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The Not-Boring Tech Writer

The Not-Boring Tech Writer

Written by: Kate Mueller
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About this listen

 Some people hear the phrase "technical writing" and think it must be boring. We're here to show the full complexity and awesomeness of being a tech writer. This podcast is for anyone who writes technical documentation of any kind, including those who may not feel comfortable calling themselves tech writers. Whether you create product documentation, support documentation, READMEs, or any other technical content—and whether you deal with imposter syndrome, lack formal training, or find yourself somewhere in the gray area between technical communications and general writing—there's a place for you here. Each month, we publish two episodes: an interview with an amazing guest focusing on useful skills or tools that can help you improve your tech writing skills, and a behind-the-scenes solo episode with host Kate Mueller about what she’s working on, struggling with, or thinking about in her daily tech writing life. The Not-Boring Tech Writer is generously sponsored by KnowledgeOwl, knowledge base software built for people who care, by people who care.© 2016-2026 KnowledgeOwl Careers Economics Personal Success
Episodes
  • Kate sounds off on self-documentation

    Kate sounds off on self-documentation
    Jan 8 2026

    In this solo episode, I share my latest content updates progress (spoiler: I finished my project! 🎉). I also share the new daily check-in Google Form I’m trying, inspired by Kate Pond’s interview (S3:E24), as well as some general thoughts on the power of self-documentation and a call for more intermittent or unofficial tech writing guests.

    I finally finished my project to update the KnowledgeOwl Support Knowledge Base to align with major navigation and UI changes we rolled out in December 2024! 🎉 I updated and archived a ton of articles, completed a tags audit, overhauled our internal guidance on using tags, and submitted a pull request to the Microsoft Entra docs to update their KnowledgeOwl SSO docs. Along the way, I had to trim my scope and toss a lot of additional ideas or changes into a separate backlog list. Now that I’ve completed the project, I’m hoping to work through that separate backlog list as time permits.

    I used Kate Pond’s blog post about her daily check-ins as a strawman to create my own daily check-in Google Form for my work and I share the questions I’m using. I’ll report back on my usage of it in my next solo episode.

    I also share a previously unreleased clip from Kate Pond’s interview in which I describe a form of self-documentation I’ve used in my personal life to manage a chronic illness, many of the benefits to using self-documentation in this way, and some tips for trying it out yourself. I reflect on Kate Pond’s career journey and share what I see as some of the key steps in that journey that others might be able to replicate.

    I close the episode by noting that I’m really trying to include more unofficial or intermittent tech writers like Kate Pond, so if you or someone you know has written documentation without calling yourself a tech writer, please come on the show! Feel free to use our guest suggestions form.


    In this episode:

    • [00:00:00]: Project completion and reflection
    • [00:03:35]: Crafting my new daily check-in
    • [00:11:23]: My Long Covid self-documentation journey
    • [00:15:43]: Benefits of self-documentation
    • [00:20:44]: Strategies for career transitions
    • [00:23:42]: Welcoming more intermittent tech writers


    Resources discussed in this episode:


    • KnowledgeOwl Support Knowledge Base
    • Google Forms for Self-Evaluation
    • S3:E24: Self-documentation for career growth with Kate Pond


    Join the discussion by replying on Bluesky


    —


    Contact The Not-Boring Tech Writer team:


    We love hearing your ideas for episode topics, guests, or general feedback:


    • Email: tnbtw@knowledgeowl.com
    • thenotboringtechwriter.com
    • LinkedIn
    • Bluesky
    • Guest suggestions form


    Contact Kate Mueller:


    • knowledgewithsass.com
    • LinkedIn
    • Bluesky


    Contact KnowledgeOwl:


    • knowledgeowl.com
    • LinkedIn
    Show More Show Less
    31 mins
  • A peek behind the curtain: 2025 clips episode

    A peek behind the curtain: 2025 clips episode
    Dec 25 2025
    In this episode, I share clips from my conversations with Liz Argall, Dennis Dawson, Sarah Walker, Ryan Macklin, Nick Graziade, Janine Chan, and Kate Pond. The clips include outtakes, sound check moments, and segments we cut for time from our 2025 interviews.This episode is different from our usual format. Instead of a single guest interview, I'm sharing clips that we cut from this year's episodes or captured during our pre-recording sound checks. Most of these clips didn't make it into the final episodes due to time constraints, but they contain insights and moments I didn't want to lose entirely. The clips range from lighthearted sound check banter to substantive discussions that didn't fit the final edit.Sarah Walker and I dig deeper into the concept of "beginner's mind" and how returning to documentation you haven't touched in a while can be both humbling and instructive. Ryan Macklin extends empathy advocacy to include ourselves and reminds us that understanding where frustrated customers are coming from doesn't mean we have to accept abusive behavior. Nick Graziade and I explore the limitations of hierarchy as the sole approach to information architecture and why metadata-driven organization can sometimes serve users better than deep folder structures. And Kate Pond and I briefly discuss weekly check-ins and the idea of gamifying daily reflection. There are also some fun moments from sound checks with Liz Argall and Dennis Dawson, plus a clip from Janine Chan's episode that I couldn't resist revisiting.Consider this a peek behind the curtain at how the podcast comes together as well as a thank you to all of our 2025 guests for being so generous with their time and insights!Join the discussion by replying on Bluesky In this episode:[00:00:04]: Kate Mueller’s intro[00:05:04]: Liz Argall[00:07:05]: Dennis Dawson[00:09:46]: Sarah Walker[00:18:11]: Ryan Macklin[00:21:17]: Nick Graziade[00:30:24]: Janine Chan[00:31:44]: Kate Pond[00:33:50]: Kate Mueller’s outroOriginal Season 3 episodes featuring these guests:Episode 4: Bridging the gap from "not technical enough" to "technical" with Janine ChanEpisode 12: Documentation as a creative endeavor with Nick GraziadeEpisode 13: Connecting permaculture and documentation with Liz ArgallEpisode 16: Empathy advocacy: Designing docs for all emotional states with Ryan MacklinEpisode 18: Yoga wisdom for technical writers with Sarah WalkerEpisode 22: Humor and visuals in technical writing with Dennis DawsonEpisode 24: Self-documentation for career growth with Kate PondGuest bios:Liz Argall:Liz Argall creates empowering documentation and processes; where you need it, when you need it.She’s a technical writer, program manager, author, and trainer who delivers humanizing, data informed, accessible, and technically complex projects for a range of organizations, from Fortune 500 companies to a community development organization in Uganda.In a past life, she was a professional artist talent scout and she’s still a professional member of SFWA (now called the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association). She’s a graduate of Clarion Writers Workshop, has been critiqued by multiple New York Times best selling authors, and has critiqued the stories of multiple award winning authors, which is a long way of saying that she likes to give a good portfolio critique!Dennis Dawson:Like many baby-boomers, Dennis still hasn't decided what he wants to be when he grows up. He's a technical writer with 40 years' experience in technical communications providing documentation, training, and user support; a sketchnotes artist for Write the Docs; a 3-time Distinguished Toastmaster and Past District 57 Governor who's won District Champion titles in Humorous, Tall Tales, and Evaluation contests; a volunteer Santa Claus at San Jose Christmas in the Park; and a volunteer drawing teacher at local elementary schools.Sarah Walker:Sarah's been writing and crafting stories since she was able to put pencil to a Peanuts 3x5 top-spiral memo pad and record her stories in her own scribbly alphabet. Since personal alphabets scribbled on tiny pieces of paper don't pay the rent, she embarked on her career as a professional writer and editor after graduating from St. Edward's University (Austin, TX) in 1998. As an industry editor with Hoover's for roughly seven years, she covered biotech, pharmaceuticals, health care systems, venture capital, investment firms, and other sectors as a member of the Finance and Health Care editorial team. She earned her Austinite bone fides by getting hired by and, 18 months later, laid off by Dell, where she served as a technical editor for the Global Technical Training and Curriculum Team for products and software for consumers as well as small and midsize businesses. Thanks to the Great Recession and other market forces and personal demands, she bounced around a bit from writing and editing features, self-help book summaries, U.S. Pharmacopeia monographs, and ...
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    35 mins
  • Kate sounds off on 2025

    Kate sounds off on 2025
    Dec 11 2025

    In this solo episode, I share my latest content update progress. I also reflect on all of 2025 hosting this podcast, offering lessons learned about tech writing and myself alongside gratitude to this year’s awesome guests and listeners like you.

    —

    I’ve continued my work to update the KnowledgeOwl Support Knowledge Base to align with major navigation and UI changes we rolled out in December 2024. I’ve finished my official punchdown list and am working through some spot checks and searches to verify I didn’t overlook anything in that list.

    This episode is my final solo episode of 2025, so it felt appropriate to reflect a bit on how this year has gone. I share seven lessons about tech writers and tech writing I’ve distilled from the year:

    1. Tech writers are really really really not-boring humans.
    2. We like to learn stuff and we’re more or less always learning.
    3. We’re always adapting.
    4. We know a lot of random stuff and it’s not always limited to technical domains.
    5. We’re generous with our knowledge.
    6. Very few of us came into this profession in a linear or “traditional” way.
    7. Care and empathy underlie a lot of what we do.

    I also share some lessons I learned about myself and offer a ton of gratitude, most especially to the awesome roster of amazing, talented people who graced me with interviews this year, and also to all the folks behind the scenes who make this possible. We are, slowly but surely, building a solid not-boring community, and I look forward to another year of doing the same!

    Resources discussed in this episode:

    • KnowledgeOwl Support Knowledge Base
    • S3:E23: Kate sounds off on small things and repairs

    Join the discussion by replying on Bluesky


    —


    Contact The Not-Boring Tech Writer team:


    We love hearing your ideas for episode topics, guests, or general feedback:

    • Email: tnbtw@knowledgeowl.com
    • thenotboringtechwriter.com
    • LinkedIn
    • Bluesky


    Contact Kate Mueller:

    • knowledgewithsass.com
    • LinkedIn
    • Bluesky


    Contact KnowledgeOwl:

    • knowledgeowl.com
    • LinkedIn
    Show More Show Less
    24 mins
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