?
me: No, but I've been asked many times to write fiction, and that's frustrating.
civilian: So is a tech writer just a frustrated novelist?
me: No, but I've been asked many times to write fiction, and that's frustrating.
The beauty and the horror of technical writing is when your audience isn't surprised.
July 21, 2025 at 1:18 PM
The beauty and the horror of technical writing is when your audience isn't surprised.
The tech writer’s tree falling in a forest is the feedback form at the bottom of a help topic, only the sound is "tHiS sUcKs!1!!"
July 7, 2025 at 1:04 PM
The tech writer’s tree falling in a forest is the feedback form at the bottom of a help topic, only the sound is "tHiS sUcKs!1!!"
I feel that the first rule of tech writing is empathy.
June 27, 2025 at 1:32 AM
I feel that the first rule of tech writing is empathy.
Why should devs get all the fun with composability?
Imagine trying out simple things then connecting them into more sophisticated things.
Lather, rinse, repeat until you have your own custom solution.
And there’s that sweet hit of dopamine each time you do it.
egopontem.com/blog/cli-sor...
Imagine trying out simple things then connecting them into more sophisticated things.
Lather, rinse, repeat until you have your own custom solution.
And there’s that sweet hit of dopamine each time you do it.
egopontem.com/blog/cli-sor...
June 13, 2025 at 10:48 AM
Why should devs get all the fun with composability?
Imagine trying out simple things then connecting them into more sophisticated things.
Lather, rinse, repeat until you have your own custom solution.
And there’s that sweet hit of dopamine each time you do it.
egopontem.com/blog/cli-sor...
Imagine trying out simple things then connecting them into more sophisticated things.
Lather, rinse, repeat until you have your own custom solution.
And there’s that sweet hit of dopamine each time you do it.
egopontem.com/blog/cli-sor...
In the damp basement classrooms where they trained tech writers, they forbade us not to entertain our audience.
I’m here to say that we can inform *and* entertain. Behold the proof that is this coffee table book! And it has my fave foods: processed food, olive oil, and bugs you can eat.
I’m here to say that we can inform *and* entertain. Behold the proof that is this coffee table book! And it has my fave foods: processed food, olive oil, and bugs you can eat.
June 2, 2025 at 2:27 PM
In the damp basement classrooms where they trained tech writers, they forbade us not to entertain our audience.
I’m here to say that we can inform *and* entertain. Behold the proof that is this coffee table book! And it has my fave foods: processed food, olive oil, and bugs you can eat.
I’m here to say that we can inform *and* entertain. Behold the proof that is this coffee table book! And it has my fave foods: processed food, olive oil, and bugs you can eat.
me: “If we clean up our broken doc workflow then the intern can migrate content and train us on an open source toolchain in about 3 months.”
other writers: “This 4-digit/seat proprietary knowledge base precisely duplicates our broken workflow. It should take about 3 months for the next 2 years.”
other writers: “This 4-digit/seat proprietary knowledge base precisely duplicates our broken workflow. It should take about 3 months for the next 2 years.”
May 26, 2025 at 3:00 PM
me: “If we clean up our broken doc workflow then the intern can migrate content and train us on an open source toolchain in about 3 months.”
other writers: “This 4-digit/seat proprietary knowledge base precisely duplicates our broken workflow. It should take about 3 months for the next 2 years.”
other writers: “This 4-digit/seat proprietary knowledge base precisely duplicates our broken workflow. It should take about 3 months for the next 2 years.”
There are 2 kinds of left-handed people with fountain pens: elitist wankers and super heroes.
May 20, 2025 at 8:45 PM
There are 2 kinds of left-handed people with fountain pens: elitist wankers and super heroes.
MS Word is like trying to type with boxing gloves, only not as productive.
May 12, 2025 at 1:51 PM
MS Word is like trying to type with boxing gloves, only not as productive.
spouse: Why is it taking so long to write your mother an email for her apple crisp recipe?
me: They whined about Michelangelo taking too long too.
#revisereviserevise
me: They whined about Michelangelo taking too long too.
#revisereviserevise
May 5, 2025 at 1:34 PM
spouse: Why is it taking so long to write your mother an email for her apple crisp recipe?
me: They whined about Michelangelo taking too long too.
#revisereviserevise
me: They whined about Michelangelo taking too long too.
#revisereviserevise
Migrating to docs-as-code is a big step for a doc team. Congratulations!
There’s a big next step: Now you can easily process your doc set on the command line. Connect things together, see what works, see what doesn’t. Write more, let the machine do the fussing.
egopontem.com/blog/cli-sor...
There’s a big next step: Now you can easily process your doc set on the command line. Connect things together, see what works, see what doesn’t. Write more, let the machine do the fussing.
egopontem.com/blog/cli-sor...
April 29, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Migrating to docs-as-code is a big step for a doc team. Congratulations!
There’s a big next step: Now you can easily process your doc set on the command line. Connect things together, see what works, see what doesn’t. Write more, let the machine do the fussing.
egopontem.com/blog/cli-sor...
There’s a big next step: Now you can easily process your doc set on the command line. Connect things together, see what works, see what doesn’t. Write more, let the machine do the fussing.
egopontem.com/blog/cli-sor...
Hoping that power returns sooner than later in Spain & Portugal.
April 28, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Hoping that power returns sooner than later in Spain & Portugal.
I posted a fresh article but I feel bad about it. Let me apologize now for the horrible regret you’ll feel after the elation of “getting” redirection on the command line. You’ll wish you could have taken advantage of it sooner in your life.
egopontem.com/blog/cli-cat...
egopontem.com/blog/cli-cat...
April 21, 2025 at 1:24 PM
I posted a fresh article but I feel bad about it. Let me apologize now for the horrible regret you’ll feel after the elation of “getting” redirection on the command line. You’ll wish you could have taken advantage of it sooner in your life.
egopontem.com/blog/cli-cat...
egopontem.com/blog/cli-cat...
“As far as I’m concerned People of the Deer did nothing but good for individual people, the survivors... Nobody was going to pay any attention to them unless their situation was dramatized, and I dramatized it.”—Farley Mowat on being criticized for bending the facts.
April 14, 2025 at 2:31 PM
“As far as I’m concerned People of the Deer did nothing but good for individual people, the survivors... Nobody was going to pay any attention to them unless their situation was dramatized, and I dramatized it.”—Farley Mowat on being criticized for bending the facts.
Reposted by Marc Paquette
In a world where coders who write seem to muster more respect than writers who code, the response from tech writers to the challenges posed by the intersection of automation, multichannel delivery, and docs-as-code is weak, if not absent.
passo.uno/tech-writing...
passo.uno/tech-writing...
Technical writing has a depth issue
Demoralized by the advent of LLMs, I see tech writing communities break ranks and flee. In a world where coders who write seem to muster more respect than writers who code, the response from tech writ...
passo.uno
March 13, 2025 at 6:26 PM
In a world where coders who write seem to muster more respect than writers who code, the response from tech writers to the challenges posed by the intersection of automation, multichannel delivery, and docs-as-code is weak, if not absent.
passo.uno/tech-writing...
passo.uno/tech-writing...
Make sure your CSV files have the same columns:
```
head -qn1 *.csv | uniq
```
Merge them (with a single column header):
```
head -qn1 *.csv | uniq && tail -qn+2 *.csv
```
And sort them:
```
head -qn1 *.csv | uniq && tail -qn+2 *.csv | sort
```
I could go on.
```
head -qn1 *.csv | uniq
```
Merge them (with a single column header):
```
head -qn1 *.csv | uniq && tail -qn+2 *.csv
```
And sort them:
```
head -qn1 *.csv | uniq && tail -qn+2 *.csv | sort
```
I could go on.
April 6, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Make sure your CSV files have the same columns:
```
head -qn1 *.csv | uniq
```
Merge them (with a single column header):
```
head -qn1 *.csv | uniq && tail -qn+2 *.csv
```
And sort them:
```
head -qn1 *.csv | uniq && tail -qn+2 *.csv | sort
```
I could go on.
```
head -qn1 *.csv | uniq
```
Merge them (with a single column header):
```
head -qn1 *.csv | uniq && tail -qn+2 *.csv
```
And sort them:
```
head -qn1 *.csv | uniq && tail -qn+2 *.csv | sort
```
I could go on.
Plus ça change. I found this in a used book shop when I had just started my career. Over 60 years later our tools have changed but the challenges haven’t.
April 1, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Plus ça change. I found this in a used book shop when I had just started my career. Over 60 years later our tools have changed but the challenges haven’t.
Am I showing my age? I prefer Emacs the same way I prefer stick shift or a 35mm camera. They do only what I tell them to and don’t fall over themselves (and me) to do anything more. Sure, Emacs is always ready to do more, but only when I decide.
March 24, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Am I showing my age? I prefer Emacs the same way I prefer stick shift or a 35mm camera. They do only what I tell them to and don’t fall over themselves (and me) to do anything more. Sure, Emacs is always ready to do more, but only when I decide.
Tech writers do it step by step.
March 17, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Tech writers do it step by step.
Nothing is emphasized when everything is emphasized.
March 10, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Nothing is emphasized when everything is emphasized.
A picture is worth 3 orders of magnitude in words, a video 3 orders in pictures. The time it takes to make them is only 1 order of magnitude. Or, how to argue with your manager.
March 3, 2025 at 9:42 AM
A picture is worth 3 orders of magnitude in words, a video 3 orders in pictures. The time it takes to make them is only 1 order of magnitude. Or, how to argue with your manager.
How many tech writers does it take to screw in a light bulb? Too many, they should automate that instead. I've created a set of command line tools that lets tech writers do that.
egopontem.com/blog/tech-wr...
egopontem.com/blog/tech-wr...
February 28, 2025 at 8:14 AM
How many tech writers does it take to screw in a light bulb? Too many, they should automate that instead. I've created a set of command line tools that lets tech writers do that.
egopontem.com/blog/tech-wr...
egopontem.com/blog/tech-wr...
“Get into a rut early: Do the same process the same way. Accumulate idioms. Standardize. The only difference(!) between Shakespeare and you was the size of his idiom list - not the size of his vocabulary.“ Perlis was a genius.
February 21, 2025 at 8:57 AM
“Get into a rut early: Do the same process the same way. Accumulate idioms. Standardize. The only difference(!) between Shakespeare and you was the size of his idiom list - not the size of his vocabulary.“ Perlis was a genius.