This was done through a systematic, data-driven process aligned with support metrics and product priorities.
Donโt miss this talk at Write the Docs Portland, May 3-5!
https://www.writethedocs.org/conf/portland/2026/speakers/#speaker-aileen-mary-how-we-deprecated-500-articles-cleaning-up-documentation-at-scale-aileen-mary
#writethedocs
Brian Christianโs book ๐๐๐ ๐๐ค๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐ช๐ข๐๐ฃ ๐๐ช๐ข๐๐ฃ explored what it means to be human through a competition between the best chatbots at the time via a tournament of Turing tests.
In his talk, โ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐๐บ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐ฐ๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ปโ, Christian Miles discusses how bespoke tools can help navigate a socially complex environment created by the proliferation of AI technologies.
Avoiding the docs slide into staleness takes some proactive effort. But a lot of that can be automated these days.
I talk about some suggestions in a blog post here: https://djw.fyi/portfolio/preventing-drift/
Photo by Aliaksei Semirski on Pexels. Weโve all been there. The team is firing on all cylinders, cranking out innovative new features. The documentation is perfect! Itโs comprehensive, clear, and included right in the Pull Request. Then, six months later, a bug report comes in. Somewhere along the way, a developer changed a timeout value, renamed a key in a JSON response, or updated a UI label, andโฆthe documentation didnโt move an inch.
For many years, Sarah has used Git the way many people do: just enough to feel competent, but not enough to recover if anything went sideways. This talk, โ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐ ๐๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ผ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ 9 ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ (๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ช๐ต๐ ๐ ๐ช๐ถ๐๐ต ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ป'๐)โ, is a writer-friendly tour of the Git commands Sarah Deaton avoided for years, and the calm workflows they unlock.
Being the first and only Technical Writer on a team doesnโt just mean documenting features; it means becoming a bridge, educator, advocate, and cultureโbuilder all at once. Over time, Alina learned that while documentation is often undervalued or taken for granted, it quietly shapes everything: from product clarity to better UI to an improved API experience.
Many technical communicators already practice the skills needed to shape high-impact technical narratives, but don't always see how those skills translate outside documentation contexts.
As it turns out, I have Thoughts and Opinions about docs. Who knew?
Amazing what years and years of doing something and building a skill (no, not the Clause kind) does
After spending three months manually auditing a major developer documentation portal, Rakesh found deprecated code examples, broken API references, and outdated content, but the real problem was that the audit was obsolete within weeks. So he built an AI tool to do it continuously.
โฐ Write the Docs Portland 2026 is just two months away!
Our ๐๐๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ is now live. Whether youโre a first-timer or a returning regular, check it out for what to expect this year.
Our ๐ช๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ฎ๐ has also expanded with new ways to participate: intro to Git workshops, resume reviews, and roundtable discussions, along with our usual Writing Day projects. Project submissions now open.
News: https://www.writethedocs.org/conf/portland/2026/news/two-months-out/
๐๏ธ Tickets: https://www.writethedocs.org/conf/portland/2026/tickets/
There has been a shift. Instead of people asking, "What is technical writing?", they now ask, "Aren't you worried about AI taking your job?"
Data can be hard to come by for documentation teams, but Ethan has access to lots of data at Mintlify. In this talk, Ethan Palm will share how teams actually use AI tools, where automation succeeds and fails, and how technical writer roles are evolving.
Donโt miss this talk at Write the Docs Portland, May 3-5!
Write the Docs
Daryl the Admin