The Cherryleaf Podcast

88. Will Myddelton on moving from an oral to a written culture

In this episode, we talk to Will Myddelton, Product lead at Local Welcome, about moving from an oral to a written culture within an organisation.
"An oral culture has huge advantages in that it’s fluid, easy to pick up, and doesn’t require a lot of attention to processes. 
But it has a big disadvantage which is that knowledge is stored inside people’s memories, or embodied in the things that are made in specific contexts.
This creates problems when someone goes on holiday, and even worse when someone leaves.
It means people often spend time reinventing or duplicating things that have been invented before.
Stepping back, it often means there is no single view of the system that the company is operating, (which is why so many design consultancies start with trying to map the systems that a company operates).
Finally, lots of organisations are trying to automate business processes, but how can you automate a process that isn’t documented (which is why there are so many business analysts who try and retro-document the processes that exist and are in operation)."
Links:
Conway's Law: latency versus throughput by Mark Seemann
Will Myddelton on Twitter
Local Welcome
Notion
Pioneers, settlers, town planners

87. Interview with CJ Walker about the technical writing scene in France

In this episode, we talk to CJ Walker, of Firehead, about the technical writing scene in France.
Firehead: www.firehead.net
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86. Covid-19 The future for organisations and for technical communication

The COVID-19 coronavirus is having a huge impact on people and organisations. With so many things that could be about to change, how should technical communicators respond?
In this episode we look at:
How organisations might change during and after the Covid-19 lockdown
What that means for technical communication
Comments made by others on LinkedIn
What changes we've made at Cherryleaf
Links:
Building a StoryBrand with Donald Miller - Your Checklist for Getting Through a Crisis
LinkedIn thread
 
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85. Sara Feldman on how the writing in technical writing needs to evolve

We talk to Sara Feldman, about how the writing in technical writing needs to evolve.
We discuss:
The driving forces that are impacting our audience’s context in ways we need to account for in how we write
Things to do more
Things to do less
Customer-focused delivery
Think with Google: How consumer needs shape search behavior and drive intent
Sara Feldman on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarafeldman/
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84. Interview with Jen Lambourne, Knowledge Management Lead at Monzo Bank

We talk to Jen Lambourne, Knowledge Management Lead at Monzo Bank, about her current work at Monzo and her previous role at the UK's Government Digital Service. 
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83. Working from home during the lockdown

We look at working from home during the lockdown.
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82. Leadership and Communication

We look at the importance of communication in leadership. We look at how communication needs to adapt to different contexts.
Note: This recording was made before the Coronavirus crisis was fully appreciated. 
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81. Writing Business as Usual policies to deal with a crisis

We look at the steps you need to take if you need to urgently create or update your Business as Usual policies and procedures. 
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80. Review of Google's Technical Writing Courses for Engineers

Google has developed two technical writing classes for developers, which it has delivered to thousands of its own staff. In late February 2020 it made these accessible to people outside of Google.
But are they any good?
In this episode, we describe and review these courses. 
See also:
Technical writing for developers training courses
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79. Content Strategy at Babylon Health, with Rahel Anne Bailie

Rahel talks about Babylon Health and her role as Director of Content there. We discuss content strategy, content design, and the issues Babylon Health faces. We also look at the skills needed to be a good Content Designer, and how to get those skills. 
Cherryleaf helps you find better ways to create and manage your content
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To contact Cherryleaf: info@cherryleaf.com