Addressing critical needs driven by the dynamic world of #techDocs, Manny Silva has created Docs as Tests, a system that integrates well-developed #techComms practices and a collection of engineering tooling to help #technicalWriters streamline and constantly improve their software #documentation and #QA work.

This was a fun chat with a deeply experienced Silicon Valley #content veteran. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.

https://ellessmedia.com/csi/manny-silva/

“Canva co-founder #MelaniePerkins wrote to staff on May 5 to unveil #Canva’s official #AIGuidelines, two months after it axed the majority of its #TechnicalWriters division and directed #engineers to complete the bulk of their #tasks using #AITools.

The COACHES (weaselword for manager) said the company had recently directed them to *formally assess* the way employees, known internally as “Canvanauts”, use AI in their six-monthly PERFORMANCE reviews. They also said the company has #automated the #writing of these #reviews.

A company spokesperson denied these claims in a lengthy statement but said Canva does “ENCOURAGE” employees to “reflect on how they’re using AI in their work” on an informal basis and said they use an internal tool that assesses performance reviews against their internal metrics after a human has written the

(No dissent tolerated)

“We’re incredibly committed to helping our team thrive in this new era of AI. We’re making significant investments in upskilling across the entire company, with a strong focus on learning and experimentation,” the Canva spokesperson said.

“Our #investmentstrategy in this space aren’t about #replacing our TEAM’s #judgement, #creativity, or #craft, but scaling them so we can spend more time on the projects that move us closer to our mission and make a difference for our community,”

(Emphasis note on TEAM, not individuals)

For a consumer facing software company, the last place I’d be removing human input would be where the technology touches customers. The usability, instructions, reliability through Engineering, Art and crafting of a product.

Where do you cut? Accounting, excessive management (top & bottom) and back office. This is the difference between an accounting/MBA and an Engineering / consumer focused company.

No wonder the technical staff are looking at #Unions. JobBot unleashed by the *Boss Class* to replace technical staff. 🦾🤖🦿

#WhiteCollar / #AI / #technical / #business / #Union / #TechUnion <https://archive.md/w4nlJ> / <https://www.afr.com/technology/canva-atlassian-employees-flock-to-unions-amid-ai-job-fears-20250520-p5m0rl>

i wonder if anyone wants to hire technical writers these days given that LLMs are mostly the talk now.

#technicalwriting #TechnicalWriters #information_technology #softwaredevelopment #llm #Documentation

"The good news is that the job market is going to recover as those owners of code progressively realize the limitations that are inherent to replacing the folks at the periphery with numb language models, something they’re already noticing when it comes to coding tasks. After a stint of degrowth that has felt way too long, companies will seek to grow again in a more sustainable fashion, a trend that will carry the need for better documentation with it.

The catch is that life in the periphery of tech will require AI augmentation and training. If past job offers emphasized API documentation and coding skills, in 2025 tech writers will have to be proficient operators of AI tools, both for writing in docs-as-code environments as for becoming coding associates, able to execute docs infrastructure and toolchain work. When done well, job interviews will ask writers to be able to use AI in writing tests in efficient, innovative ways.

If I’ve learned something this year is that the LLM-powered writing and coding isn’t going away. Technical writers will need to focus more on content strategy, information architecture, and tooling, and less on writing; at the same time, they’ll be expected to know how to use tools like Cursor’s composer mode to set up entire documentation sets in little time, and then iterate. As I explained in What’s a docs engineer, writers will continue specializing in two separate strains."

https://passo.uno/tech-writing-predictions-2025/

#TechnicalWriting #TechnicalWriters #LLMs #AI #GenerativeAI #DocsAsCode

My technical writing predictions for 2025

For the first time since I started this blog, I’m writing some predictions on software technical writing for next year. Not because I think they’ll be accurate—they never are—but because the exercise reveals what we’re concerned about and what we hope to tackle. Predictions are to-do lists in disguise: they highlight challenges we’re determined to overcome. Plus, they’re fun to write. So here are my predictions for 2025, knowing I’ll enjoy being proven wrong.

passo.uno

We have been busy this year developing the idea of a Brick Docs Workshop designed to help IT engineers develop technical writing skills. This fun workshop uses Lego to identify writing and formatting techniques that help make instructions clearer.

We are running this workshop at the national technical writing conference in Melbourne next week. DM me if you want to attend - I can see if I can wangle some tickets.
#TechnicalWriters #WriteTheDocs #Melbourne

https://www.writethedocs.org/conf/australia/2024/workshop/

Brick Docs Workshop – Build better technical writing skills with LEGO®

Workshop hosts: Yvonne Perkins and Alexandra Perkins Do you work with engineers who find it challenging to write clear, concise, and user-focused technical documentation? Does writing feel like a s...

Write the Docs
For those with a 🦋 Bluesky account who may be interested, I created an experimental feed about technical writing, any feedback appreciated! https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:lnml37f3ksmhwhg3hsgw3dxs/feed/aaac6oqgtmqg4 #techwriting #TechnicalWriters #documentation
Bluesky

Bluesky Social

We are having a discussion about “what is a code example” for the purposes of evaluating the code examples in our documentation.

That is a surprisingly nuanced question!

Today I’m working on a document that attempts to answer the question. I’m up to 10 pages with 3 different axes for breaking down definitions:

- Code examples by persona type
- Code examples by information type
- Code examples by our build tooling

Curious if this topic would be of-interest to #TechnicalWriters and others?

I am feeling pretty happy after a good day's work. I put a lot of work into any meeting I organise. I always include a clear agenda and expected outcomes in the meeting invites. I do all the necessary fact finding and preparation before the meeting. Then I chair the meeting, ensuring everyone gets a chance to speak and no waffling or preventing work from finishing in the quest for perfection. Afterwards I send meeting notes with responsibilities for action clearly defined.

Today we had a meeting with senior engineers that could have gone for an hour, but I allocated half an hour because I knew I would do the meeting prep, so little time would be needed for fact finding in the meeting. Then because of all the meeting prep and clear meeting objectives we achieved what we needed and finished the meeting in 15 minutes! Two participants were able to use the bonus time to discuss another matter while the rest of the participants left the meeting early.

I put a lot of time and effort prior to the event to achieve a 15 minute meeting.

#TechnicalWriters #MeetingMinimalism

For the curious #TechnicalWriters out there who have heard me talking about our project to consolidate 9 sets of SDK docs into a single documentation set, I've just put up the month two project check-in blog post!

https://dacharycarey.com/2024/07/28/docs-consolidation-project-two-month-check-in/

Docs Consolidation Project - Month Two Check-In | Dachary Carey

In which I explore lessons learned in the second month of a project to consolidate 9 docs sets.

@sarah11918 I am enjoying reading your series of tips! They are written in a way that will make it easy for me to repeat at work.

I have worked a lot with volunteers in the past and often reflect how much harder it is to work with them. You need to set standards but implement them with care or volunteers walk out. However, paid employees have an unspoken thing that ensures some degree of compliance - you will be out of a job if you don't pass minimum standards of compliance.

That is why I am so impressed with your work. You work on helping volunteers achieve standards in documentation. That is so hard. HT to you!

#TechnicalWriters #documentation