Anti-Patterns in Software Blogging
Software developer Michael Lynch outlines common mistakes made by beginner technical bloggers, such as meandering introductions and lack of clear value. He advises writers to state the benefit of their post within the first three sentences to retain reader interest.
Why it matters
Effective technical communication is essential for knowledge sharing within the software development industry.
by Michael Lynch , published October 7, 2026
In software development, we collect anti-patterns to recognize common traits that lead to poor outcomes in our software. I thought it would be helpful to do the same for software blogging, so I've catalogued the most frequent mistakes I see from beginner bloggers.
The most common mistake in software blogging, by far, is meandering. I constantly find myself several paragraphs into a post with no idea what the author is trying to tell me.
Developers love specificity, so they start blog posts with backstory, historical context, and whatever else happens to be on their minds. That may be fun to write, but it's not always interesting to read.
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