net - UK (2020-02)

TP: As a UX writer, I don’t think I’m actually an expert on text that’s meant for

reading. What I’ve practised is text meant for doing.

It seems like a weird thing to say because isn’t all

text meant for reading? The distinction I’d like to

make is that some text inspires ideas, tells a story or

conveys information. Reading that text is its own

purpose, complete in itself. Text intended for doing,

in contrast, isn’t meant to be remembered any longer

than necessary. It is designed to be ephemeral. The

text should be so easy to read, so scannable, so

appropriate to that moment in the experience, the

reader barely notices it.

For this text-for-doing, I share ‘golden rules’ of

usability and pre-defined voice in chapter 6 of my

book Strategic Writing for UX. The usability rules include

staying concise but also accessible, purposeful,

conversational and clear.

What’s the secret of writing text for reading on

the web?

Iyla Dillard, Sheffield, UK

QUESTION OF THE MONTH

Send your questions to [email protected]

Practical

advice from

industry experts

TORREY PODMAJERSKY

Based in the Greater

Seattle area, Podmajersky

is a UX writer at Google

and author of the best

selling book Strategic

Writing for UX.

w: torreypodmajersky.com

t: @torreybird

DAVE BOWERS

Bowers is head of

strategy at Likely Story,

an award-winning

strategic creative agency

based in Manchester

that’s focused on delivering digital,

branding and storytelling.

w: likely-story.co.uk

t: @likelystorydave

BRETT HARNED

Harned is director of

education at TeamGantt,

founder of the event

Digital PM Summit,

author of Project

Management for Humans and podcaster at

Sprints & Milestones.

w: brettharned.com

t: @brettharned

THIS MONTH FEATURING...

Project management

OWNER AND MANAGER

Can a project owner and a PM be the same

person? If not, why not? What are the

pitfalls to watch for? I am leading a highly

complicated, year-plus-long project with

11 people from different departments on

the team (all with different bosses). I do

not have a PM on the team so I am taking

the training myself. What are some tips to

make this work?

Alicia Swinamer, California, US

BH: Anyone can be a project manager.

In fact, there are many organisations

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so they end up delegating the tasks to

teams. This can be done in a number

of ways but personally I do believe

that designating one lead with the

responsibility of planning, managing

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team and your projects. The best thing

you can do in this instance is develop a

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responsible, accountable, consulted and

informed at every step of your project

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meeting facilitation, etc). Doing that will

Torrey Podmajersky’s book teaches you how to write strategically for UX, using

tools to build foundational pieces for UI text and UX voice strategy