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Microcopy and UX Are the Built-In Technical Documentation
Technical writing acts better when it forges the product’s built-in language
There is a reason why people prefer to avoid reading the documentation of the software they use. Users forcibly consume it only when it’s difficult to understand how the product works.
What’s the consequence that software engineers and product managers struggle to accept? Microcopy and UX are where products must document themselves.
Easy? No.
It’s challenging when documentation is planned as an obligation. It’s even impossible when technical writer teams live with nearly zero budget and the lowest priority than any other team in the product-building pipeline.
Documentation is design
Technical documentation is a process that ideally ends with zero documents outside the product. The first documentation draft can even be a 1000-page help center; that’s ok, but it’s not the end of the story.
When designing the product, document it from the users’ point of view. Before writing the first line of code, narrate how users interact with the product to accomplish tasks.
