Why Improve Your Writing?

I’ve worked as a developer for 20 years, and I’ve always cared about clear writing. When I join a new dev team, the first thing I do is ask to update their onboarding docs. I capture what I learn in writing and encourage my teammates to do the same.

Sometimes, other developers ask me why I put so much emphasis on writing. Programming is a technical pursuit, so why should we spend time on a “soft skill” like writing? Isn’t that why we have technical writers and product managers?