DEV Community: DevEdBookClub

#DevEdBookClub Round 3: Teaching Tech Together

Megan Sullivan — Mon, 13 Jun 2022 20:46:00 +0000

It's time for our next round of our Twitter book club, and you're invited! Each week, we'll host a Twitter chat on Thursday at 6pm PT to discuss a chapter of Teaching Tech Together: How to create and deliver lessons that work and build a teaching community around them. We start with Chapter 1 on July 7.

Why join? Because learning is more fun together!

How to Participate

If you want to read along with us, here's what you need to do:

Teaching Tech Together can be read online for free! If you'd like to support the author by ordering a physical copy, you can purchase one from the publisher website.
Before the day of the Twitter chat, read the assigned chapter for the week. Jot down any quotes that stand out to you or questions you have.
On the day of the Twitter chat, hop onto Twitter between 6pm-7pm PT. Check the @DevEdBookClub Twitter account for the discussion thread.
Join the conversation (and tag your replies with #DevEdBookClub)! Check out what other participants are saying. Reply with your own thoughts, experiences, or questions. This is a great time to learn from each other and make new friends!

If you can't attend during the scheduled time, you can still add to the conversation after the fact. We'd love to hear your thoughts, whenever you have time to share them! We'll also update this post with links to each thread, so you can easily catch up on all the conversations in one place.

Schedule

Like to plan ahead? Here's when we're currently planning to discuss each chapter.

Note: We're trying something a little different this time. There will be no book club chat on the last Thursday of each month. We're hoping these periodic breaks will give folks a chance to catch up on the reading and to jump back into the conversation. Let us know what you think of this new structure!

July 7, 2022: Chapter 1 (Introduction)
July 14: Chapter 2 (Mental Models and Formative Assessment)
July 21: Chapter 3 (Expertise and Memory)
July 28: No book club! Relax or catch up on reading 😎
August 4: Chapter 4 (Cognitive Architecture)
August 11: Chapter 5 (Individual Learning)
August 18: Chapter 6 (A Lesson Design Process)
August 25: No book club! Relax or catch up on reading 😎
September 1: Chapter 7 (Pedagogical Content Knowledge)
September 8: Chapter 8 (Teaching as a Performance Art)
September 15: Chapter 9 (In the Classroom)
September 22: Chapter 10 (Motivation and Demotivation)
September 29: No book club! Relax or catch up on reading 😎
October 6: Chapter 11 (Teaching Online)
October 13: Chapter 12 (Exercise Types)
October 20: Chapter 13 (Building a Community of Practice)
October 27: No book club! Relax or catch up on reading 😎
November 3: Chapter 14 (Outreach)
November 10: Chapter 15 (Why I Teach)
November 17: General Wrap-Up / Final Thoughts

Have questions?

Leave a comment below, or reach out to us on Twitter!

See you on July 7!

#DevEdBookClub Round 2: The Programmer's Brain

Megan Sullivan — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 07:21:10 +0000

It's time for our next round of our Twitter book club, and you're invited! Each week, we'll host a Twitter chat on Thursday at 6pm PT to discuss a chapter of The Programmer's Brain: What every programmer needs to know about cognition. We start with Chapter 1 on March 10.

Why join? Because learning is more fun together!

How to Participate

If you want to read along with us, here's what you need to do:

Pick up a copy of The Programmer's Brain.
Before the day of the Twitter chat, read the assigned chapter for the week. Jot down any quotes that stand out to you or questions you have.
On the day of the Twitter chat, hop onto Twitter between 6pm-7pm PT. Check the @DevEdBookClub Twitter account for the discussion thread.
Join the conversation (and tag your replies with #DevEdBookClub)! Check out what other participants are saying. Reply with your own thoughts, experiences, or questions. This is a great time to learn from each other and make new friends!

Schedule

Like to plan ahead? Here's when we're currently planning to discuss each chapter.

Part 1: On Reading Code Better

March 10, 2022: Chapter 1 (Decoding your confusion while coding)
March 17: Chapter 2 (Speed reading for code)
March 24: Chapter 3 (How to learn programming syntax quickly)
March 31: Chapter 4 (How to read complex code)

Part 2: On Thinking About Code

April 7: Chapter 5 (Reaching a deeper understanding of code)
April 14: Chapter 6 (Getting better at solving programming problems)
April 21: Chapter 7 (Misconceptions: Bugs in thinking)

(April 28: No Twitter chat this week. Catch up on the reading, or have a nice break!)

Part 3: On Writing Better Code

Part 4: On Collaborating On Code

May 26: Chapter 11 (The act of writing code)
June 2: Chapter 12 (Designing and improving larger systems)
June 9: Chapter 13 (How to onboard new developers)

General Wrap-up

June 16: General Wrap-Up / Final Thoughts

Have questions?

Leave a comment below, or reach out to us on Twitter!

See you on March 10!

Twitter Chat: Chapter 6 Recap

Christina Gorton — Mon, 03 Jan 2022 19:54:54 +0000

Cover Photo by Chris J. Davis on Unsplash

We started a book club! Each week we host a Twitter chat on Thursdays to discuss a chapter of Docs for Developers.

On Thursday Dec. 30th we had our 6th Twitter chat, hosted on the @DevEdBookClub Twitter account about Chapter 6.

This post is a recap of the chat and a place to continue the conversation.

Visual Content

What docs have particularly good examples of visual content?
What do you like about them?

Megan Sullivan pointed to Vue’s documentation and this flow chart in particular as a good example of visual content.

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Portia mentioned Julia Evan’s programming zines called Wizard Zines. They use visuals to cover a variety of topics like Bash, Networking, and Linux.
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Dvkr gave a shout out to the comics that are found in React’s new beta documentation. They enjoy how the comics personify React.

Aisha Blake said she liked Plaid’s documentation because of the illustrations that help her visualize the use of their product. They combine the visuals with helpful code examples.

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What are your favorite visuals for learning new content?

Creating Visuals

What’s your workflow for creating visual content? At what point in the writing process do you add them?
What tools do you use?
Do you have any questions about creating visual content that this group might be able to help weigh in on?

I shared that my workflow changes depending on the content. Sometimes I start with a visual and create content around it. Other times I leave the visuals for the end. I also mentioned I enjoy using Figma and Affinity designer to create visuals that are SVGs. Some of the visuals I create I like to animate and SVGs make this easier to accomplish.
I use Procreate when creating an image.

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Valeria uses online white boards like Weje to manage multiple projects and visualize their workflow.
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Aisha and Portia both admitted they have a hard time creating visual content. Aisha likes to commission illustrations when possible. Portia tries to draw something on paper first and then uses tools like Miro.
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Do you have a preferred workflow? What tools do you like to use to create visuals for your documentation?

Favorite Takeaways

What takeaways from this chapter can you apply to your own documentation practice at work?

Any quotes or ideas that resonate with you?

Sarah Rainsberger had two favorite takeaways. First, she liked the message “Simplify to Amplify". Visuals can be really helpful but can also be very distracting.
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Second, she appreciated the reminder that screenshots aren’t always the best option. They lack text for screen readers. Use in your documentation only when they are the best option.
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Portia added she would have liked a section in the book that talked about maintaining visuals. A lot of documentation sites struggle with keeping their visuals up-to-date.

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Join the Conversation 🗣

You can see the full conversation on the DevEdBookClub Twitter account.
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Add a comment on the Twitter thread or share your thoughts here to continue the conversation.

What did you think about Chapter 6 of Docs for Developers?

Twitter Chat: Chapter 5 Recap

Christina Gorton — Thu, 30 Dec 2021 18:06:36 +0000

Cover Photo by Chris J. Davis on Unsplash

We started a book club! Each week we host a Twitter chat on Thursdays to discuss a chapter of Docs for Developers.

On Thursday Dec. 23rd we had our 5th Twitter chat, hosted on the @DevEdBookClub Twitter account about Chapter 5.

This post is a recap of the chat and a place to continue the conversation.

Code Samples

What docs or learning platforms have particularly good code samples?
What do you like about them?

Megan Sullivan showed us an example of the Gatsby docs. She liked that the Gatsby docs would include in a code sample the name of the file where the changes should go
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Sarah Rainsberger shared a link to the GraphQL tutorials on Apollo Odyssey.
She said:
“I love seeing code WRITTEN out, with arrows pointing to stuff bc its what I do to learn”

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How do you like to learn?

Do you have any favorite learning platforms and if so, why do you like them?

Preferred Workflow

What’s your workflow for creating code samples?
At what point in the writing process do you add them?
What tools do you use?
Do you prefer static or interactive code samples?

Ramón Huidobro shared that they like to prepare code samples along with the structure.
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Megan and I both agreed it depended on what we were writing. If I write tutorials I like to have a code sample written out before writing.

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Do you have a preferred workflow?

Favorite Takeaways

What takeaways from this chapter can you apply to your own documentation practice at work?

Any quotes or ideas that resonate with you?

dvkr's favorite quote was “It’s better to write looking forward than backward”. When writing code samples we should be sure we are not making it even harder for learners by adding references or examples that need shared perspective to understand.

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Ramón shared their favorite quote: “Explanations that accompany your samples are as important as the samples themselves”.

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Join the Conversation 🗣

You can see the full conversation on the DevEdBookClub Twitter account.
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Add a comment on the Twitter thread or share your thoughts here to continue the conversation.

What did you think about Chapter 5 of Docs for Developers?

Twitter Chat: Chapter 3 Recap

Christina Gorton — Tue, 14 Dec 2021 20:38:48 +0000

Cover photo by Chris J. Davis on Unsplash

We started a book club! Each week, we host a Twitter chat on Thursdays to discuss a chapter of Docs for Developers.

On Thursday Dec. 9th, we had our third Twitter chat, hosted on the @DevEdBookClub Twitter account about Chapter 3, Drafting Documentation.

This post is a recap of the chat and a place to continue the conversation.

Writing Process

What does your writing process typically look like? How do you get from idea to first draft?

What practices does your organization have around templatizing your docs?

How do you prioritize your work if you need to write multiple docs at once?

Several of us identified with Sarah Rainsberger's tendency to hold onto an idea until it all spills straight out into a draft.

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It turns out that this practice is actually described in a writing lecture given by Larry EcEnerney at the University of Chicago!

You are using your writing process to help yourself think.

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Portia Burton described her own process for figuring out what the docs should say.

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Her approach ties in well with the theme of writing empathetically that we discussed in the previous week.

Writer's Block

How do you get unstuck when you have writer’s block?

What’s usually the thing blocking you?

Several folks mentioned that they're usually blocked by a lack of knowledge (or confidence in their knowledge) of the subject. Amber Matz shared how she tackles that feeling.

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I like to say what I'm thinking out loud to focus my thoughts on a topic and to get past the point of staring at a blank page.

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It works really well for me and my answer to this question seems to have inspired some to try it for themselves. Remember, though, that the best writing process is the one that works for you!

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Favorite Takeaways

What takeaways from this chapter can you apply to your own documentation practice at work?

Any quotes or ideas that resonate with you?

Megan shared the following quote and how the paradox it describes is reason for us to care in everything we write because we can't know which part will resonate with someone.

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Join the Conversation 🗣

You can see the full conversation on the DevEdBookClub Twitter account.

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Add a comment on the Twitter thread or share your thoughts here to continue the conversation.

What did you think about Chapter 3 of Docs for Developers?

Twitter Chat: Chapter 2 Recap

Christina Gorton — Mon, 06 Dec 2021 21:05:25 +0000

Cover Photo by Chris J. Davis on Unsplash

We started a book club! Each week we host a Twitter chat on Thursdays to discuss a chapter of Docs for Developers.

On Thursday Dec. 2nd we had our second Twitter chat, hosted on the @DevEdBookClub Twitter account about Chapter 2.

This post is a recap of the chat and a place to continue the conversation.

Content Types

Did any of the types listed surprise you?

What great examples have you seen of a particular content type? What stands out about it?

Sarah Rainsberger mentioned she found the distinction between a “Tutorial” and a “How to Guide” interesting. She liked that the book made these two content types distinct.

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@RMStav and myself were both surprised to see code comments mentioned as a content type for documentation. We both mentioned they can be extremely useful and it makes sense to give them a higher priority to help aid developers new to a project.

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Which content types do you have the hardest time creating? The easiest? Why?

Many of us agreed that READMEs have been both hard to create and maintain.

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Do you manage any of your company's repositories? Do you find the READMEs hard to create or manage?

Planning Strategies and Processes

What strategies or processes have you used in the past to plan your documentation?

What worked well? What would you do differently next time?

What questions do you still have about how to plan documentation?

Ramón Huidobro pointed out that having an expert come in and help create a style guide and improve their docs was a useful strategy for them and something they would continue to do in the future.
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What processes or strategies have you used to plan documentation? Were your processes successful?

Favorite Takeaways

What takeaways from this chapter can you apply to your own documentation practice at work?

Any quotes or ideas that resonate with you?

Aisha Blake enjoys using templates. After reading this chapter she realized there are many more forms of content that she could create good templates for.

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Megan Sullivan appreciated the reminder to compare your list of planned docs against your user's journey.
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Sean C Davis added that the most important advice they received was to write empathetically. He pointed out that we should always have the user in mind when writing our docs.
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Join the Conversation 🗣

You can see the full conversation on the DevEdBookClub Twitter account.
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Add a comment on the Twitter thread or share your thoughts here to continue the conversation.

What did you think about Chapter 2 of Docs for Developers?

Twitter Chat: Chapter 1 Recap

Christina Gorton — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 20:27:11 +0000

Cover Photo by Chris J. Davis on Unsplash

We started a book club! Each week we host a Twitter chat on Thursdays to discuss a chapter of Docs for Developers.

On Thursday Nov. 18th, we had our first Twitter chat, hosted on the @DevEdBookClub Twitter account about Chapter 1.

This post is a recap of the chat and a place to continue the conversation.

Collecting User Data

How do you currently collect user experience data?

What works well with your approach?

What's still challenging?

Megan Sullivan and Amber Matz both mentioned feedback widgets embedded in the docs they worked on. These widgets ask if the page was helpful. They also offer an open text field to add more comments.

Sarah Rainsberger and I both mentioned receiving feedback from our communities directly.

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Aisha Blake pointed out the relationship between DevRel/DevEx and customer support/success teams. She mentioned that these teams could benefit from working more closely together as they often answer similar questions for customers.

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Do your docs have a widget? Do you find it helpful?

Does your company have a community where they can gather more feedback?

Receiving User Feedback

Getting feedback can be tough!

How do you avoid getting defensive when sorting through feedback on your product or documentation?

Any general tips for receiving user feedback?

We all agreed that negative feedback can be hard to accept. It can help to reframe how you think about the feedback and show empathy for the user who was frustrated enough to give it.

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Amber Matz mentioned "owning your mistakes and working to fix the error" can help smooth over a user's frustration.

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Estee Tey added it is normal to feel defensive but you should try to look at the feedback objectively.

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How have you handled feedback?

Favorite Takeaways or Quotes

What takeaways from this chapter can you apply to your own documentation practice at work?

Any quotes or ideas that resonate with you?

I mentioned that reading this book has helped me quickly implement small wins in the documentation I help support. I also linked to DigitalOcean's technical writing guidelines that I often use when writing for a technical audience.

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Ramón Huidobro reminded us that quality is more important than quantity when seeking direct interviews with your users. Sometimes we seek out too many opinions.
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Join the Conversation 🗣

You can see the full conversation on the DevEdBookClub Twitter account.
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Add a comment on the Twitter thread or share your thoughts here to continue the conversation.

What did you think about Chapter 1 of Docs for Developers?

Join our #DevEdBookClub!

Megan Sullivan — Tue, 02 Nov 2021 20:12:02 +0000

TL;DR

We're starting a book club, and you're invited! Each week, we'll host a Twitter chat on Thursday at 6pm PT to discuss a chapter of Docs for Developers, starting with Chapter 1 on November 18.

If you want to read along, you can pick up a copy of Docs for Developers. Or join us on the day to share your thoughts and experiences! We'll be hosting the chat from the @DevEdBookClub Twitter account, and we'll use the hashtag #DevEdBookClub.

Why join? Because learning is more fun together!

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How We Got Here

Once upon a time on Twitter, a bunch of people all posted that they'd picked up a copy of Docs for Developers. Among them were Aisha Blake, Christina Gorton, and Megan Sullivan, who serendipitously ended up in the same thread.

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They thought it would be fun to talk about the book as a group, to keep themselves accountable and share what they learned.

Thus, the DevEdBookClub was born!

How to Participate

If you want to read along with us, here's what you need to do:

Pick up a copy of Docs for Developers.
Before the day of the Twitter chat, read the assigned chapter for the week. Jot down any quotes that stand out to you or questions you have.
On the day of the Twitter chat, hop onto Twitter between 6pm-7pm PT. Check the @DevEdBookClub Twitter account for the discussion thread.
Join the conversation (tag your replies with #DevEdBookClub)! Check out what other participants are saying. Reply with your own thoughts, experiences, or questions. This is a great time to learn from each other and make new friends!

If you can't attend during the scheduled time, you can still add to the conversation after the fact. We'd love to hear your thoughts, whenever you have time to share them! We'll also be writing up a quick summary of the conversation here on DEV, for future readers.

Schedule

Like to plan ahead? Here's when we're currently planning to discuss each chapter.

November 18, 2021: Chapter 1 (Understanding your audience)
November 25: Break for Thanksgiving
December 2: Chapter 2 (Planning your documentation)
December 9: Chapter 3 (Drafting documentation)
December 16: Chapter 4 (Editing documentation)
December 23: Chapter 5 (Integrating code samples)
December 30: Chapter 6 (Adding visual content)
January 6, 2022: Chapter 7 (Publishing documentation)
January 13: Chapter 8 (Gathering and integrating feedback)
January 20: Chapter 9 (Measuring documentation quality)
January 27: Chapter 10 (Organizing documentation)
February 3: Chapter 11 (Maintaining and deprecating documentation)
February 10: General Wrap-Up / Final Thoughts
February 17: Special Q&A with the Authors

Have questions?

Leave a comment below, or reach out to us on Twitter!

See you on November 18!