6 strategic moves every documentation team should consider right now

The role of documentation teams is changing fast. Here’s what we think should be on every documentation manager’s strategic agenda.

1. Increase your visibility

Visibility is about communicating status to stakeholders. It’s easier than ever to create dashboards that show content coverage, freshness, and usage, so there’s little excuse not to. If people can’t see what you do, they can’t value it.

2. Measure the value of your outputs

This is about proving ROI. The data exists, through APIs queries and reports, on deflected support calls, SEO value etc. If you don’t have access to those figures yet, industry benchmarks can help make the case: a commonly used figure is $25 per deflected support call, with around 25% of calls typically being documentation-deflectable. Start with the benchmark; it often prompts someone to share the actual data.

3. Produce content that works for AI as well as for humans

LLMs are now a new type of reader, and an important one. AI systems magnify errors, outdated content, and inconsistencies more visibly than ever. And, increasingly, your documents are the AI’s answers. That means managing content as structured data and auditing what you already have.

4. Upskill your team on AI

Documentation teams who can direct AI tools effectively will get dramatically better outputs. This is about understanding how to shape, review, and govern what it produces. Cherryleaf’s training courses and workshops can help.

5. Define ownership and accountability for all content

This matters especially for content generated through automated processes. Tracking and fixing where AI assistants fail or hallucinate is essential for maintaining user trust. Someone needs to own that responsibility.

6. Orchestrate and automate more, with a human in the loop

There are real gains to be made in automating information gathering, tagging, testing, and creating repeatable workflows. Keep humans in the loop, so quality and accuracy are maintained.

What would you add to this list? We’d love to hear what others are prioritising.