Subject Matter Expert Interviews: How to Capture What Experts Don’t Always Mention
Subject matter expert interviews often begin with a reasonable request: “Walk me through the process.” The expert explains the official steps, the interviewer takes notes, and everyone leaves believing the important knowledge has been captured. Experts often forget to explain the cues, assumptions, and decision points that they use when the standard process no longer applies.
The Limits of the Machine: Why Technical Writing Cannot Rely Solely on AI
The question organizations should be asking, therefore, is not whether AI can write documentation. The more important question is whether AI can consistently develop documentation that reflects operational reality, supports business objectives, withstands content verification, and enables users to perform their responsibilities successfully.
Turn Change Into Adoption, Not Resistance
Change management and technical writing rarely get mentioned in the same sentence, but they should be. The two are more closely connected than most leaders realize, and that connection often determines whether a new system, process, or tool actually sticks once it launches.
One Product, Three Audiences: How to Write Documentation That Actually Works for Developers, End Users, and Executives
A single software platform can be used by a backend engineer integrating an API, a customer service representative navigating a dashboard, and a Chief Operating Officer evaluating whether to renew a contract. All three people interact with the same product. All three may consult documentation at some point. And all three would have a profoundly different experience if that documentation was written with only one of them in mind.
Why Businesses Lose Critical Knowledge—and How to Capture It Before It’s Gone
Every business depends on knowledge, but not all of it lives in manuals or shared drives. Some of the most valuable information exists only in people’s heads: the workarounds they have learned, the judgment they use when something goes wrong, the history behind a process, and the practical understanding of how systems and teams actually work. That knowledge is essential and vulnerable.
Technical Writers vs. AI: Don’t Get Rid of Your Human Technical Writer Just Yet
AI can be an efficient tool for narrow, well-defined, lower-stakes documentation tasks, especially when speed, consistency, and rapid drafts are the priority. However, when documentation involves strategy, accuracy, audience design, or real consequences for getting it wrong, human technical writers remain essential.
Debunking the Most Persistent Myths About Technical Documentation
Across industries, technical documentation is one of the most misunderstood elements of product development. It’s seen as simple, optional, or something that can be handled “later.” Unfortunately, these assumptions (think “myths”) aren’t just inaccurate, they are also costly.
The Role of Performance Support
Performance support is a key area within technical writing often described as “just-in-time” tools. These tools provide the right help at the right time improving productivity and work quality. Yet many of performance support’s most effective deliverables are often overlooked.
Consequences of Failing to Document Your Company’s Knowledge
Recently, we attended a meeting about the need to add usability research and design early in the software development process. The speaker said the phrase she hears most is: “We should have done that six months ago.”
Being Responsible for Accuracy: The Ethics of Technical Writing and Training Development
In an era where information moves at record speed, the demand for accuracy and reliability in technical writing and training materials has never been greater. Whether developing manuals for new software, writing functional specs for systems, or designing learning modules for professionals, the integrity of information directly affects performance, safety, and trust.