Shoot for the Moon!!!

Since this week is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, I thought I would be a good to talk about my favorite tech writing philosophy.

Shoot for the moon, even if you miss you still end up in the stars!

On the first glance this phrase may not look like it has anything to do with tech writing, or writing in general, but for me it does. Over the last 9 year of my career many projects and challenges have come my way, from helping develop a new entirely new documentation set or creating a new online help process to creating my company's first online-based training course. All of these projects have stretched me and my abilities. I'm grateful to have had these challenges and they are the reason that I have taken on this philosophy.

If found that the best way to take on a challenge is to have a goal and even if your not sure you can reach it you go for it. This goal can simply be to finish the assignment.

I use this philosophy alot when working with others on online learning materials. Sometimes the SMEs want to test or teach the students in a new or different way (that I'm not sure how to do). I always tell them put it down on paper and lets see what we come up with. A number of new techniques have come out of this method. We found a way to teach students how to code in an interactive way, we found a way to teach basics without using any hardware, and others.

So, when in doubt I saw Shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you still end up in the stars.