What should a documentation dashboard actually measure?

Someone recently asked on LinkedIn: “Can anyone point to resources on quality/heartbeat dashboards for technical documentation? BKMs or case studies?” It’s a really important question. There are dashboards throughout organisations, but not always in the Technical Publications department. Dashboards give senior leaders a clear view of what teams are working toward and how close they… Read more »

Testing documentation with AI: The reader simulator

Most documentation teams face a critical challenge: they rarely test systematically whether their documents work for different types of users. Without dedicated user research teams focused on documentation, teams are left guessing about effectiveness. An innovative solution Casey (CT) Smith of Payabli has developed an AI-powered documentation testing tool called reader-simulator. This tool simulates different… Read more »

Getting information from Subject Matter Experts

Interviews with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) are some of the most useful sources for Technical Authors when they are gathering information about a product or procedure. This often involves asking a developer or departmental manager a series of questions focused on the types of questions end users are likely to ask. Interviewing is one of… Read more »

Reducing app abandonment

At the UAEurope 12 conference, SAP’s Keren Okman quoted a shocking statistic: that the average mobile or tablet app* is used an average of just 3-4 times by a user. The issue of “app abandonment” is one that is likely to be of greater concern for software developers in the future, as they invest ever… Read more »