How to write clear product documentation with Devcheque

And good documentation for your product acts as a top-of-funnel driver, feeding search and LLMs so more people discover your product. Docs convince practitioners that your product is worth adopting. Those practitioners then convince the buyers. Good docs touch every single part of your customer lifecycle. And you probably don’t have enough full-time docs people to get all the benefits you could.

Connections also get made between your products (or your product and its potential integrations) that you might not otherwise uncover without somebody to connect those dots! A talented technical writer is a key strategic advantage for companies on the bleeding edge of new technology. AI cannot act in a vacuum; to be effective, it needs clear input and context for what it is supposed to do - all of which can be solved through detailed technical documentation.

As an ID, we do a lot of technical writing as part of procedure documentation, job aid creation, course design, etc. I have much respect for those that write all day, every day. You have eagle eyes and catch all the fine details. A few things I do that are technical writing, even in the design space. 1. First person, active. 2. Tell, don't ask. The word "please" does not belong in a procedure. 3. Nothing should, could, or would. It is and does. 4. Keep things clean and simple. Even complicated processes should be easy to understand in written form. 5. Tables of Contents are your friend!

As a writing bunch, we do far more than bridge communication gaps. We help standardize copy, improve UX navigation, and identify process flaws, to name a few. Having technical writers not only translates to documentation that turns ignorance to understanding and indifference to appreciation. But having an experienced set of eyes trained to see a path towards completion from an uncoordinated or disjointed start.

I just recently noticed that there are not many in-depth resources about SDK documentation for technical writers. I think this presentation provides a good "no frills" overview of the topic: "SDK docs written by developers tend to be implementer oriented, not user oriented. That makes sense, since it's the implementers writing them. Unfortunately, this approach leads to some frustrating SDK reference manual experiences for users. The implementer-oriented doc writer tends to answer, "What is this built on?" As a user, I need docs that tell me, "What can I build with this?" I provide examples of common SDK docs pitfalls, then present the approach that I used updating the SDK documentation that our developers had created. My goal was to give users of those docs a quick, enjoyable, user-oriented experience. To do so, I identified the likely use cases, or flows, of our product. I then grouped all entities (classes, functions, etc.) of the docs into these flows. For each flow, I arranged the entities in "flow order". Having mapped out our codebase in this way, I was ready to begin adding content by following these principles: 1) In the leading lines, answer: what is this for? 2) Always link to the previous and next items in all flows and add "See Also" links. 3) Add a code example that demonstrates this entity's role in the flow. 4) Call out gotchas that are likely to get in the user's way when trying to use a flow." https://lnkd.in/dFq-WHu5 #TechnicalWriting #SoftwareDocumentation #SDKs #SDKDocumentation

Old vs New Technical Writing — The Toolkit Shift Teams evolve at different speeds. That’s why “old” patterns still surface in busy sprints, even when everyone knows better. We’re contrasting legacy habits you still see in teams vs current practices worth adopting. 1. When docs happen - Old: Writing at the end - New: Writing from day 1 with design and dev 2. Information architecture - Old: PDF dump, long pages - New: Task‑first IA, one concept per page, clear “what’s next” 3. Examples and code - Old: Conceptual snippets, no outputs - New: Copy‑pasteable, versioned examples with expected results 4. Handling failure - Old: Happy‑path only - New: Error paths, recovery steps, realistic edge cases 5. Collaboration - Old: Lone writer, email reviews - New: Contribution pathways, labels/templates, DRI + review SLAs 6. Shipping and upkeep - Old: Ship and forget - New: Review cadence, staleness tracking, disciplined changelogs 7. Measuring impact - Old: Page views as “quality” - New: TTFS, task success, docs‑referenced deflection These aren’t trends, they’re working practices. Takeaway: Treat “Old” as anti‑patterns to retire. Adopt the “New” where your team still slips. Share this with a technical writer who’s updating their toolkit. Want more career insights for writers: 1. Follow Joshua Gene Fechter 2. Like the post. 3. Repost to your network.

🧠 Why I Started Using VS Code + Markdown for Technical Writing When I first heard about VS Code and Markdown, I thought they were tools only for developers. But once I tried them, I realized they’re a technical writer’s best friends. VS Code gave me a clean, distraction-free space to write. Markdown made formatting effortless -- no heavy templates, no fighting with word processors. Just pure focus on content and structure. I can now create lightweight, version-controlled documents, review changes easily, and collaborate with dev teams faster. Sometimes, the best writing tools are not the “writing” tools -- they’re the ones that let you think clearly. ✍️ Curious to know -- what’s your favorite writing tool and why? #TechnicalWriting #Documentation #Markdown #VScode #WritersCommunity

Whether you’re a technical writer or developer, a clear structure can make or break your docs. Here are some best practices for organizing documentation that scale beautifully, especially if you’re using Git or a docs-as-code setup: 1️⃣ Use a clear folder structure Group by function or audience, not by author. getting-started /user-guides /api-reference /troubleshooting /release-notes 2️⃣ Name files consistently Stick to lowercase + hyphens: create-account.md, not CreateAccount_FINAL.docx. 3️⃣Think in user journeys Organize by how people learn: Start → Do → Deep dive → Reference → Troubleshoot. 4️⃣ Centralize configs Keep shared assets (images, templates, metadata) in clear folders. 5️⃣ Version control everything Branches and tags (`v1.0`, `v2.0`) keep docs aligned with code. Good commit messages explain why a change was made. 6️⃣ Document your docs Add a README.md that explains structure, build steps, and contribution guidelines. 7️⃣ Keep topics modular Each page should serve one purpose—no “kitchen sink” articles. 8️⃣ Use templates and a style guide Consistency builds trust and saves review time. 9️⃣ Archive gracefully Mark outdated content as deprecated—don’t just delete history. 🔟 Design for search Meaningful headers and keywords help users find what they need fast. --- 💡 Great docs are like good code: organized, readable, and easy to maintain. What’s your favorite trick for keeping documentation tidy? #TechnicalWriting #DocsAsCode #Documentation #Git #ContentStrategy #DeveloperExperience

"Are you a developer?” I get this question a lot whenever someone sees me working in VS Code or pushing commits to GitHub. Well, I’m a technical writer. And yes, I use these tools because source control matters in documentation too. In simple terms, it saves you from having a new Word document titled “Getting Started Guide (Final) (009).docx.” 😅 In more technical terms, it lets you: 🔹 Track who wrote what 🔹 Roll back to previous documentation versions when issues arise 🔹 Keep your docs in the same repository as your code Because when you treat documentation as part of the product, not an afterthought, developers move faster, support tickets drop, and everyone wins. That’s the mindset behind every doc I write: treat the docs like the code. #TechnicalWriting #DeveloperExperience #DocsAsCode #APIDocumentation

Stop doc ping‑pong: assign owners, set cadences, track outcomes. 📊 Doc programs scale when accountability is explicit and signals are measurable. Here’s the manager’s map in practice: Quickstart: - Tech Writer + Product/DevRel; TTFS ≤ 10–15 min Task Guides: - Tech Writer + SME/Support; task success ≥ target Concepts: - Tech Writer + Product/Eng; fewer “What is…?” repeats API Reference: - Tech Writer/DevRel + Eng; ready‑to‑use snippets at SDK parity Troubleshooting: - Tech Writer + Support/QA; recurrence falls after updates Release Notes: - Tech Writer + Product/Eng; adoption up, confusion down Admin/Config (or Architecture): - Tech Writer + Eng/SRE; setup success up Style Guide/Glossary: - Doc Manager + all; term consistency across top pages Put it to work: - Assign a primary responsible party - Review cadence, and an outcome signal per type - Add owner + last reviewed date on each page - Announce changes with a one‑line rationale 🧭 Small governance wins compound into faster reviews and fewer tickets. If this would cut ping‑pong in your org, reshare it with your leads. 🔄 Which doc type will you map first? Want more career insights for technical writers: 1. Follow Technical Writer HQ 2. Like the post. 3. Repost to your network.