Why I'm Writing to You

Eight years ago I wrote a post called You Should Blog. In it, I made an argument that I still believe in: public, professional writing is something every engineer should try. Today, I want to share why I write, and have for over a decade.

It’s made me better

The first reason is that over time, I think it’s made me a better programmer.

To give you an example, here’s an opinion I hold, and how writing helped me solidify it:

“Code coverage, the measurement of the percentage of your codebase that’s covered by automated tests, is a poor measure of code quality or team performance.”

How did I develop this opinion? I was on a team that celebrated increases in code coverage. I respectfully dissented, but I didn’t have the influence to make a bigger cultural change. So, I wrote about it.

Writing that post made me consider some things I hadn’t before:

Is “Code coverage is important” an opinion held by real people? (Am I building a straw man?)
What’s my beef with it? Why do I care?
What are the tradeoffs of adopting it as a metric?
If I don’t think we should be measuring it, what do I think we should be measuring? Do I have a better idea?
If we don’t use it, how could we measure testing? Should we measure testing?
Are there situations where it could be useful?
What’s the business case for ignoring it or adopting it?

You can’t write a thousand words on any subject without stepping into muddy waters like these. So, you look at each question and examine it fairly, and maybe change your mind.

Even if nobody ever read a word you write, you’d be better off going through this process than if you hadn’t written at all.

It helps my teams

Another reason is that it helps me on teams.

When you voice these opinions to your team in crucial moments, you’ve thought beyond the first obvious idea. Not only do you have your opinion, but you know the significant counterarguments, and you’ve considered them. You’re not regurgitating received wisdom; you’re synthesizing the question and the most important answers, on demand.

This has made my professional voice stronger and helped my teams.

It’s something I own

Another reason I write is that my writing is a thing I own, that’s bigger than any current team or project. It’s a 24/7 billboard for my expertise that says: “Jake cares about this and has for years.”

And it pays off in surprising moments, too. I’ve lost count of the times that somebody I’ve been interviewing, or who’s interviewing me, says “I read your post on <subject>; tell me more about that.” It’s like they’ve already had a conversation with me before I’ve stepped into the room. It can sometimes feel like a massive advantage.

And it doesn’t matter if they agree with me; it’s an open door leading me right into something I like talking about.

What about growing an audience?

What about growing my audience? I think it’s good to confess that I used to be a little consumed by this. Let’s examine writing for audience growth for a moment.

I have about 1.5K social media followers across a few platforms, some RSS subscribers, and a couple hundred weekly visitors to my blog. Depending on who you are, that could be an enviable reach.

Either way, a few times a month I get to broadcast my ideas to a virtual roomful of a few hundred people. They listen to what I say and sometimes respond.

Imagine if, whenever you wanted, you could give a talk to 50 smart colleagues. That’s special! Most people never get that chance.

Forget about growth. I worked hard to get those 50 colleagues. And I’m going to make it count.

What if they think I’m dumb

Sometimes one of those cherished colleagues will tell you that your idea is bad and that you should feel bad. It can be uncomfortable! But it’s in service of something bigger.

Cunningham’s Law states that “The best way to get the right answer on the internet… is to post the wrong answer.” If your goal is the best answer, learn to accept the occasional challenge.

One of my tricks from Stack Overflow is to “Make the comments obsolete.” Take the best challenges and learn from them, or address them in the post. This is a sneaky way to get better and to develop stronger arguments.