My grandfather gave me some advice when I was in high school.
He was a radio and communications engineer from the 1950s to 80s. By the time he retired, he'd worked as a program manager with a staff of hundreds. His advice to me, a budding IT enthusiast and likely heading for a career in such, was simple:
"Learn to read and write well. You can't be a good engineer if you can't write well."
Interesting to compare this with a 2017 equivalent [0] which contains a lot more actionable guidance (written in PowerPoint).
A lot of this is relevant in commercial writing, e.g. the use of active voice - which tends to make it clear who has responsibility for things. Important in contracts, etc.
Much of the advice over active/passive voice misses the mark. Decide what you want to emphasize and choose the form that does so.
Consider some of the examples in that deck.
"PVT Jones wrecked the HMMWV." That's a good choice if you're describing the (mis)adventures of Private Jones.
On the other hand "The HMMWV was wrecked by PVT Jones" might be better if your argument continues with "but the problems with the motor pool started long before the accident."
> ”Superior qualification in the use of language, both as to the written and the spoken word, is more essential to military leadership than knowledge of the whole technique of weapons handling.”
This reads like it’s straight from “The Art of Plain Talk”, 1946. [1]
I picked up that book over a decade ago, and it had a big effect on the way I write. There’s a temptation to use big words to sound more professional. Part of it is understanding your audience. But even when speaking to a crowd that can grasp the meaning of fancier language, you risk clouding your message.
Feynman understood this. A big part of his brilliance was taking hard ideas and making them simple.
My first real introduction to the idea of writing with simple, clear sentences came from Cliff Stoll. People thought the Cuckoo’s Egg was ghostwritten. In Silicon Snake Oil he shared thoughts on what made his writing so enjoyable. What I remember most is simplicity. And short sentences.
"There is a common saying in the services, and elsewhere, that greater privileges grow out of larger responsibilities, and that the latter justifies the former. This is part truth and part fable."
A great quote at the beginning of Chapter Eight: Getting Along With People [0]
"If you like people, if you seek contact with them rather than hiding yourself in a corner, if you study your fellow men sympathetically, if you try consistently to contribute something to their success and happiness, if you are reasonably generous with your thoughts and your time, if you have a partial reserve with everyone but a seeming reserve with no one, if you work to be interesting rather than spend to be a good fellow, you will get along with your superiors, your subordinates, your orderly, your roommate and the human race."
For anyone in Germany (or any country which is blocked by this website), here is the raw html. Save it and open it with your favorite web browser :) http://paste.awesom.eu/Y36k
This is because Germany wanted Gutenberg to restrict access to most of their collection, which is not in the public domain in Germany. Gutenberg instead decided to block Germany rather than comply with copyright law.
How regrettable that the document has no named author, other than the official sponsor. The advice stands or falls without it, still one would like to know the name of the one who advocated so well for clear writing.
"In 1950, the great Soldier-Statesman George C. Marshall, then serving as the Secretary of Defense, signed a cover page for a new book titled The Armed Forces Officer. That original version of this book was written by none other than S.L.A. Marshall, who later explained that Secretary Marshall had “inspired the undertaking due to his personal conviction that American military officers, of whatever service, should share common ground ethically and morally.” Written at the dawn of the nuclear age and the emergence of the Cold War, it addressed an officer corps tasked with developing a strategy of nuclear deterrence, facing unprecedented deployments, and adapting to the creation of the Department of Defense and other new organizations necessary to manage the threats of a new global order."
He was a radio and communications engineer from the 1950s to 80s. By the time he retired, he'd worked as a program manager with a staff of hundreds. His advice to me, a budding IT enthusiast and likely heading for a career in such, was simple:
"Learn to read and write well. You can't be a good engineer if you can't write well."
It was invaluable advice.