|
Available now from Catbird Content:
|
| | | On my birthday, I played hooky and toodled around Port Townsend, Washington. In an antique mall, I found a precursor of every AI-based “Help me write” feature: a compendium of model letters and letter-writing advice.
The Business-Letter Deskbook by Gerald W. Weston includes “More than 200 model letters on 30 subjects, ranging from Adjustment, Congratulation, and Credit letters to Personnel, Good-Will, and Sales letters, with commentary on how each model may best be utilized.”
I’m told I’m a good writer. I bought it anyway. Because sometimes, writing that business email is still genuinely hard.
But Torrey, you might ask, Why not just use AI? It’s already inside Google Workspace Gmail, desperate for my attention, popping up prompts and other bids for attention—constantly.
There are 3 things I get from this book that I can’t get from AI: Thoughtful reasons to send an email. The author has established entire categories of letters that I might not remember to write or to send. I know I should be keeping in closer contact with my clients and potential clients, but this book puts structure around the kinds of contact I might initiate. Curated advice for specific purposes. Instead of being based on generalities gleaned from millions of examples (that may or may not have been good examples), these examples are curated and specific. Each category, and most of the specific examples, are explained with the considerations for sending them. It covers etiquette and purpose, grounding the email in the realities of business and relationships. Practice, so that I get smarter and better. To use these examples effectively, I have to practice my own thinking about how to use them well. I also have to translate them from the 1960s USA business dialect to my current context! That practice makes me smarter and better as I create future correspondence.
Other desk books are available, if this is appealing to you as it is to me. I’ve been having conversations with people about how addictive it is to use generative AI. Like most addictive experiences, it’s benign to use occasionally. But when people habitually use AI to replace their own thinking, they get less practice at thinking.
I know that I need to continue to practice thinking. Also, for extra points on the cosmic scoreboard, the use of such a book is carbon-neutral: I don’t have to chop down any more trees, burn any more coal, etc. to derive assistance from this comb-bound treasure printed in 1963. |
| | | | Since my last Chirp, I’ve started teaching two classes: UX Writing Fundamentals through the India chapter of the Society for Technical Communication (STC India), and one section of the Informatics Capstone class through the University of Washington iSchool. I’m pleased to report that we’re off to a terrific start.
In the STC India class, more than 20 students have learned how to use Figma to set up screenshots for editing and chosen projects to work on. They’re working on evaluating the existing content in those projects heuristically, and then they’ll choose UX text patterns to apply and iterate new content design with it. Soon, we’ll get into designing and applying voice and tone concepts. I can’t wait!
In the University of Washington course, I do a lot less direct instruction. Instead, this is the required course for Informatics program students to put their ~4 years of learning into practice. They have chosen projects in which they are solving information problems: making apps, conducting research, and more. They are intelligent, talented, and getting their first experiences in product and project development. It’s a treat to support and guide them to successful outcomes over the next several months.
Somehow, I’ve had a lot more success in creating focused, productive experiences for my students and users of products than I do for myself. Focus is especially difficult as I try to follow the national (USA) news; the actions of the new Republican administration seem calculated for distraction.
It’s important to pay attention to what’s happening, especially as it affects me, my family, students, clients, and colleagues. I can’t anticipate all of the impacts of the changed and canceled federal services, especially because many of those changes seem to be illegal. There are scary-but-also-ambiguous threats looming, like potential immigration raids at my University campus, and the systematic removal of legal protections, and travel possibility for my non-binary and trans loved ones.
These Republican-party actions are designed to be exhausting, even for people it doesn’t impact directly (like me, mostly.) It’s hard to fight back when you’re scared, uncertain whether/how/to whom it applies, and when you’re directly targeted. It’s hard to fight back when you feel overwhelmed.
But even as I feel like withdrawing, I recognize that it’s vital to have a plan. I want to Be calm when the unthinkable arrives (On Tyranny, Lesson 18).
So far, I feel like I’m just fumbling forward, learning as I go. That is unsatisfying! If you have a plan, whether it’s how you keep yourself informed, how you avoid despair, how you respond to threats you witness against people, or any other preparation, I’d love to hear about it. |
|  | | | I was discussing banking recently, and the conversation took a turn neither of us were expecting: We talked about the earned loyalty we have for our credit unions, despite their tech and because of their service.
Credit unions, for those who aren’t familiar with them, are not-for-profit financial organizations that provide banking services, like checking, savings, and home loans, for example.
In general, credit unions don’t provide the wide array of services like the larger, for-profit banks. Their apps, when they have them, are pretty bad. Their online services are OK, until you try to connect them to accounting software. When using them for international banking, it’s easy to get lost in their fragile systems of intermediary services and relationships with other banks.
One time, there was suspected fraud in my credit union account. I got a phone call from the branch office. I had been in there recently, and I thought I recognized his voice; I could picture him at his desk in the small office. He asked if it was really me, and asked me to prove it. But I pointed out that he had called me, and the flyer that came in the mail with my monthly statement said to avoid giving banking details over the phone. He was stunned—this was about 20 years ago, before phone spoofing was quite so common. He said, “That’s right! Well done. Thank you. There is a problem I want to talk with you about, though. Could you dial the phone number on the back of your debit card? Use that, and here’s my extension…”
When I called him back, he picked up immediately. He was genuinely cheerful and sincerely helpful. We were able to confirm that it was a fraudulent charge. His quick work, including his proactive intervention into the automated systems, saved me a lot of money, energy, and time that I couldn’t afford.
So I still have accounts with that credit union, because of the connection I made with that person on that day. Their app is so bad I don’t have it installed. I don’t care.
I do care about doing my business with people who care about me and their other customers. I care that those people are empowered to help us. Companies that are shedding their empowered humans in favor of “investing in AI” can’t engender that kind of loyalty. They’re always in danger of losing their customers to the next shiny thing. A bad app isn’t enough to lose my loyalty, unless an app is all they have. |
| | | When I can help you or your team, please get in touch. Design consulting: Solve problems with adoption, onboarding, usage for products and services, and design process and skill alignment for teams. Training & facilitation: Keynotes and other presentations, plus hands-on workshops in UX content, visioning, naming, and team building. Mentoring: I work with individuals to focus their own career development, including navigating change, constraints, careers, and more. Open office hours (free!) I hold 2 hours a week open on my calendar to connect with people who don’t have business with me, but just want to talk.
|
| | I write these newsletters myself, and I stand by what’s in them. If you have kudos, concerns, or questions, please tell me. —Torrey |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
