Tech Writers are Natural Bloggers

Business people sometimes ask me “if I started a weblog, who in my company should blog?” My first answer is “everyone, from the janitor to the CEO”. That’s not always practical, as generally the janitor’s too busy, and the CEO’s too lazy. I’ve often thought that, in software and hardware companies, technical writers make natural bloggers. After all, they are:

• Familiar with the development process.
• Usually customer advocates within the company.
• Hopefully good writers.
• Aware of sensitive areas. That doesn’t mean they won’t blog about bugs, but they’ll know how to do so in an upfront and helpful manner.
• Unlikely to devolve in marketing-speak.
• Likely to provide useful information to users.

I mention this because today Lockergnome directs us to the exceptionally-named BPI UE Team Blog, which is brought to you by “the badasses who document Microsoft BizTalk Server, Microsoft Host Integration Server, and Microsoft Commerce Server”.