AI can make technical writers faster. It cannot remove the hard part of technical writing. The hard part is knowing what is true, what matters to the user, and what needs to be maintained after the product changes. For documentation teams, that distinction matters. AI can reduce the time spent on first drafts, summaries, rewrites… Read more »
Executive summary It’s never easy to measure the cost of a software support ticket, because it costs more than the time a support agent spends writing a reply. The cost also includes team leaders, training, ticketing software, telephony, office costs and the time spent on follow-up messages. The cost increases if a ticket needs to… Read more »
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… Read more »
A role emerges In a recent thread on the Write The Docs forum, Ian Cowley suggested the growth of AI might lead to a new role: “product managers for docs”. He wasn’t alone. Stephan Delbos presented on “Activating Product Knowledge” at the Write The Docs Berlin conference, Shrihari Shastry has written an article arguing documentation… Read more »
In product design, one mantra comes up again and again: “If it’s intuitive, it doesn’t need a manual.” It sounds great in theory. But in practice, chasing perfect intuitiveness can be a trap – one that quietly turns your product into a commodity. Intuitive often means familiar When people describe something as “intuitive,” what they… Read more »
