I don’t like many of my development-related blog posts for one reason: I often feel like I spend too much time explaining the problem instead of getting straight to the point.
Understanding the problem is just as important as understanding how to solve it. So I don’t want to skip explaining the problem properly. And I want to include readers who might not be familiar with the topic. But whenever I start writing, I imagine readers rolling their eyes in light of the “obviousness” of it all.
I often think back to “Words To Avoid in Educational Writing” by Chris Coyier. He warns against using certain common words that make readers feel dumb. Just because you find something obvious doesn’t mean they do.
I’m certainly guilty of using those words myself sometimes, but the message stuck with me. That’s why I always try to explain problems thoroughly: because the reader might not know this yet, and it could be valuable knowledge for them, and I want them to feel included.
Still, I can’t shake the insecurity. Whenever I explain a problem, I worry readers will think that I’m a bit of a dum-dum for explaining something “everyone” already knows. Even when editing my posts before publishing them, I spend most of my time refining the problem explanation, trying to make it not too long but still explain everything.
Do I explain problems too much? You can tell me, I can take it!