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Pictures are worth a thousand words. Writing is reasonably easy and it's hard to get much better than you already are. If I had it to do over again, I'd spend a

Pictures are worth a thousand words. Writing is reasonably easy and it's hard to get much better than you already are. If I had it to do over again, I'd spend a lot of time learning drawing and diagramming tools. They still intimidate me, and I'm always blown away by people who can whip up a diagram showing exactly what they are thinking.

tilne 3y ago
> writing is reasonably easy and it’s hard to get much better than you already are This is the complete opposite of my personal experience. (I do agree with your point about the value of diagramming. But I see it more as a subset of the foundation of writing: clearly expressing thoughts in an easily readable medium
skwee357 3y ago
I agree with you! The art of making great images and diagrams, is required as well. But I consider it the next step, after improving your writing skills.
tekla 3y ago
> Writing is reasonably easy Incorrect. My professors trashed students reports (that groups had spent literally 800+ man hours on) because they were all awfully written. Writing well is incredibly hard, especially on technical topics. Diagrams for many engineering topics is worthless since diagrams are unable to actually express complex topics very well.
- tnel77 3y ago
  I had a professor who graded extremely harshly based on the actual grammar and structure of your lab reports. “A large majority of engineering is writing and you all need to figure that out ASAP.” I’ve had a relatively short career, but he seems to be correct so far.
gloryjulio 3y ago
All u need is uml sequence diagram
gochi 3y ago
Pictures are worth a thousand words but if you don't know which words you want to communicate your picture is worthless. Something many artists eventually learn, what is it you actually want to say? Diagramming is interesting because it relies heavily on writing, half of a diagram are words. You can slap on as many triangles, circles, and lines as you want to communicate your idea but if you do not utilize the right words it's a worthless diagram. An HTTP request-response diagram is a great example of this. You can overcomplicate it with both symbols and text, you can also miss crucial points and give people the wrong idea entirely. So let it encourage you to pick up drawing/diagramming tools, and improve your writing even further. Take already made diagrams, how would you improve them? If someone asked for clarity on how to expand on that diagram (ie: how would an ISP fit into the HTTP diagram), what would that look like and what symbols and text would you use? Another fun challenge to improve on writing is how would you explain (topic) to someone who is blind? It's more difficult than you think as we tend to rely so heavily on visual information, but it's a fantastic way to improve your skills by highlighting weak points in cross-type information.
- diatone 3y ago
  > Pictures are worth a thousand words but if you don't know which words you want to communicate your picture is worthless. Something many artists eventually learn, what is it you actually want to say? If I had a dollar for every time someone drew a diagram that expressed their thought, but didn’t explain all the hidden assumptions and omissions that clear writing would flush out, I would be a poor man since they wouldn’t need me to review their work.
rco8786 3y ago
> Writing is reasonably easy and it's hard to get much better than you already are. Dang you and I have complete opposite worldviews on this.
pxue 3y ago
> Writing is reasonably easy and it's hard to get much better than you already are. I can't fathom how you've arrived at this conclusion. Like everything in life, the only way you can know for certain if something is true or not is by doing it many times over and then seek feedback. Until one writes and then shows their writing to many many readers, it is impossible to make such claim.
dv35z 3y ago
Check out Affinity Designer. There’s a MacOS version and an iPad one - if you have an iPad & pen, definitely get it. It’s a vector graphics tool - and it’s in a good sweet spot. Easy to make simple and useful diagrams - export them as transparent PNGs and start incorporating them into documents, presentations.
deathanatos 3y ago
> Writing is reasonably easy clearly not give the number of enginers i see write like this all the time message choke full of typso --- All I can figure is that their laptop didn't come with the red squiggle underlining feature, much akin to how some cars on the road very clearly didn't come with a turn signal.

tilne 3y ago

> writing is reasonably easy and it’s hard to get much better than you already are This is the complete opposite of my personal experience. (I do agree with your point about the value of diagramming. But I see it more as a subset of the foundation of writing: clearly expressing thoughts in an easily readable medium

skwee357 3y ago

I agree with you! The art of making great images and diagrams, is required as well. But I consider it the next step, after improving your writing skills.

tekla 3y ago

> Writing is reasonably easy Incorrect. My professors trashed students reports (that groups had spent literally 800+ man hours on) because they were all awfully written. Writing well is incredibly hard, especially on technical topics. Diagrams for many engineering topics is worthless since diagrams are unable to actually express complex topics very well.

tnel77 3y ago
I had a professor who graded extremely harshly based on the actual grammar and structure of your lab reports. “A large majority of engineering is writing and you all need to figure that out ASAP.” I’ve had a relatively short career, but he seems to be correct so far.

gloryjulio 3y ago

All u need is uml sequence diagram

gochi 3y ago

Pictures are worth a thousand words but if you don't know which words you want to communicate your picture is worthless. Something many artists eventually learn, what is it you actually want to say? Diagramming is interesting because it relies heavily on writing, half of a diagram are words. You can slap on as many triangles, circles, and lines as you want to communicate your idea but if you do not utilize the right words it's a worthless diagram. An HTTP request-response diagram is a great example of this. You can overcomplicate it with both symbols and text, you can also miss crucial points and give people the wrong idea entirely. So let it encourage you to pick up drawing/diagramming tools, and improve your writing even further. Take already made diagrams, how would you improve them? If someone asked for clarity on how to expand on that diagram (ie: how would an ISP fit into the HTTP diagram), what would that look like and what symbols and text would you use? Another fun challenge to improve on writing is how would you explain (topic) to someone who is blind? It's more difficult than you think as we tend to rely so heavily on visual information, but it's a fantastic way to improve your skills by highlighting weak points in cross-type information.

diatone 3y ago
> Pictures are worth a thousand words but if you don't know which words you want to communicate your picture is worthless. Something many artists eventually learn, what is it you actually want to say? If I had a dollar for every time someone drew a diagram that expressed their thought, but didn’t explain all the hidden assumptions and omissions that clear writing would flush out, I would be a poor man since they wouldn’t need me to review their work.

rco8786 3y ago

> Writing is reasonably easy and it's hard to get much better than you already are. Dang you and I have complete opposite worldviews on this.

pxue 3y ago

> Writing is reasonably easy and it's hard to get much better than you already are. I can't fathom how you've arrived at this conclusion. Like everything in life, the only way you can know for certain if something is true or not is by doing it many times over and then seek feedback. Until one writes and then shows their writing to many many readers, it is impossible to make such claim.

dv35z 3y ago

Check out Affinity Designer. There’s a MacOS version and an iPad one - if you have an iPad & pen, definitely get it. It’s a vector graphics tool - and it’s in a good sweet spot. Easy to make simple and useful diagrams - export them as transparent PNGs and start incorporating them into documents, presentations.

deathanatos 3y ago

> Writing is reasonably easy clearly not give the number of enginers i see write like this all the time message choke full of typso --- All I can figure is that their laptop didn't come with the red squiggle underlining feature, much akin to how some cars on the road very clearly didn't come with a turn signal.