Dave Nunez, Partner at Abstract Group, discusses how AI is changing developer documentation strategies. He emphasizes the need to rewrite the developer education playbook for AI-focused software. Topics include enhancing user experience with design cues, escape patches, and intuitive documentation. The importance of clear, user-friendly content and effective onboarding experiences is highlighted.
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Quick takeaways
AI disrupts traditional developer education playbook for AI-focused products.
Design cues like white space and diagrams enhance user experience with documentation.
Focus on empowering users with smart features and user-centered design improves documentation satisfaction.
Deep dives
Importance of Good Documentation
Creating good documentation is essential to providing value and ensuring users have a positive experience when using a product. Good documentation should focus on first impressions, providing clear and inviting content for users from the start. By thinking about the user's needs and structuring information for easy consumption, companies can build trust and guide users effectively through the documentation.
Empowering Users Through Design Cues
Design cues play a crucial role in enhancing the user's experience with documentation. White space, scannability, and clear sequencing of information can significantly impact how users engage with the content. Incorporating elements like diagrams, code snippets, and callouts can make the documentation more inviting and help users navigate complex technical information effectively.
Enhancing User Experience Through Thoughtful Approach
To improve the user experience, it's essential to focus on empowering users and making them feel accomplished. Providing smart features like auto-injecting API tokens, creating escape hatches for different user paths, and offering easy solutions to common pain points can positively impact how users perceive the documentation. By prioritizing user-centered design and incorporating user feedback, companies can continuously refine their documentation for optimal user satisfaction.
Structured Documentation for User Journey
Developers benefit from structuring documentation to follow a user's journey of getting started, designing, building, deploying, and managing a product. By aligning documentation with these phases, cognitive load is reduced for users, providing a smoother experience. Graduating from a simple README to comprehensive documentation occurs when users require deeper information beyond basic usage instructions.
Measuring Documentation Efficacy
Measuring the effectiveness of documentation involves quantitative metrics like page views, bounce rates, and search queries, complemented by qualitative insights such as customer satisfaction and user task completion times. The balance between quantitative and qualitative data guides continuous improvement in documentation quality and relevance. Additionally, tracking search terms and user behavior sheds light on user needs and helps adapt documentation to better serve them.
David Nunez, based in Santa Barbara, CA, US, is currently a Co-Founder and Partner at Abstract Group, bringing experience from previous roles at First Round Capital, Stripe, and Slab.
Just when we Started to Solve Software Docs, AI Blew Everything Up // MLOps Podcast #235 with Dave Nunez, Partner of Abstract Group co-hosted by Jakub Czakon.
Huge thank you to Zilliz for sponsoring this episode. Zilliz - https://zilliz.com/.
// Abstract
Over the previous decade, the recipe for making excellent software docs mostly converged on a set of core goals:
Create high-quality, consistent content
Use different content types depending on the task
Make the docs easy to find
For AI-focused software and products, the entire developer education playbook needs to be rewritten.
// Bio
Dave lives in Santa Barbara, CA with his wife and four kids.
He started his tech career at various startups in Santa Barbara before moving to San Francisco to work at Salesforce. After Salesforce, he spent 2+ years at Uber and 5+ years at Stripe leading internal and external developer documentation efforts.
In 2021, he co-authored Docs for Developers to help engineers become better writers. He's now a consultant, advisor, and angel investor for fast-growing startups. He typically invests in early-stage startups focusing on developer tools, productivity, and AI.
He's a reading nerd, Lakers fan, and golf masochist.
// MLOps Jobs board
https://mlops.pallet.xyz/jobs
// MLOps Swag/Merch
https://mlops-community.myshopify.com/
// Related Links
Website: https://www.abstractgroup.co/
Book: docsfordevelopers.com
About Dave: https://gamma.app/docs/Dave-Nunez-about-me-002doxb23qbblme?mode=doc
https://review.firstround.com/investing-in-internal-documentation-a-brick-by-brick-guide-for-startups
https://increment.com/documentation/why-investing-in-internal-docs-is-worth-it/
Writing to Learn paper by Peter Elbow: https://peterelbow.com/pdfs/Writing_for_Learning-Not_just_Demonstrating.PDF
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Connect with Kuba on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakub-czakon/?locale=en_US
Timestamps:
[00:00] Dave's preferred coffee
[00:13] Introducing this episode's co-host, Kuba
[00:36] Takeaways
[02:55] Please like, share, leave a review, and subscribe to our MLOps channels!
[03:23] Good docs, bad docs, and how to feel them
[06:51] Inviting Dev docs and checks
[10:36] Stripe's writing culture
[12:42] Engineering team writing culture
[14:15] Bottom-up tech writer change
[18:31] Strip docs cult following
[24:40] TriDocs Smart API Injection
[26:42] User research for documentation
[29:51] Design cues
[32:15] Empathy-driven docs creation
[34:28 - 35:35] Zilliz Ad
[35:36] Foundational elements in documentation
[38:23] Minimal infrastructure of information in "Read Me"
[40:18] Measuring documentation with OKRs
[43:58] Improve pages with Analytics
[47:33] Google branded doc searches
[48:35] Time to First Action
[52:52] Dave's day in and day out and what excites him
[56:01] Exciting internal documentation
[59:55] Wrap up
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