The hidden cost of “So intuitive it doesn’t need a manual”

Screenshot of calculator apps in the Google Play store

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 »

What will ChatGPT mean for the future of technical communication?

ChatGPT was launched last week. On the OpenAI.com website, it states: ChatGPT: Optimizing Language Models for Dialogue We’ve trained a model called ChatGPT which interacts in a conversational way. The dialogue format makes it possible for ChatGPT to answer followup questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests. ChatGPT is a sibling… Read more »

Docs Like Code – Interview with Anne Gentle

Here is early access to the latest episode on the Cherryleaf Podcast – Interview with Anne Gentle, author of Docs Like Code and Product Manager at Cisco. It will be published on the podcast channel on Monday. Topics covered: What is docs as code? Why do it? When might this approach might be applicable? The limitations… Read more »

Is your documentation AI and chatbot ready?

It seems likely Artificial Intelligence (AI) and chatbots will play a key role in helping users, in the future. Amazon, Facebook, Google, IBM and Microsoft, as well as smaller technology companies, are all developing platforms for simulating an intelligent conversation with human users. This raises a question: Will chatbots mean we’ll write a how-to task in… Read more »