Why AI Search Needs Intent (and Why DITA XML Makes It Possible) www.thecontentwrangler.com/p/why-ai-searc… #AI #context #structure #intent #TechnicalWriting

Why AI Search Needs Intent (and Why DITA XML Makes It Possible) https://www.thecontentwrangler.com/p/why-ai-search-needs-intent-and-why #AI #context #structure #intent #TechnicalWriting

I have had a hard week but done very good work. I have found myself a delightful cafe in a working class suburb that has BOOKS!

I am reading Don Watson's Dictionary of Weasel Words over breakfast. It was sitting in a small bookcase amongst the usual fantasy books and books about sporting greats.

I am loving the intro. After talking about the manipulation of language by totalitarian states and how the subdued masses adopt that language, Watson says:

"The same mimicry can be expected wherever the official language is a kind of code that we must at least appear to understand, or be excluded. It happens in democracies, and in business and government departments."

How often have you found when starting a new job that you ate desperately trying to use the acronyms, the phrases and names that are bandied around the office to show that you fit in, that you are a 'valuable team member'?

#jargon #acronyms #Management #TechnicalWriting #TechWriting #WriteTheDocs

"Formalizing AI workflows into reusable commands makes them more reliable and consistent than having to write a prompt every time we need help with something. When I run this command, it follows the same research steps in the same order, which means it's easier to find everything relevant and not forget about something.

The two-phase approach — research first, writing second — I think is also worth the extra step. Someone might want to just research a ticket and not write a draft. Also, this way the command works for other colleagues in the team who aren't tech writers.

MCP integrations are what make this a powerful tool. The ability to pull data from multiple internal tools in a single session is the foundation everything else is built on.

And as always: AI doesn't replace the tech writer's judgment. It replaces the tedious context-gathering so we can spend more time on the parts of the job that actually require expertise — deciding what customers need to know and how best to explain it.

If you want to try building something similar, OpenCode supports custom commands and agent skills. The setup takes a few minutes: define a command file with your research steps, create skill files with your docs framework conventions, and you have a reusable workflow. The OpenCode docs cover how to create commands and agent skills."

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/building-ai-research-command-documentation-tickets-m%C3%A1rcio-florindo-mc4te/

#TechnicalWriting #OpenCode #Jira #JiraTickets #AI #GenerativeAI #AIWorkflows #ReusableCommands #MCP #MCPServers

Pet peeve: product managers who "help produce product documentation" by outsourcing it to an LLM and then never even taking the time to read and check the output.

In the time it takes me to fix this garbage, I could have just written it myself, and with much higher quality.

#technicalwriting #gripes

Here's the second post in a series about writing from Russ Olsen:
https://field15.com/from-the-top

In “From the Top,” he makes a compelling case for starting with the big picture before diving into details. Whether you’re explaining software, a process, or an idea, setting the stage helps readers understand why something matters before delving into details.

Thanks, Russ, for the reminder of how much clarity we can gain by rethinking where we begin.

#nonfiction #writing #communication #technicalwriting #publishing

Technical Writer AI Roles are showing up everywhere—and a lot of “prompting” work is really just technical writing skills applied to a new audience: AI systems. I wrote about how tech writers are becoming “AI translators,” why it’s paying more right now, and what skills transfer cleanly.

https://aitransformer.online/technical-writer-ai-roles/

#TechnicalWriting #AI #GenAI #CareerChange #Careers

"The secret of how tech writers develop trustworthy information is that they practice genuine care for the end-to-end experience, learn the product experience inside and out (even if they start as an outsider), and build context that you can’t just get from writing.

This is “earned” context through building trust across other teams and stakeholders and through shipping successful (and unsuccessful) products in different environments and working cultures.

Tech writers (or whatever they’re called these days) are paid to develop (and maintain) trustworthy information, not just move it around. Automation can help with maintaining trustworthy information but it’s not all that technical writers do.

Earning or developing context well also takes real skills and demands a certain kind of character.

Skills & traits for developing trustworthy information

- Asking the right questions in the right way in the right place and at the right time. It’s no accident that some of the best technical writers I’ve worked with used to work as journalists.
- Constantly tracking what you know and don’t know with intellectual humility and rigor (Stay tuned for my future “Assumption Tracker app!”)
- Facilitating discussions to help surface internal confusion, misalignments, and other kinds of conversation debt
- Evaluating the trustworthiness of information
- Evaluating what others know, what product language world they live in, and what they don’t know
- Intellectual humility, honesty, and rigor"

https://jessicacanepa.com/blog/developing-trustworthy-information/

#TechnicalWriting #SoftwareDocumentation #TechnicalCommunication #SoftwareDevelopment #APIDocumentation #Automation

I'm streaming KDE docs:

• right now! 7 PM UTC
• on https://twitch.tv/herzenschein

Be sure to join and ask any questions related to KDE and I'll try my best to answer them. The stream will last several hours.

Every single stream I do is an Ask Me Anything KDE Edition ™️

I'll continue working on improving KConfig documentation as before.

#KDE #Linux #Documentation #TechnicalWriting #FurryStreamer #FurryVTuber #VTuber #Twitch

Reminder for the technical writers on the Fediverse to share their anti-LLM sentiment in the #TechnicalWriting, #WriteTheDocs and #Documentation hashtags too thanks :neofox_3c_256:

😮One of the coolest technical artists is back on the fediverse!!

I really recommend following @heytibo, he makes such wonderful things, often #Godot related!!

You will adore him if you like any of these things:

🎮 #GodotEngine, #GameDev
🌸 #WebDev, #FOSS
🎨#Design, #Art, #UI, #Blender
🌻#TechnicalWriting, #TechArt
🪐#Space, #Indie, #VideoGame

Boosts are welcome, he deserves them!!
#FediFollow #FollowFriday

I'm streaming KDE docs:

• right now! 7 PM UTC
• on https://twitch.tv/herzenschein

Be sure to join and ask any questions related to KDE and I'll try my best to answer them.

Every single stream I do is an Ask Me Anything KDE Edition ™️

Today I'll see about improving KConfig (which @me was curious about :P) and maybe play a bit of beginner Super Mario World kaizo romhacks in the end.

#KDE #Linux #Documentation #TechnicalWriting #FurryStreamer #FurryVTuber #VTuber #Twitch

Tech writers using AI: what’s the most “confident but wrong” thing you’ve seen it produce in docs?

My take: the key skill isn’t “Can AI write?”
It’s Can we tell when it’s wrong?

https://aitransformer.online/why-can-ai-do-this-is-the-wrong-question-for-technical-writers/

#TechnicalWriting #Documentation

We have significantly expanded our German-language documentation guide on the technical writing of top-level domains, IP addresses and telephone numbers: https://www.cusy.design/writing/wordlist.html
#TechnicalWriting #RFC

I'm streaming KDE docs:

• right now! 7 PM UTC
• on https://twitch.tv/herzenschein

Be sure to join and ask any questions related to KDE and I'll try my best to answer them.

Every single stream I do is an Ask Me Anything KDE Edition ™️

Today I'll see about finishing polishing the "Preparing your software for release" page. Otherwise, I might start porting another library to QDoc. I may also play with RPM packaging.

#KDE #Linux #Documentation #TechnicalWriting #FurryStreamer #FurryVTuber #VTuber #Twitch

Does the Enterprise's computer have a user manual? #startrek #technicalwriting

Several "good-to-remember" questions - both for software developers and technical writers focused on API documentation:

"REST APIs power most of the internet's integrations. Whether you are applying for a backend role, a full stack position, or a software engineering job, you will likely face questions about REST API design, HTTP methods, and authentication patterns.

In this guide, I will walk you through the questions interviewers actually ask. I have organized them by difficulty level and role type, so you can focus on what matters most for your target position. Each answer includes practical examples and, where relevant, code snippets you can adapt.

One thing to keep in mind: interviewers test fundamentals far more often than advanced topics. If you nail the basics (HTTP methods, status codes, statelessness), you will handle most REST API interviews confidently. The fancy architectural patterns come later."

https://www.datacamp.com/blog/rest-api-interview-questions

#APIs #REST #RESTAPI #RESTAPIs #Programming #API #SoftwareDevelopment #TechnicalWriting

I'm streaming KDE docs:

• right now! 8:40 PM UTC
• on https://twitch.tv/herzenschein

Be sure to join and ask any questions related to KDE and I'll try my best to answer them.

Every single stream I do is an Ask Me Anything KDE Edition ™️

#KDE #Linux #Documentation #TechnicalWriting #FurryStreamer #FurryVTuber #VTuber #Twitch

"Fabrizio: I think automation engineering is is like an expression… one of the many expressions of systems thinking. Which I believe we brought up in previous podcasts as well. And I think systems thinking is one of the top skills I would probably seek in anybody in the future working with AI. Because it’s really about orchestrating and seeing the big picture and relating systems between each other. Which is something that I don’t expect AI ever to be able to do.

And automation… well you can also… there’s always this thing about the automatons building themselves and I think AI can help you build parts of that automation system. But in the end how you connect the pieces together is entirely up to you. Because that’s that’s ultimately the system you build is an expression is of… and I’m getting philosophical here… of volition. Of something you want to do.

And wanting to do something is purely organic human. Like you want to achieve something that you care about. So yes I think definitely automation as a part of that system thinking definitely. The other I think is communication, you know in all forms. So and I think I was having this conversation with a developer the other day on BlueSky. He writes Python tutorials. And we were agreeing that anybody who has both the technical knowledge and the communication skills is like in the best position going forward in the tech world. Because you will need both. You will need like an understanding of what the tech does but at the same time like a certain command of words.

And I would argue that 60 or 70 percent going forward."

https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/predictions-2026-tech-comm-podcast

#TechnicalWriting #TechnicalCommunications #Automation #AutomationEngineering #AI #GenerativeAI #SoftwareDevelopment

I'm streaming KDE docs:

• right now! 8:40 PM UTC
• on https://twitch.tv/herzenschein

Be sure to join and ask any questions related to KDE and I'll try my best to answer them.

Every single stream I do is an Ask Me Anything KDE Edition ™️

#KDE #Linux #Documentation #TechnicalWriting #FurryStreamer #FurryVTuber #VTuber #Twitch