The eight families of AI workflows for technical writers

We have been researching the different AI documentation workflows technical writers use, as part of the development of our new Managing documentation projects with AI e-learning course. We posted our initial findings to a forum, and a few people responded with dazed eyes emoji. 😵‍💫 At first sight, the picture can look quite fragmented. Technical… Read more »

Five years of getting AI wrong

Illustration titled “Five years of getting AI wrong.” A winding, ascending stone pathway shows stages of AI use: 1) Prompt engineering—craft the input, get the output; 3) Vibe coding—describe an application and receive working code; 4) Agents and orchestration—chain tools and automate workflows; and 5) Goal-directed AI—describe the desired outcome and let AI determine the steps. People work at laptops along the path, while a woman in the foreground looks toward a bright summit labeled, “What are we actually trying to do?”

Our first experience of AI began with documenting AI systems in the early 2020s. One product guided banking customers using spoken interactions through a decision tree, and another vectorised data. We thought we understood what AI did, and where it could be used. Then, in 2022, OpenAI released ChatGPT. In five days, ChatGPT had a… Read more »

The EU AI Act: What it means for your documentation workload

On 2 August 2026, the EU AI Act’s main enforcement phase begins. For organisations developing or deploying AI systems in the European market, documentation is a legal requirement. Here’s what it might mean to your workload. Does it apply to you? The Act applies to both providers and deployers Providers are organisations that build AI systems… Read more »

Podcast 164: Trends in technical writing careers for 2026 and beyond

In this episode, we explore how AI is reshaping the technical writing profession and what skills will matter most in the coming years. While AI dominates the conversation about the future, we dig deeper into what this means for technical writers, documentation strategy, and career development. Summary: The role of technical communicator is evolving from… Read more »

Cherryleaf UK Technical Writer/Author jobs indicator – October 2025

Cherryleaf has initiated a monthly survey that tracks hiring demand for Technical Authors across the UK. Here are the results for October 2025. Compared with figures collected for September, the October data reveal several notable trends: Major job boards show fewer technical writing vacancies compared to September. Adzuna divergence. Adzuna’s count for technical writer roles… Read more »