The Old Tech Writer

AI can draft documentation in seconds, but most prompts produce generic, unusable content. The problem isn’t the technology—it’s the technique. Technical writers who treat AI as a magic wand instead of a precision tool consistently get disappointing results. [Read More]

AI is now part of our products and workflows. It’s here to stay. Management is increasingly advocating for AI tools as a strategy to reduce headcount, support costs, and time to market. This raises challenging questions for technical writers and editors: Should you adopt AI methods and tools, and if... [Read More]

When I started as a technical writer as a NASA subcontractor, I was lucky to be hired by a friend I’d met at a horse stable in Tomball Texas. “Kat” had a writer bail on her and needed someone. She knew I’d written a master’s thesis and defended a PhD... [Read More]

Effective documentation requires genuine partnership, not just good questions. Here’s how to earn trust and respect, manage time constraints, and create content that actually serves users. [Read More]

Drop the attitude. You’re not saving the world, you’re explaining something. There is no hill worth dying on. Learn to live with compromise and trade-offs. Ask for help when you need it. The things you plan, the things you measure, these are the things that get done. You wouldn’t hike... [Read More]