Docs-as-Ecosystem: The Community Approach to Engineering Documentation

Investing in engineering documentation (Docs) means investing in community user experience. This book teaches how mastering the proposed docs-as-ecosystem model empowers communities to understand better their favorite products and Open-Source (OSS) technologies.

Quetzalli believes that “docs-as-ecosystem” represents a more comprehensive and collaborative approach to documentation development than “docs-as-code” because it recognizes that documentation is more than just code. Docs involve technical writing, design, community feedback, community management, accessibility, SEO, UX, and today… even Artificial Intelligence tools! The word ecosystem promotes a paradigm where documentation is treated as a complex and dynamic system that must be managed and nurtured.

In this book, you’ll acquire practical skills such as creating public style guides, incorporating responsive and accessible design, designing user flows and information architecture, retrieving user feedback, and setting up Docs analytics. You’ll learn to identify the difference in work processes between maintaining Docs for a product versus an OSS technology. You’ll discover the secrets to managing technical writers and OSS contributions, all while building a thriving Docs community. To end on a futuristic note, you’ll discover why technical writers who harness Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools (i.e., ChatGPT) need not fear a robot uprising anytime soon.

This Book is For Developers of all levels, VPs of Product/Engineering, Product Managers, and Designers, and OSS community members.