UXA2022 Day 2; Matt Fenwick - Defending design: writing to influence

What happens to your work when you leave the room? What can you do to help others understand and use what you've designed?

It's not enough to do the work — we must also communicate about the work, and do that in writing. In this presentation by content strategist, writer and TEDx speaker Matt Fenwick, you'll learn a new way of approaching writing at work.

Transcript

1. Defending design
   Writing to influence
   

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2. X
   

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4. “If you haven’t written it
   down, it’s ephemeral.
   And if it’s ephemeral, it’s a
   big fat waste of time.”
   - Donna Spencer
   

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5. X
   

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7. “A writer is someone for
   whom writing is more
   difficult than it is for
   other people”
   - Thomas Mann
   

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8. Curse of knowledge
   Frontloading
   Abstraction
   Layering
   Storytelling
   

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9. Curse of
   knowledge
   

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11. Frontloading
    

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12. Most important
    Less important
    

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16. Page
    

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17. Para
    

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18. Sentence
    

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19. Before….
    Healthier Work Content
    Strategy
    1. Introduction
    2. Current state of your content
    3. Future state of your content
    4. Roadmap
    

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20. … After
    Healthier Work Content
    Strategy
    1. Introduction
    2. Future state of your content
    3. Roadmap
    4. Research summary
    Healthier Work Content
    Strategy
    1. Introduction
    2. Current state of your content
    3. Future state of your content
    4. Roadmap
    

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21. Let’s fix this!
    About Flange
    Flange is a 100% distributed organisation,
    meaning we have experience managing
    consultations online.
    Our team includes Rick Flange, Co-founder
    and lead strategies, Marjorie Flange, Senior
    researcher and Derrick Biggins, Researcher.
    

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22. Layering
    information
    

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23. Bite - snack - meal
    @mattmfenwick
    truenorthcontent.com.au
    

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24. The bite…
    

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25. The snack…
    

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26. Where’s my snack? I want my snack!
    Bite
    Meal
    

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27. Where’s my snack? I want my snack!
    

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28. Where’s my snack? I want my snack!
    

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29. The ladder of
    abstraction
    

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30. Abstract
    Concrete
    

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31. Abstract
    “What’s that?”
    

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32. flange.
    We exist to unlock tomorrow
    

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33. Concrete
    “So what?”
    

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35. Concrete
    “So what?”
    

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36. Concrete
    “So what?”
    “So what?”
    

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37. Concrete
    “So what?”
    “So what?”
    “So what?”
    

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38. Concrete
    “So what?”
    “So what?”
    “So what?”
    “So what?”
    

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39. Concrete
    “So what?”
    “So what?”
    “So what?”
    “So what?”
    “So what?”
    

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40. Let’s fix this!
    “Users added an item
    to cart in 20% of cases”
    So what?
    

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41. Story
    

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42. A good story has…
    1. Character
    2. Stakes
    3. Movement
    4. Resolution
    

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43. ZZZZZZZZZ
    1. The client asked us to do some work
    

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44. ZZZZZZZZZ
    1. The client asked us to do some work
    2. We knew we’d be awesome going in, and sure
    enough we were
    

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45. ZZZZZZZZZ
    1. The client asked us to do some work
    2. We knew we’d be awesome going in, and sure
    enough we were
    3. Everything worked out exactly as expected
    

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46. Which type of communicator are you?
    Bard
    Linear time
    Payoff at the end
    Steward
    Listing facts
    Others interpret
    Scout
    Pay-off upfront
    Progressive info
    

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47. But what do I do?
    

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48. Your customer’s customer journey
    Gathering
    support
    

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49. Your customer’s customer journey
    Gathering
    support
    Pitching
    

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50. Your customer’s customer journey
    Gathering
    support
    Pitching Negotiating
    scope
    

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51. Your customer’s customer journey
    Gathering
    support
    Pitching Negotiating
    scope
    Discovery
    

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52. Your customer’s customer journey
    Gathering
    support
    Pitching Negotiating
    scope
    Discovery Delivery
    

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53. Your customer’s customer journey
    Gathering
    support
    Pitching Negotiating
    scope
    Discovery Delivery Nurturing
    

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54. Writing is a craft
    

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56. Writing is a team sport
    

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57. Writing bugs?
    Your email
    Your question
    No spam 🤝
    

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58. Thank you!
    E: matt@truenorthcontent.com.au
    LI: MattMfenwick
    Ph: 0429 850 423
    Content strategy
    Content design
    Training
    ConteRATEG
    

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