Blogging - Forget Optimising

I lead a team of developers. It used to be web developers. But the team I lead now are more than that. They are all expert coders across a whole bunch of web-based technologies. 

So, words like optimisation are standard speak for them. Then, in the evening, I sit down and write a blog post that wanders around wherever my minds goes. Like a drunk on the way home from the pub. 

How does that work? for someone leading a technical team?

Easy. 

Like this. My mind says: fuck anything that sounds like restraint. If my technical brain says: Ooh, I wouldn’t do that. Or don’t put that there. Or this needs more headings and better keyword choice…

I’ll end up writing a piece that has none of those things. 

Why?

Because that’s not what blogs are for. To me. The rebel blogger. Balls to optimising anything. People (readers) want honesty. I sometimes get asked for blogging advice. My answer:

Be honest. 

Brutal (if that’s what it takes) honesty is better than marketing bullshit. It’s a blog. The definition, at least to me, is human writing. Stuff that is raw. Honest, doesn’t give fuck about optimising. But is honest. 

Yeah, that’s how I reconcile my technical muse tapping me on the shoulder, tutting. I tell it to do one. This is my blog. I say it how it comes. Raw, unfiltered and rebellious. 

It’s great. it feels like writing. Proper writing. No fluff. Straight down the line. If I’m feeling fractious at the time of writing? Fuck it, that will show. If I’m angry, pissed off, or laughing? Those things will show. 

And why the hell not? It’s human. I can’t quite remember when content marketing became a thing. Years before a blog was even a thing, I suspect. But when it leaked into blogging? It broke the bones of it. 

So, sure, I have a technical job. I lead brilliant, technical people. But when I write? The shackles come off. And that’s a good thing.