After a review of some documents last week, a subject-matter expert told me essentially that one of the first principles of technical writing is to assume that the reader knows nothing about the subject matter.

I saw a couple of things wrong with this, and so I would revise the SME’s statement to make two corresponding and related basic principles of technical writing:

  • Know your audience.
  • Never assume anything, whether it’s about your audience or the subject you’re writing about.

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