There is joy in helping others reach their writing potential.

Welcome to Hopeful Writing

I chose the name for my online writing presence intentionally. It represents my name. It represents positivity and improvement. Most of all, it represents the joy I feel when someone I mentor presents their work, only to hear, "That was easy to read."

That's the goal of writing at the end of the day. Readable, and more importantly, understandable. With clear communication of ideas. With depth and clarity of thought, explained simply. With strong, well articulated arguments backed by data and evidence, that lead to discussion and action.

My Unique Writing Background

When I was younger, I wanted to be a writer. I even self-published a book of poems many, many years ago, that you can still buy on Kindle today. My creative side always seeks a voice; I've been a musician in varying degrees most of my adult life, and publish new material to this day after spending much of my 20s playing bass in clubs. My career choice, software development, may not seem creative at first. It very much is. In the same way music can come together, so can an elegant technical solution. Eventually, my work ethic and creative skills led me to a Software Development Manager role at Amazon.

Most people are aware of Amazon's document writing culture. It emphasizes substance over style, data over hand wavy turns of phrases, and seeks to drive quality discussions and decision making. While many who have not immersed themselves in the culture doubt its effectiveness, I have seen quality documents cut through noise and lead to decisive action on issues that had been under tense discussion for months. I may have even authored a few of those.

I spent five years as a team lead for the Doc Bar Raiser program at Amazon. During that time I contributed at all levels of the program. I wrote the initial operating procedures for document reviews. In 2020 I won the program's Writing is My Superpower Challenge. I reviewed hundreds of documents. I led writing workshops, training more than 2500 Amazonians on how to write effective narratives, earning a 100% positive feedback rating. I presented at Amazon conferences. When we redefined our training program, I piloted a teaching cohort process, training many new reviewers and setting the stage for our team to expand. I assisted CTOs around the world as they participated in the Now Go Build CTO Fellowship program with Amazon's CTO.

https://www.allthingsdistributed.com/now-go-build.html

And now...?

Helping others is an outlet I seek to maintain, in my own unique way. As a result, Hopeful Writing exists.

We begin with document review sessions, available to students, interns, and any other professionals. Over time, I hope to branch out into other types of training and content as this progresses. I will bring my unique brand of customer obsession to our relationship, and hopefully make you a more effective writer as a result, so that you too can find the joy in an excellent, successful piece of writing.

Hope to connect soon.

--Rob