While walking through my local park, I ran into a former co-worker from 20 years back. I had been creating documentation; he had been supporting customers. He mentioned to me, 20 years later, how helpful my documentation had been for him.

I do strive to write clearly for both users who need a quick refresher and those who are approaching the product for the first time, so I wasn’t completely taken aback by his praise. But in all the time I had worked for that firm, my co-workers rarely if ever mentioned that they, too, found the documentation helpful.

It’s never too late to praise your co-workers. Particularly those of who operate without much in the way of feedback. And I admit it, I have been operating without feedback for far too much of my career as a technical writer.