Microsoft Lists Essentials

How it started

I love to write, and I was part of the Lists' product team at Microsoft for over five years. Writing a book, I believed, would be a great way to bring together my passion and the product knowledge I had. My aim with this book, Microsoft Lists Essentials, was to create a go-to resource for anyone who wants to start using the product to improve their productivity at work, school, or for personal tasks.

A writing project of this scale was a first for me, as my experience was limited to short articles and a few long reads. The manuscript for the book had about 460 pages and over 400 customized product images; so this project came with its own unique challenges. For example, describing features in a clear, relatable language that would work for different kinds of readers was not easy. I, also, had to rely on my experience and insights from being part of the product team to keep the content as practical as possible.

Learning as an author

My writing was shaped by many books and authors I have admired over the years. But a book like this one was different.

Describing a user interface and user experience through text, as it turned out, is far more complex than I expected. Explaining features I found easy to use and had developed sorta muscle memory for, was not a straightforward task. I discovered the amount of love and craft that writing needs to create a piece that is easy to comprehend, irrespective of the level of familiarity with the subject-matter or the language itself.

Now, with the book out, I am grateful that this marked the start of my journey as a published author.