15Seconds WebLog

Required to Write Articles?

On occasion, I'll receive e-mails from potential authors saying that they would like to write a few articles because their job requires it.

A corporate writing policy seems to make perfect sense. Writing articles is a quick way to promote a business, establish credibility and visibility among staff, and provide clients/customers with additional documentation.  And if the articles are negotiated on a paid basis, it's a nice, expense-free way for developers to earn some extra cash.

I'm not sure how widespread and detailed corporate writing policies are, but they may be worth examining and implementing at some level.

Comments

Anonymous Coward said:

I'd say the problem with a corporate writing policy is the problem with any corporate policy: It has the potential to drive those who disagree with it away. If those who disagree happen to be highly valuable employees then that sucks.

The paid basis is interesting though. Instead of requiring writing a company should give incentives to encourage it. Those who choose not to participate won't be unhappy then.
# April 16, 2004 8:52 PM

Rob Hudson said:

We have a developer team meeting every 2 weeks. One team member is chosen at random for each session and is instructed to write a small article describing a tactic, tip, or challenge and how to resolve it. We provide the developer with a special Word template with special styles for hierarchy and code.

Every few months we compile them all into one document which resembles a computer book
# April 21, 2004 11:59 AM
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